A gene encoding a novel multidomain beta-1,4-mannanase from Caldibacillus cellulovorans and action of the recombinant enzyme on kraft pulp

On the impact of carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) in lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs)

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) have revolutionized our understanding of how enzymes degrade insoluble polysaccharides. Compared with the substantial knowledge developed on the structure and mode of action of the catalytic LPMO domains, the (multi)modularity of LPMOs has received less attention. The presence of other domains, in particular carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs), tethered to LPMOs has profound implications for the catalytic performance of the full-length enzymes. In the last few years, studies on LPMO modularity have led to advancements in elucidating how CBMs, other domains, and linker regions influence LPMO structure and function. This mini review summarizes recent literature, with particular focus on comparative truncation studies, to provide an overview of the diversity in LPMO modularity and the functional implications of this diversity.

Genome sequencing of a novel Microbacterium camelliasinensis CIAB417 identified potential mannan hydrolysing enzymes

Here, whole genome sequencing of Microbacterium sp. CIAB417 was conducted to determine its novelty at species level and identification of genes encoding for enzymes for mannan degradation. The draft genome was predicted to have 6.53 mbp length represented by 41 contigs and 6078 genes. However, only 82.35% genes were allocated for their functions. The whole genome phylogeny, ANI score (78.84%), GGDC (genome to genome distance calculations) show probability (DDH ≥ 70%) equal to 0% and difference in advanced biochemical properties among closely predicted species. The Microbacterium sp. CIAB417 was stipulated to be novel at species level. Isolate was named as Microbacterium camelliasinensis CIAB417 (accession no JAHZUT000000000) based on its isolation from a tea garden soil. Genome was predicted for three novel mannanase coding genes man1 (MZ702740), man2 (MZ702741), and man3 (MZ702737) that belong to the GH5 and GH113 family. Besides that, mannan side chain hydrolysing enzymes alpha-galactosidase (gla1; MZ702739) and beta-glucosidase (glu1; MZ702738) were also predicted.

Expression, Characterization and Structure Analysis of a New GH26 Endo-β-1, 4-Mannanase (Man26E) from Enterobacter aerogenes B19

β-mannanase is one of the key enzymes to hydrolyze hemicellulose. At present, most β-mannanases are not widely applied because of their low enzyme activity and unsuitable enzymatic properties. In this work, a new β-mannanase from Enterobacter aerogenes was studied, which laid the foundation for its further application. Additionally, we will further perform directed evolution of the enzyme to increase its activity, improve its temperature and pH properties to allow it more applications in industry. A new β-mannanase (Man26E) from Enterobacter aerogenes was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli. Man26E showed about 40 kDa on SDS-PAGE gel. The SWISS-MODEL program was used to model the tertiary structure of Man26E, which presented a core (α/β)8-barrel catalytic module. Based on the binding pattern of CjMan26 C, Man26E docking Gal1Man4 was investigated. The catalytic region consisted of a surface containing four solvent-exposed aromatic rings, many hydrophilic and charged residues. Man26E displayed the highest activity at pH 6.0 and 55 °C, and high acid and alkali stability in a wide pH range (pH 4–10) and thermostability from 40 to 50 °C. The enzyme showed the highest activity on locust bean gum, and the Km and Vmax were 7.16 mg mL−1 and 508 U mg−1, respectively. This is the second β-mannanase reported from Enterobacter aerogenes B19. The β-mannanase displayed high enzyme activity, a relatively high catalytic temperature and a broad range of catalytic pH values. The enzyme catalyzed both polysaccharides and manno-oligosaccharides.

Enzymology of Alternative Carbohydrate Catabolic Pathways

The Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas (EMP) and Entner–Doudoroff (ED) pathways are considered the most abundant catabolic pathways found in microorganisms, and ED enzymes have been shown to also be widespread in cyanobacteria, algae and plants. In a large number of organisms, especially common strains used in molecular biology, these pathways account for the catabolism of glucose. The existence of pathways for other carbohydrates that are relevant to biomass utilization has been recognized as new strains have been characterized among thermophilic bacteria and Archaea that are able to transform simple polysaccharides from biomass to more complex and potentially valuable precursors for industrial microbiology. Many of the variants of the ED pathway have the key dehydratase enzyme involved in the oxidation of sugar derived from different families such as the enolase, IlvD/EDD and xylose-isomerase-like superfamilies. There are the variations in structure of proteins that have the same specificity and generally greater-than-expected substrate promiscuity. Typical biomass lignocellulose has an abundance of xylan, and four different pathways have been described, which include the Weimberg and Dahms pathways initially oxidizing xylose to xylono-gamma-lactone/xylonic acid, as well as the major xylose isomerase pathway. The recent realization that xylan constitutes a large proportion of biomass has generated interest in exploiting the compound for value-added precursors, but few chassis microorganisms can grow on xylose. Arabinose is part of lignocellulose biomass and can be metabolized with similar pathways to xylose, as well as an oxidative pathway. Like enzymes in many non-phosphorylative carbohydrate pathways, enzymes involved in L-arabinose pathways from bacteria and Archaea show metabolic and substrate promiscuity. A similar multiplicity of pathways was observed for other biomass-derived sugars such as L-rhamnose and L-fucose, but D-mannose appears to be distinct in that a non-phosphorylative version of the ED pathway has not been reported. Many bacteria and Archaea are able to grow on mannose but, as with other minor sugars, much of the information has been derived from whole cell studies with additional enzyme proteins being incorporated, and so far, only one synthetic pathway has been described. There appears to be a need for further discovery studies to clarify the general ability of many microorganisms to grow on the rarer sugars, as well as evaluation of the many gene copies displayed by marine bacteria.

Characterization and high-efficiency secreted expression in Bacillus subtilis of a thermo-alkaline β-mannanase from an alkaliphilic Bacillus clausii strain S10

Background

β-Mannanase catalyzes the cleavage of β-1,4-linked internal linkages of mannan backbone randomly to produce new chain ends. Alkaline and thermostable β-mannanases provide obvious advantages for many applications in biobleaching of pulp and paper, detergent industry, oil grilling operation and enzymatic production of mannooligosaccharides. However, only a few of them are commercially exploited as wild or recombinant enzymes, and none heterologous and secretory expression of alkaline β-mannanase in Bacillus subtilis expression system was reported. Alkaliphilic Bacillus clausii S10 showed high β-mannanase activity at alkaline condition. In this study, this β-mannanase was cloned, purified and characterized. The high-level secretory expression in B. subtilis was also studied.

Results

A thermo-alkaline β-mannanase (BcManA) gene encoding a 317-amino acid protein from alkaliphilic Bacillus clausii strain was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The purified mature BcManA exhibited maximum activity at pH 9.5 and 75 °C with good stability at pH 7.0–11.5 and below 80 °C. BcManA demonstrated high cleavage capability on polysaccharides containing β-1,4-mannosidic linkages, such as konjac glucomannan, locust bean gum, guar gum and sesbania gum. The highest specific activity of 2366.2 U mg⁻¹ was observed on konjac glucomannan with the K_m and k_cat value of 0.62 g l⁻¹ and 1238.9 s⁻¹, respectively. The hydrolysis products were mainly oligosaccharides with a higher degree of polymerization than biose. BcManA also cleaved manno-oligosaccharides with polymerization degree more than 3 without transglycosylation. Furthermore, six signal peptides and two strong promoters were used for efficiently secreted expression optimization in B. subtilis WB600 and the highest extracellular activity of 2374 U ml⁻¹ with secretory rate of 98.5% was obtained using SP_lipA and P43 after 72 h cultivation in 2 × SR medium. By medium optimization using cheap nitrogen and carbon source of peanut meal and glucose, the extracellular activity reached 6041 U ml⁻¹ after 72 h cultivation with 6% inoculum size by shake flask fermentation.

Conclusions

The thermo-alkaline β-mannanase BcManA showed good thermal and pH stability and high catalytic efficiency towards konjac glucomannan and locust bean gum, which distinguished from other reported β-mannanases and was a promising thermo-alkaline β-mannanase for potential industrial application. The extracellular BcManA yield of 6041 U ml⁻¹, which was to date the highest reported yield by flask shake, was obtained in B. subtilis with constitutive expression vector. This is the first report for secretory expression of alkaline β-mannanase in B. subtilis protein expression system, which would significantly cut down the production cost of this enzyme. Also this research would be helpful for secretory expression of other β-mannanases in B. subtilis.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-018-0973-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Mannoside recognition and degradation by bacteria

Mannosides constitute a vast group of glycans widely distributed in nature. Produced by almost all organisms, these carbohydrates are involved in numerous cellular processes, such as cell structuration, protein maturation and signalling, mediation of protein-protein interactions and cell recognition. The ubiquitous presence of mannosides in the environment means they are a reliable source of carbon and energy for bacteria, which have developed complex strategies to harvest them. This review focuses on the various mannosides that can be found in nature and details their structure. It underlines their involvement in cellular interactions and finally describes the latest discoveries regarding the catalytic machinery and metabolic pathways that bacteria have developed to metabolize them.

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.

The influence of genetic polymorphisms in TLR4 and TIRAP, and their expression levels in peripheral blood, on susceptibility to sepsis

The present study aimed to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms in the Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 and Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR)-associated protein (TIRAP) genes, and/or their expression levels, influence the susceptibility of a patient to sepsis. A total of 106 patients with sepsis were divided into two groups on the basis of their acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II scores: i) Sepsis group A (APACHE II <20) and ii) Sepsis group B (APACHE II >20). In addition, 100 healthy volunteers were enrolled into the control group. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay was used to detect the following genetic polymorphisms: The Ser180Leu allele of the TIRAP gene and the Asp299Gly and Thr399I1e alleles of the TLR4 gene. Furthermore, the protein expression levels of TLR4 and TIRAP were analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Genetic polymorphisms were not detected for the TLR4 and TIRAP genes; however, the protein expression levels of TLR4 and TIRAP differed significantly between the control, sepsis A and sepsis B groups (P<0.01). An APACHE II score of 20 was used as a baseline in order to differentiate sepsis severity. Pearson analysis demonstrated that TLR4 and TIRAP protein expression levels were positively correlated with sepsis severity (r=0.931 and 0.972; P<0.05), and TLR4 protein expression levels were positively correlated with those of TIRAP (r=0.936; P<0.05). The results of the present study suggested that the protein expression levels of, but not genetic polymorphisms in, TLR4 and TIRAP were associated with the severity of sepsis.

Computational design of an endo-1,4-beta-xylanase ligand binding site

The field of computational protein design has experienced important recent success. However, the de novo computational design of high-affinity protein-ligand interfaces is still largely an open challenge. Using the Rosetta program, we attempted the in silico design of a high-affinity protein interface to a small peptide ligand. We chose the thermophilic endo-1,4-β-xylanase from Nonomuraea flexuosa as the protein scaffold on which to perform our designs. Over the course of the study, 12 proteins derived from this scaffold were produced and assayed for binding to the target ligand. Unfortunately, none of the designed proteins displayed evidence of high-affinity binding. Structural characterization of four designed proteins revealed that although the predicted structure of the protein model was highly accurate, this structural accuracy did not translate into accurate prediction of binding affinity. Crystallographic analyses indicate that the lack of binding affinity is possibly due to unaccounted for protein dynamics in the 'thumb' region of our design scaffold intrinsic to the family 11 β-xylanase fold. Further computational analysis revealed two specific, single amino acid substitutions responsible for an observed change in backbone conformation, and decreased dynamic stability of the catalytic cleft. These findings offer new insight into the dynamic and structural determinants of the β-xylanase proteins.

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.

The chitinolytic system of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis comprises a nonprocessive chitinase and a chitin-binding protein that promotes the degradation of alpha- and beta-chitin

It has recently been shown that the Gram-negative bacterium Serratia marcescens produces an accessory nonhydrolytic chitin-binding protein that acts in synergy with chitinases. This provided the first example of the production of dedicated helper proteins for the turnover of recalcitrant polysaccharides. Chitin-binding proteins belong to family 33 of the carbohydrate-binding modules, and genes putatively encoding these proteins occur in many microorganisms. To obtain an impression of the functional conservation of these proteins, we studied the chitinolytic system of the Gram-positive Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis IL1403. The genome of this lactic acid bacterium harbours a simple chitinolytic machinery, consisting of one family 18 chitinase (named LlChi18A), one family 33 chitin-binding protein (named LlCBP33A) and one family 20 N-acetylhexosaminidase. We cloned, overexpressed and characterized LlChi18A and LlCBP33A. Sequence alignments and structural modelling indicated that LlChi18A has a shallow substrate-binding groove characteristic of nonprocessive endochitinases. Enzymology showed that LlChi18A was able to hydrolyse both chitin oligomers and artificial substrates, with no sign of processivity. Although the chitin-binding protein from S. marcescens only bound to beta-chitin, LlCBP33A was found to bind to both alpha- and beta-chitin. LlCBP33A increased the hydrolytic efficiency of LlChi18A to both alpha- and beta-chitin. These results show the general importance of chitin-binding proteins in chitin turnover, and provide the first example of a family 33 chitin-binding protein that increases chitinase efficiency towards alpha-chitin.

Characterization of the Bacillus subtilis WL-3 mannanase from a recombinant Escherichia coli

A mannanase was purified from a cell-free extract of the recombinant Escherichia coli carrying a Bacillus subtilis WL-3 mannanase gene. The molecular mass of the purified mannanase was 38 kDa as estimated by SDS-PAGE. Optimal conditions for the purified enzyme occurred at pH 6.0 and 60 degrees C. The specific activity of the purified mannanase was 5,900 U/mg on locust bean gum (LBG) galactomannan at pH 6.0 and 50 degrees C. The activity of the enzyme was slightly inhibited by Mg(2+), Ca(2+), EDTA and SDS, and noticeably enhanced by Fe(2+). When the enzyme was incubated at 4 degrees C for one day in the presence of 3 mM Fe(2+), no residual activity of the mannanase was observed. The enzyme showed higher activity on LBG and konjac glucomannan than on guar gum galactomannan. Furthermore, it could hydrolyze xylans such as arabinoxylan, birchwood xylan and oat spelt xylan, while it did not exhibit any activities towards carboxymethylcellulose and para-nitrophenyl-beta-mannopyranoside. The predominant products resulting from the mannanase hydrolysis were mannose, mannobiose and mannotriose for LBG or mannooligosaccharides including mannotriose, mannotetraose, mannopentaose and mannohexaose. The enzyme could hydrolyze mannooligosaccharides larger than mannobiose.

Isolation and cloning of an endo-β-1,4-mannanase from Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai

An endo-beta-1,4-mannanase was isolated from digestive fluid of Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, by successive chromatographies on TOYPEARL CM-650M, hydroxyapatite, and TOYOPEARL HW50F. The abalone mannanase, named HdMan in the present paper, showed a molecular mass of approximately 39,000 Da on SDS-PAGE, and exhibited high hydrolyic activity on both galactomannan from locust bean gum and glucomannan from konjac at an optimal pH and temperature of 7.5 and 45 degrees C, respectively. HdMan could degrade either beta-1,4-mannan or beta-1,4-mannooligosaccharides to mannotriose and mannobiose similarly to beta-1,4-mannanases from Pomacea, Littorina, and Mytilus. In addition, HdMan could disperse the fronds of a red alga Porphyra yezoensis into cell masses consisting of 10-20 cells that are available for cell engineering of this alga. cDNAs encoding HdMan were amplified by polymerase chain reaction from an abalone-hepatopancreas cDNA library. From the nucleotide sequences of the cDNAs, the sequence of 1232 bp in total was determined and the amino-acid sequence of 377 residues was deduced from the translational region of 1134 bp locating at nucleotide positions 15-1148. The N-terminal region of 17 residues except for the initiation Met, was regarded as the signal peptide of HdMan because it was absent in the HdMan protein and showed high similarity to the consensus sequence for signal peptides of eukaryote secretory proteins. Accordingly, mature HdMan was considered to consist of 359 residues with the calculated molecular mass of 39,627.2 Da. HdMan is classified into glycoside hydrolase family 5 (GHF5) on the basis of sequence homology to GHF5 enzymes.

A mannanase, ManA, of the polycentric anaerobic fungus Orpinomyces sp. strain PC-2 has carbohydrate binding and docking modules

The anaerobic fungus Orpinomyces sp. strain PC-2 produces a broad spectrum of glycoside hydrolases, most of which are components of a high molecular mass cellulosomal complex. Here we report about a cDNA (manA) having 1924 bp isolated from the fungus and found to encode a polypeptide of 579 amino acid residues. Analysis of the deduced sequence revealed that it had a mannanase catalytic module, a family 1 carbohydrate-binding module, and a noncatalytic docking module. The catalytic module was homologous to aerobic fungal mannanases belonging to family 5 glycoside hydrolases, but unrelated to the previously isolated mannanases (family 26) of the anaerobic fungus Piromyces. No mannanase activity could be detected in Escherichia coli harboring a manA-containing plasmid. The manA was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and ManA was secreted into the culture medium in multiple forms. The purified extracellular heterologous mannanase hydrolyzed several types of mannan but lacked activity against cellulose, chitin, or beta-glucan. The enzyme had high specific activity toward locust bean mannan and an extremely broad pH profile. It was stable for several hours at 50 degrees C, but was rapidly inactivated at 60 degrees C. The carbohydrate-binding module of the Man A produced separately in E. coli bound preferably to insoluble lignocellulosic substrates, suggesting that it might play an important role in the complex enzyme system of the fungus for lignocellulose degradation.

A novel thermostable multidomain 1,4-beta-xylanase from 'Caldibacillus cellulovorans' and effect of its xylan-binding domain on enzyme activity

The nucleotide sequence of the complete xynA gene, encoding a novel multidomain xylanase XynA of 'Caldibacillus cellulovorans', was determined by genomic-walking PCR. The putative XynA comprises an N-terminal domain (D1), recently identified as a xylan-binding domain (XBD), homologous to non-catalytic thermostabilizing domains from other xylanases. D1 is followed by a xylanase catalytic domain (D2) homologous to family 10 glycosyl hydrolases. Downstream of this domain two cellulose-binding domains (CBD), D3 and D4, were found linked via proline-threonine (PT)-rich peptides. Both CBDs showed sequence similarity to family IIIb CBDs. Upstream of xynA an incomplete open reading frame was identified, encoding a putative C-terminal CBD homologous to family IIIb CBDs. Two expression plasmids encoding the N-terminal XBD plus the catalytic domain (XynAd1/2) and the xylanase catalytic domain alone (XynAd2) were constructed and the biochemical properties of the recombinant enzymes compared. The absence of the XBD resulted in a decrease in thermostability of the catalytic domain from 70 degrees C (XynAd1/2) to 60 degrees C (XynAd2). Substrate-specificity experiments and analysis of the main products released from xylan hydrolysis indicate that both recombinant enzymes act as endo-1, 4-beta-xylanases, but differ in their ability to cleave small xylooligosaccharides.