Engineering of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase improves the conversion efficiency of rebaudioside A to glucosylated steviol glycosides and increases the content of short-chain glycosylated steviol glycoside

BACKGROUND

Compared with steviol glycosides, the taste of glucosylated steviol glycosides is better and more similar to that of sucrose. At present, cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase) is primarily used to catalyze the conversion of steviol glycosides to glucosylated steviol glycosides, with soluble starch serving as a glycosyl donor. The main disadvantages of enzymatic transglycosylation are the limited number of enzymes available, the low conversion rates that result in low yields, and the lack of selectivity in the degree of glycosylation of the products. In order to fill these gaps, the proteome of Alkalihalobacillus oshimensis (also named Bacillus oshimensis) was used for mining novel CGTases.

RESULTS

Here, CGTase-15, a novel β-CGTase with a wide pH adaptation range, was identified and characterized. The catalyzed product of CGTase-15 tasted better than that of the commercial enzyme (Toruzyme® 3.0 L). In addition, two amino acid sites, Y199 and G265, which play important roles in the conversion of steviol glycosides to glucosylated steviol glycosides were identified by site-directed mutagenesis. Compared with CGTase-15, CGTase-15-Y199F mutant significantly increased the conversion rate of rebaudioside A (RA) to glucosylated steviol glycosides. Compared with CGTase-15, the content of short-chain glycosylated steviol glycosides catalyzed by CGTase-15-G265A mutant was significantly increased. Moreover, the function of Y199 and G265 was verified in other CGTases. The above mutation pattern has also been applied to CGTase-13 (a CGTase discovered by our laboratory with great potential in the production of glycosylated steviol glycosides), confirming that the catalytic product of CGTase-13-Y189F/G255A mutant has a better taste than that of CGTase-13.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first report on the improvement of the sensory profiles of glycosylated steviol glycosides through site-directed mutagenesis of CGTase, which is significant for the production of glycosylated steviol glycosides.

Highlight on mutations affecting the US132 cyclodextrin glucanotransferase binding specificity, thermal stability, and anti-staling activity

We have already reported that the triple mutant (K47E-S382P-N655S of Paenibacillus pabuli US132 cyclodextrin glucanotransferase US132 (CGTase)) altered the CGTase specificity. In the current study, the single (K47E, S382P and N655S) and double (K47E+S382P, K47E+N655S, and S382P+N655S) mutants were constructed to elucidate the synergic or antagonist substitutions effect on the enzyme behavior. For the six generated mutants, an improvement of the dextrinization/cyclization ratio from 4.4 to 6-fold was observed when compared to the wild-type enzyme. The mutations effect on enzyme specificity was not attributed to synergy modulation since the single mutant N655S had the highest ratio enhancement. Moreover, the mutant N655S revealed the highest β-cyclodextrin binding affinity with a high amount of hydrophobic bonds which might be contributed to the apparent decrease in the cyclization activity. On the other hand, mutations N655S, K47E, and (K47E-N655S) showed the same positive effect on thermal activity. The highest stability was attained at 70 °C by N655S to be 3.6-fold higher than the wild-type. The addition of N655S to wheat flour induced a decrease of dough and bread hardness and led to an increase in dough and bread cohesiveness and a rise in bread masticability values compared to the control. This mutant addition also corrected the dough elasticity decrease engendered by the wild-type CGTase indicating that N655S-CGTase could be an alternative anti-staling agent.

Molecular cloning, and optimized production and characterization of recombinant cyclodextrin glucanotransferase from Bacillus sp. T1

Cyclodextrin glucosyltransferase (CGTase) is an enzyme which degrades starch to produce cyclodextrins (CDs). In this study, the β-CGTase producing strain T1 was identified as Bacillus sp. by its morphological characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The cgt-T1 gene was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. CGTase-T1 was purified by Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid agarose column and the molecular weight was determined as approximately 75 kDa using SDS-PAGE analysis. For the expression of soluble proteins, the optimal induction conditions were 10 h at 25 °C with OD₆₀₀ at 0.8. The purified CGTase-T1 exhibited maximum activity with an optimal pH and temperature of 6.0 and 65 °C. The enzyme was stable in a pH range of 7.0-10.0, retaining over 85% relative activity for 1 h. CGTase-T1 activity can be significantly enhanced by adding 1 mM Ba²⁺. Using a soluble starch substrate, the kinetic parameters were revealed with K _M and k _cat/K _M values of 2.75 mg mL^-1 and 1253.97 s^-1 mL mg^-1, respectively. Additionally, the four enzyme activities of CGTase-T1 were determined. The highest conversion rate to CDs (40.9%) was achieved from soluble starch after 8 h of enzyme reaction, where mainly β-CD was produced (79.1% of the total CDs yield), indicating that CGTase-T1 potentially has industrial application prospect.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-022-03111-8.

Ring-Opening of Cyclodextrins: An Efficient Route to Pure Maltohexa-, Hepta-, and Octaoses

Many preparations of maltooligosaccharides have been described in literature, essentially using enzymatic or biotechnological processes. These compounds, derived from starch, are well-known as prebiotic agents. The use of maltohexa-, hepta-, and octaoses as synthons in organic synthesis was also well documented in literature. They can indeed be obtained as single compounds by the cyclodextrins’ ring-opening. This reaction has been studied for many years, varying the protecting and functional groups and the reaction conditions, leading to functionalized oligomaltoses. These compounds are of wide interest in various fields. They have a strong potential as scaffolds for multivalence in chemobiology, as building blocks for the production of biomimetic pseudo-glycopeptides, as well as monomers for the preparation of materials. In view of the importance of these oligomaltoses, this review focuses on the different methodologies allowing access to them via chemical and enzymatic ring-opening of cyclodextrins.

Production and Surfactant Properties of Tert-Butyl α-d-Glucopyranosides Catalyzed by Cyclodextrin Glucanotransferase

While testing the ability of cyclodextrin glucanotransferases (CGTases) to glucosylate a series of flavonoids in the presence of organic cosolvents, we found out that this enzyme was able to glycosylate a tertiary alcohol (tert-butyl alcohol). In particular, CGTases from Thermoanaerobacter sp. and Thermoanaerobacterium thermosulfurigenes EM1 gave rise to the appearance of at least two glycosylation products, which were characterized by mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as tert-butyl-α-D-glucoside (major product) and tert-butyl-α-D-maltoside (minor product). Using partially hydrolyzed starch as glucose donor, the yield of transglucosylation was approximately 44% (13 g/L of tert-butyl-α-D-glucoside and 4 g/L of tert-butyl-α-D-maltoside). The synthesized tert-butyl-α-D-glucoside exhibited the typical surfactant behavior (critical micellar concentration, 4.0–4.5 mM) and its properties compared well with those of the related octyl-α-D-glucoside. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of an enzymatic α-glucosylation of a tertiary alcohol.

Development and Application of Cyclodextrin Hydrolyzing Mutant Enzyme Which Hydrolyzes β- and γ-CD Selectively

Cyclodextrins (CDs) are produced from starch by cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase), which has cyclization activity. Specifically, α-CD is an important biomolecule, as it is a molecular carrier and soluble dietary fiber used in the food industry. Upon inspection of the conserved regions of the glycoside hydrolase (GH) 13 family amylases, the amino acids K232 and H233 of CGTase were identified as playing an important role in enzyme reaction specificity. A novel CD hydrolyzing enzyme, cyclodextrin glycosyl transferase (CGTase)-alpha, was developed using site-directed mutagenesis at these positions. Action pattern analysis using various substrates revealed that CGTase-alpha was able to hydrolyze β- and γ-CD, but not α-CD. This selective CD hydrolyzing property was employed to purify α-CD from a CD mixture solution. The α-CD that remained after treatment with CGTase-alpha and exotype glucoamylase was purified using hydrophobic interaction chromatography with 99% purity.

Characterization of a Novel Maltose-Forming α-Amylase from Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum ST-III

A novel maltose (G2)-forming α-amylase from Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum ST-III was expressed in Escherichia coli and characterized. Analysis of conserved amino acid sequence alignments showed that L. plantarum maltose-producing α-amylase (LpMA) belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 13. The recombinant enzyme (LpMA) was a novel G2-producing α-amylase. The properties of purified LpMA were investigated following enzyme purification. LpMA exhibited optimal activity at 30 °C and pH 3.0. It produced only G2 from the hydrolysis of various substrates, including maltotriose (G3), maltopentaose (G5), maltosyl β-cyclodextrin (G2-β-CD), amylose, amylopectin, and starch. However, LpMA was unable to hydrolyze cyclodextrins. Reaction pattern analysis using 4-nitrophenyl-α-d-maltopentaoside (pNPG5) demonstrated that LpMA hydrolyzed pNPG5 from the nonreducing end, indicating that LpMA is an exotype α-amylase. Kinetic analysis revealed that LpMA had the highest catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km ratio) toward G2-β-CD. Compared with β-amylase, a well-known G2-producing enzyme, LpMA produced G2 more efficiently from liquefied corn starch due to its ability to hydrolyze G3.