Mechanisms by which glycoside hydrolases recognize plant, bacterial and yeast polysaccharides

PhD ThesisThe deconstruction of complex carbohydrates by glycoside hydrolases requires extensive enzyme consortia in which specificity is often conferred by accessory modules and domains that are distinct from the active site. The diverse mechanisms of substrate recognition were explored in this thesis using selected yeast, bacterial and plant polysaccharides as example substrates. Carbohydrate binding modules (CBM) are non-catalytic modules that enhance the catalytic activity of their glycoside hydrolase counterparts through binding to polysaccharide. Normally CBMs are found attached to glycoside hydrolases that target insoluble recalcitrant substrates resulting in a moderate, 2-5 fold, potentiation in enzyme activity. A CBM, defined herein as CBMX40, is found at the C-terminal of a glycoside hydrolase family (GH) 32 enzyme, SacC, which displays exo-levanase activity. CBMX40 binds the non-reducing end of the levan chain targeting the disaccharide fructose--fructose unit. Removal of CBMX40 results in a >100-fold decrease in catalytic activity against levan, compared to the full length native enzyme. The truncated SacC catalytic domain acts as a non-specific exo-β-fructosidase displaying similar activity on β2,1- (inulin) and β2,6-linked fructose polymers, both polysaccharides and oligosaccharides. When CBMX40 was fused to a non-related exo-β-fructosidase, BT 3082, it conferred exo-levanase specificity on the enzyme. Thus CBMX40 is not only able to enhance catalytic activity but is also able to confer catalytic specificity. This led to the hypothesis that the CBM and the active site of the enzyme bind to different terminal residues of branched fructans such as levan. This results in enhanced affinity through avidity effects leading to the potentiation of catalytic activity. The gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron contributes to the maintenance of a healthy human gut. B. thetaiotaomicron is able to acquire and utilise complex carbohydrates that are not attacked by the intestinal enzymes of the host. B. thetaiotaomicron dedicates a large proportion of its genome to glycan degradation with a large expansion of α-mannan degrading enzymes. The B. thetaiotaomicron genome encodes 23 GH92 α-mannanosidases and 10 GH76 α-mannanases. While GH92 has recently been characterised the activities displayed by GH76 relies on the characterization of a single enzyme in this family. B. thetaiotaomicron organises the genes required to sense, degrade, transport and utilise specific complex glycans into genetic clusters defined as Polysaccharide Utilisation Loci (PULs). Transcriptomics revealed that two PULs are up regulated in response to yeast mannan, PUL 36 and PUL 68. These PULs contain both GH76 enzymes along with GH92 enzymes and other CAZy annotated enzymes. Biochemical analysis of the GH76 enzymes found in the two PULs show they are α1, 6 mannanases capable of hydrolysing the α1, 6 mannan backbone of yeast mannan, with the putative periplasmic enzymes generating small oligosaccharides, while the surface mannanases releasing larger products. The three GH92 enzymes encoded by the two PULs have been shown to remove α1, 2 and α1, 3 linked mannose branches from yeast mannan polysaccharide. In addition PUL 68 also encodes a phosphatase that removes the phosphate from mannose-6-phosphate and glucose-6-phosphate but not from intact mannan. Therefore, this study describes the ability of B. thetaiotaomicron to target and degrade yeast α-mannans. The GH5 enzyme CtXyl5A from Clostridium thermocellum is an arabinoxylan specific xylanase that contains a GH5 catalytic module appended to several CBMs. The apo structure of the GH5 catalytic module appended to a family 6 CBM reveals a large pocket abutted to the -1 subsite of the active site. This pocket was thought to bind the arabinose decoration appended to the O3 of the xylan backbone. Here mutational and structural studies showed that the fulfilment of arabinose is this pocket is the key specificity determinant for the novel arabinoxylanase activity. Significantly the bound arabinose displayed a pyranose conformation, rather than a furanose structure which is the typical conformation adopted by arabinose side chains in arabinoxylans. This structural information suggests that CtXyl5A may be able to exploit side chains other than arabinofuranose residues as substrate specificity determinants

A β-mannanase with a lysozyme-like fold and a novel molecular catalytic mechanism

The enzymatic cleavage of β-1,4-mannans is achieved by endo-β-1,4-mannanases, enzymes involved in germination of seeds and microbial hemicellulose degradation, and which have increasing industrial and consumer product applications. β- Mannanases occur in a range of families of the CAZy sequence-based glycoside hydrolase (GH) classification scheme including families 5, 26, and 113. In this work we reveal that β- mannanases of the newly described GH family 134 differ from other mannanase families in both their mechanism and tertiary structure. A representative GH family 134 endo-β-1,4-mannanase from a Streptomyces sp. displays a fold closely related to that of hen egg white lysozyme but acts with inversion of stereochemistry. A Michaelis complex with mannopentaose, and a product complex with mannotriose, reveal ligands with pyranose rings distorted in an unusual inverted chair conformation. Ab initio quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics metadynamics quantified the energetically accessible ring conformations and provided evidence in support of a 1C4 → 3H4 ‡ → 3S1 conformational itinerary along the reaction coordinate. This work, in concert with that on GH family 124 cellulases, reveals how the lysozyme fold can be co-opted to catalyze the hydrolysis of different polysaccharides in a mechanistically distinct manner

Human gut Bacteroidetes can utilize yeast mannan through a selfish mechanism

Yeasts, which have been a component of the human diet for at least 7000 years, possess an elaborate cell wall α-mannan. The influence of yeast mannan on the ecology of the human microbiota is unknown. Here we show that yeast α-mannan is a viable food source for Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (Bt), a dominant member of the microbiota. Detailed biochemical analysis and targeted gene disruption studies support a model whereby limited cleavage of α-mannan on the surface generates large oligosaccharides that are subsequently depolymerized to mannose by the action of periplasmic enzymes. Co-culturing studies showed that metabolism of yeast mannan by Bt presents a ‘selfish’ model for the catabolism of this recalcitrant polysaccharide. This report shows how a cohort of highly successful members of the microbiota has evolved to consume sterically-restricted yeast glycans, an adaptation that may reflect the incorporation of eukaryotic microorganisms into the human diet

Diverse specificity of cellulosome attachment to the bacterial cell surface

This work was supported by the EU FP7 programme under the WallTraC project (grant No. 263916) and by projects PTDC/BIA-MIC/5947/2014, RECI/BBB-BEP/0124/2012 and EXPL/BIA-MIC/1176/2012 supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT-MCTES). The Research Unit UCIBIO (Unidade de Ciencias Biomoleculares Aplicadas) is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES EC (UID/Multi/04378/2013) and co-financed by the ERDF under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007728). We thank the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France), Soleil (Saint-Aubin, France) and Diamond Light Source (Harwell, UK) for data collection and the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under BioStruct-X (grant agreement No. 283570, proposal number: Biostruct-X_ 4399) for funding.During the course of evolution, the cellulosome, one of Nature's most intricate multi-enzyme complexes, has been continuously fine-tuned to efficiently deconstruct recalcitrant carbohydrates. To facilitate the uptake of released sugars, anaerobic bacteria use highly ordered protein-protein interactions to recruit these nanomachines to the cell surface. Dockerin modules located within a non-catalytic macromolecular scaffold, whose primary role is to assemble cellulosomal enzymatic subunits, bind cohesin modules of cell envelope proteins, thereby anchoring the cellulosome onto the bacterial cell. Here we have elucidated the unique molecular mechanisms used by anaerobic bacteria for cellulosome cellular attachment. The structure and biochemical analysis of five cohesin-dockerin complexes revealed that cell surface dockerins contain two cohesin-binding interfaces, which can present different or identical specificities. In contrast to the current static model, we propose that dockerins utilize multivalent modes of cohesin recognition to recruit cellulosomes to the cell surface, a mechanism that maximises substrate access while facilitating complex assembly.publishersversionpublishe

A Large Polysaccharide Produced by <i>Helicobacter hepaticus</i> Induces an Anti-inflammatory Gene Signature in Macrophages

Interactions between the host and its microbiota are of mutual benefit and promote health. Complex molecular pathways underlie this dialog, but the identity of microbe-derived molecules that mediate the mutualistic state remains elusive. Helicobacter hepaticus is a member of the mouse intestinal microbiota that is tolerated by the host. In the absence of an intact IL-10 signaling, H. hepaticus induces an IL-23-driven inflammatory response in the intestine. Here we investigate the interactions between H. hepaticus and host immune cells that may promote mutualism, and the microbe-derived molecule(s) involved. Our results show that H. hepaticus triggers early IL-10 induction in intestinal macrophages and produces a large soluble polysaccharide that activates a specific MSK/CREB-dependent anti-inflammatory and repair gene signature via the receptor TLR2. These data identify a host-bacterial interaction that promotes mutualistic mechanisms at the intestinal interface. Further understanding of this pathway may provide novel prevention and treatment strategies for inflammatory bowel disease.We thank the High-Throughput Genomics Group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics for the generation of the Sequencing data. F.F. was supported by Cancer Research UK (OCRC-DPhil13-FF) and N.E.I. by the Kennedy Trust (KENN 15 16 03). M.M.-L. received a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport. This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust UK (095688/Z/11/Z), an ERC grant (Advanced Grant Ares(2013)3687660), and the Fondation Louis JeantetS

Human gut Bacteroidetes can utilize yeast mannan through a selfish mechanism

Yeasts, which have been a component of the human diet for at least 7,000 years, possess an elaborate cell wall α-mannan. The influence of yeast mannan on the ecology of the human microbiota is unknown. Here we show that yeast α-mannan is a viable food source for the Gram-negative bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a dominant member of the microbiota. Detailed biochemical analysis and targeted gene disruption studies support a model whereby limited cleavage of α-mannan on the surface generates large oligosaccharides that are subsequently depolymerized to mannose by the action of periplasmic enzymes. Co-culturing studies showed that metabolism of yeast mannan by B. thetaiotaomicron presents a ‘selfish’ model for the catabolism of this difficult to breakdown polysaccharide. Genomic comparison with B. thetaiotaomicron in conjunction with cell culture studies show that a cohort of highly successful members of the microbiota has evolved to consume sterically-restricted yeast glycans, an adaptation that may reflect the incorporation of eukaryotic microorganisms into the human diet

The GH130 family of mannoside phosphorylases contains glycoside hydrolases that target beta-1,2 mannosidic linkages in Candida mannan

In pressThe depolymerization of complex glycans is an important biological process that is of considerable interest to environmentally relevant industries. Bêta-mannose is a major component of plant structural polysaccharides and eukaryotic N-glycans. These linkages are primarily cleaved by glycoside hydrolases, although a family of glycoside phosphorylases, GH130, have also been shown to target Bêta-1,2 and Bêta-1,4 mannosidic linkages. In these phosphorylases bond cleavage was mediated by a single displacement reaction in which phosphate functions as the catalytic nucleophile. A cohort of GH130 enzymes, however, lack the conserved basic residues that bind the phosphate nucleophile, and it was proposed that these enzymes function as glycoside hydrolases. Here we show that two Bacteroides enzymes, BT3780 and BACOVA_03624, which lack the phosphate binding residues are indeed Bêta-mannosidases that hydrolyse Bêta-1,2-mannosidic linkages through an inverting mechanism. As the genes encoding these enzymes are located in genetic loci that orchestrate the depolymerisation of yeast α-mannans, it is likely that the two enzymes target the Bêta-1,2- mannose residues that cap the glycan produced by Candida albicans. The crystal structure of BT3780 in complex with mannose bound in the -1 and +1 subsites showed a pair of glutamates, Glu227 and Glu268 hydrogen bond to O1 of Bêta-mannose, and either of these residues may function as the catalytic base. The candidate catalytic acid and the other residues that interact with the active site mannose are conserved in both GH130 mannoside phosphorylases and Bêta- 1,2-mannosidases. Functional phylogeny identified a conserved lysine, Lys199 in BT3780, as a key specificity determinant for Bêta-1,2-mannosidic linkages

How nature can exploit nonspecific catalytic and carbohydrate binding modules to create enzymatic specificity

Noncatalytic carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) are components of glycoside hydrolases that attack generally inaccessible substrates. CBMs mediate a two-to fivefold elevation in the activity of endo-acting enzymes, likely through increasing the concentration of the appended enzymes in the vicinity of the substrate. The function of CBMs appended to exo-acting glycoside hydrolases is unclear because their typical endo-binding mode would not fulfill a targeting role. Here we show that the Bacillus subtilis exo-acting beta-fructosidase SacC, which specifically hydrolyses levan, contains the founding member of CBM family 66 (CBM66). The SacC-derived CBM66 (BsCBM66) targets the terminal fructosides of the major fructans found in nature. The crystal structure of BsCBM66 in complex with ligands reveals extensive interactions with the terminal fructose moiety (Fru-3) of levantriose but only limited hydrophobic contacts with Fru-2, explaining why the CBM displays broad specificity. Removal of BsCBM66 from SacC results in a similar to 100-fold reduction in activity against levan. The truncated enzyme functions as a nonspecific beta-fructosidase displaying similar activity against beta-2,1- and beta-2,6-linked fructans and their respective fructooligosaccharides. Conversely, appending BsCBM66 to BT3082, a nonspecific beta-fructosidase from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, confers exolevanase activity on the enzyme. We propose that BsCBM66 confers specificity for levan, a branched fructan, through an "avidity" mechanism in which the CBM and the catalytic module target the termini of different branches of the same polysaccharide molecule. This report identifies a unique mechanism by which CBMs modulate enzyme function, and shows how specificity can be tailored by integrating nonspecific catalytic and binding modules into a single enzyme.</p

How nature can exploit nonspecific catalytic and carbohydrate binding modules to create enzymatic specificity

Noncatalytic carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) are components of glycoside hydrolases that attack generally inaccessible substrates. CBMs mediate a two- to fivefold elevation in the activity of endo-acting enzymes, likely through increasing the concentration of the appended enzymes in the vicinity of the substrate. The function of CBMs appended to exo-acting glycoside hydrolases is unclear because their typical endo-binding mode would not fulfill a targeting role. Here we show that the Bacillus subtilis exo-acting β-fructosidase SacC, which specifically hydrolyses levan, contains the founding member of CBM family 66 (CBM66). The SacC-derived CBM66 (BsCBM66) targets the terminal fructosides of the major fructans found in nature. The crystal structure of BsCBM66 in complex with ligands reveals extensive interactions with the terminal fructose moiety (Fru-3) of levantriose but only limited hydrophobic contacts with Fru-2, explaining why the CBM displays broad specificity. Removal of BsCBM66 from SacC results in a �100-fold reduction in activity against levan. The truncated enzyme functions as a nonspecific β-fructosidase displaying similar activity against β-2,1- and β-2,6-linked fructans and their respective fructooligosaccharides. Conversely, appending BsCBM66 to BT3082, a nonspecific β-fructosidase from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, confers exolevanase activity on the enzyme. We propose that BsCBM66 confers specificity for levan, a branched fructan, through an "avidity" mechanism in which the CBM and the catalytic module target the termini of different branches of the same polysaccharide molecule. This report identifies a unique mechanism by which CBMs modulate enzyme function, and shows how specificity can be tailored by integrating nonspecific catalytic and binding modules into a single enzyme