TARGETING NOVEL CARBOHYDRATE-ACTIVE ENZYMES IN THE GENOME OF THE RUMEN ANAEROBE RUMINOCOCCUS FLAVEFACIENS

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Discovering novel carbohydrate-active enzymes in the cellulosome of anaerobic bacteria

Publication . Fernandes, Vânia Ondina Pedro

Carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) include a range of enzymes that, in nature, make, break or modify glycosidic bonds. CAZymes act on highly recalcitrant polysaccharides, such as cellulose and hemicellulose, and often exhibit a modular architecture including catalytic domains fused through flexible linker regions to non-catalytic domains such as carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs). In some anaerobic bacteria these enzymes can associate in high molecular mass multi-enzyme complexes termed cellulosomes. Cellulosomal organisms express a vast repertoire of plant cell wall degrading enzymes and constitute a promising source for the discovery of novel CAZymes. Presently, an exponential accumulation of genomic and metagenomic information is observed while the identification of the biological role of both genes and proteins of unknown function is sorely lacking. In addition, for most of the known CAZymes, structure and/or biochemical characterization is missing. In this study we have developed innovative approaches for the discovery of novel CAZymes in cellulosomal bacteria and provide a detailed biochemical characterization of some of those enzymes. A high-throughput platform was designed for cloning, expression and production of recombinant cellulosomal proteins in Escherichia coli, aiming at looking for novel cellulosomal CAZymes encoded in the genomes of Clostridium thermocellum and Ruminococcus flavefaciens. As a result, a series of novel prokaryotic expression vectors (pHTP) were constructed to allow ligation-independent cloning with high levels of soluble recombinant protein production. In addition, to allow total automation of the procedure, both novel cell culture media and protein purification methods have been established. The platform allowed the production of 184 cellulosomal proteins of unknown function that after the implementation of an enzyme discovery screen lead to the discovery of a novel family of α-Larabinofuranosidases. In order to achieve recombinant soluble expression in E. coli, novel fusion tags were designed and incorporated into pHTP-derivatives. Both Rf1 and Rf47 tags, derived from cellulosomal components, were shown to display a high capacity to enhance protein solubility, as fusion proteins containing both these tags were expressed at high levels and in the soluble form in E. coli. CBMs were confirmed to affect the catalytic activity of appended CAZymes, as it was illustrated by the CBM32 of CtMan5A. This work revealed that members of family 35 CBM have the capacity to bind β-mannose-containing polymers. The biochemical characterization of PL1A, PL1B and PL9 reported here describes the pectinolytic activity expressed by C. thermocellum cellulosome. These enzymes are appended to CBMs that display considerable ligand promiscuity. The application of β- glucanases in animal feed supplementation was tested either in the free state or while associated in mini-cellulosomes. This study revealed that β-1,3-1,4-glucanases and not β-1,4-glucanases are necessary to improve the nutritive value of barley-based diets for broilers. In addition, it was shown that mini-cellulosomes designed to improve the efficacy of exogenous enzymes used for feed supplementation require an effective mechanism to protect linker regions from proteolytic cleavage.

2015-06Tese de doutoramento

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Entidade financiadora

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Programa de financiamento

OE

Número da atribuição

SFRH/BDE/51101/2010