Capacity of thermomonospora alba XylA to impart thermostability in family F/10 chimeric xylanases

Characterization of Two Endo-β-1, 4-Xylanases from Myceliophthora thermophila and Their Saccharification Efficiencies, Synergistic with Commercial Cellulase

The xylanases with high specific activity and resistance to harsh conditions are of high practical value for biomass utilization. In the present study, two new GH11 xylanase genes, MYCTH_56237 and MYCTH_49824, have been cloned from thermophilic fungus Myceliophthora thermophila and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The specific activities of purified xylanases reach approximately 1,533.7 and 1,412.5 U/mg, respectively. Based on multiple template-based homology modeling, the structures of their catalytic domains are predicted. Enzyme activity was more effective in 7.5 L fermentor, yielding 2,010.4 and 2,004.2 U/mL, respectively. Both enzymes exhibit optimal activity at 60°C with pH of 6.0 and 7.0, respectively. Their activities are not affected by EDTA and an array of metal ions. The kinetic constants have been determined for MYCTH_56237 (K_m = 8.80 mg/mL, V_max = 2,380 U/mg) and MYCTH_49824 (K_m = 5.67 mg/mL, V_max = 1,750 U/mg). More importantly, both xylanases significantly cooperate with the commercial cellulase Celluclast 1.5 L in terms of the saccharification efficiency. All these biochemical properties of the xylanases offer practical potential for future applications.

A review on chimeric xylanases: methods and conditions

Multi-functional enzymes are one of the nature's solutions to facilitate metabolic pathways, thus several reactions are regulated and performed simultaneously on one polypeptide chain. Inspired by nature, artificial chimeric proteins have been designed to reduce the production costs and improve the performance. One of the interesting applications of this method is in the plant-based industries such as feed additive, waste treatment, biofuel production, and pulp and paper bleaching. In fact, the heterogeneous texture of plants needs using a combination of different enzymes to achieve an optimal quality in the manufacturing process. Given that xylans are the most abundant non-cellulosic polysaccharides in nature, xylanases are widely utilized in the mentioned industries. In this regard, several studies have been conducted to develop the relevant chimeric enzymes. Despite the successes that have been attained in this field, misfolding, functional or structural interference, and linker breakage have been reported in some cases. The present paper reviews the research to introduce the prerequisites to design an appropriate chimeric xylanase.

Cloning, Expression and Biochemical Characterization of Endomannanases from Thermobifida Species Isolated from Different Niches

Thermobifidas are thermotolerant, compost inhabiting actinomycetes which have complex polysaccharide hydrolyzing enzyme systems. The best characterized enzymes of these hydrolases are cellulases from T. fusca, while other important enzymes especially hemicellulases are not deeply explored. To fill this gap we cloned and investigated endomannanases from those reference strains of the Thermobifida genus, which have published data on other hydrolases (T. fusca TM51, T. alba CECT3323, T. cellulosilytica TB100^T and T. halotolerans YIM90462^T). Our phylogenetic analyses of 16S rDNA and endomannanase sequences revealed that T. alba CECT3323 is miss-classified; it belongs to the T. fusca species. The cloned and investigated endomannanases belong to the family of glycosyl hydrolases 5 (GH5), their size is around 50 kDa and they are modular enzymes. Their catalytic domains are extended by a C-terminal carbohydrate binding module (CBM) of type 2 with a 23–25 residues long interdomain linker region consisting of Pro, Thr and Glu/Asp rich repetitive tetrapeptide motifs. Their polypeptide chains exhibit high homology, interdomain sequence, which don’t show homology to each other, but all of them are built up from 3–6 times repeated tetrapeptide motifs) (PTDP-Tc, TEEP-Tf, DPGT-Th). All of the heterologously expressed Man5A enzymes exhibited activity only on mannan. The pH optima of Man5A enzymes from T. halotolerans, T. cellulosilytica and T. fusca are slightly different (7.0, 7.5 and 8.0, respectively) while their temperature optima span within the range of 70–75°C. The three endomannanases exhibited very similar kinetic performances on LBG-mannan substrate: 0.9–1.7mM of K_M and 80–120 1/sec of turnover number. We detected great variability in heat stability at 70°C, which was influenced by the presence of Ca²⁺. The investigated endomannanases might be important subjects for studying the structure/function relation behind the heat stability and for industrial applications to hemicellulose degradation.

Beta-xylanase from Thermomyces lanuginosus and its biobleaching application

Thermomyces lanuginosus is thermophilic fungus in which was isolated from widespread material. A high number of this fungus was found in composts especially mushroom composts. This fungus has been reported to produce a high level xylanase when cultivated in the medium containing xylan and corn cob as a carbon source. Various strains of T. lanuginosus produced a single xylanase with molecular masses in range of 22.0 to 29.0 kDa. Pure beta-xylanase obtained from various strains of this fungus exhibited highly stability at high temperature and wide pH range. The optimal temperature and optimal pH of pure beta-xylanase from various strains of T. lanuginosus have been reported in range of 60-75 degrees C and pH 6.0-7.0, respectively. The great thermal stability was resulting from the present of hydrophilic amino acid on beta sheet of the surface of xylanase structure. Moreover, the relatedness between high and low xylanase producing strains can be distinguish by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Based on nucleotide sequences and T. lanuginosus xylanase gene has been classified to be a member of family 11 (formerly known as cellulase family G) glycosyl hydrolases. This enzyme was endo-type xylanase having main product are xylose and xylobiose. The expression of xylanase gene from T. lanuginosus was achieved in Escherichia coli and methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. The ability of T. lanuginosus in which produced large amount of high thermos stable xylanase has made this fungus to be a source of xylanase production for biobleaching in pulp and paper process.

Thermostable enzymes as biocatalysts in the biofuel industry

Lignocellulose is the most abundant carbohydrate source in nature and represents an ideal renewable energy source. Thermostable enzymes that hydrolyze lignocellulose to its component sugars have significant advantages for improving the conversion rate of biomass over their mesophilic counterparts. We review here the recent literature on the development and use of thermostable enzymes for the depolymerization of lignocellulosic feedstocks for biofuel production. Furthermore, we discuss the protein structure, mechanisms of thermostability, and specific strategies that can be used to improve the thermal stability of lignocellulosic biocatalysts.

Directed evolution of the thermostable xylanase from Thermomyces lanuginosus

The thermostability of the endo-beta-1,4-xylanase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (xynA) was improved by directed evolution using error-prone PCR. Transformants expressing the variant xylanases were first selected on 0.4% Remazol Brilliant Blue-xylan and then exposed to 80 degrees C. Whereas the wild type XynA lost 90% activity after 10 min at 80 degrees C, five mutants displayed both higher stabilities and activities than XynA. Four mutants were subjected to further mutagenesis to improve the stability and activity of the xylanase. Subsequent screening revealed three mutants with enhanced thermostability. Mutant 2B7-10 retained 71% of its activity after treatment at 80 degrees C for 60 min and had a half-life of 215 min at 70 degrees C, which is higher than that attained by XynA. Sequence analysis of second generation mutants revealed that mutations were not concentrated in any particular region of the protein and exhibited much variation. The best mutant obtained from this study was variant 2B7-10, which had a single substitution (Y58F) in beta-sheet A of the protein, which is the hydrophilic, solvent-accessible outer surface of the enzyme. Most of the mutants obtained in this study displayed a compromise between stability and activity, the only exception being mutant 2B7-10. This variant showed increased activity and thermostability.

Enhancement of transglycosylation activity by construction of chimeras between mesophilic and thermophilic beta-glucosidase

The family 3 beta-glucosidase from Thermotoga maritima is a highly thermostable enzyme (85 degrees C) that displays transglycosylation activity. In contrast, the beta-glucosidase from Cellvibrio gilvus is mesophilic (35 degrees C) and displays no such transglycosylation activity. Both enzymes consist of two domains, an N-terminal and a C-terminal domain, and the amino acid identities between the two enzymes in these domains are 32.4 and 36.4%, respectively. In an attempt to identify the molecular basis underpinning the display of transglycosylation activity and the requirements for thermal stability, eight chimeric genes were constructed by shuffling the two parental beta-glucosidase genes at four selected borders, two in the N-terminal domain and two in the C-terminal domain. Of the eight chimeric genes constructed, only two chimeric enzymes (Tm578/606Cg and Tm638/666Cg) gave catalytically active forms and these were the ones shuffled in the C-terminal domain. For these active chimeric enzymes, 80% (Tm578/606Cg) and 88% (Tm638/666Cg) of their amino acid sequences originated from T. maritima. With regard to their thermal profiles, the two active chimeric enzymes, Tm578/606Cg and Tm638/666Cg, displayed profiles intermediate to those of the two parental enzymes as they were optimally active at 65 and 70 degrees C, respectively. These two chimeric enzymes were optimally active at pH 4.1 and 3.9, which is closer to that observed for the T. maritima enzyme (pH 3.2-3.5) than that for the C. gilvus enzyme (pH 6.2-6.5). Kinetic parameters for the chimeric enzymes were investigated with five different substrates including pNP-beta-D-glucopyranoside. The kinetic parameters obtained for the chimeric enzymes were closer to those of the T. maritima enzyme than to those of the C. gilvus enzyme. Transglycosylation activity was observed for both chimeric enzymes and the activity of the Tm578/606Cg chimera was at a level twice that observed with the T. maritima enzyme. This study is an effective demonstration of the usefulness of chimeric enzymes in altering the characteristics of an enzyme.