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Cellodextrin phosphorylase (CDP) plays a key role in energy-efficient cellulose metabolism of anaerobic bacteria by catalyzing phosphorolysis of cellodextrin to produce cellobiose and glucose 1-phosphate, which can be utilized for glycolysis without consumption of additional ATP. As the enzymatic phosphorolysis reaction is reversible, CDP is also employed to produce cellulosic materials in vitro. However, the enzyme is rapidly inactivated by oxidation, which hinders in vitro utilization in aerobic environments. It has been suggested that the cysteine residues of CDP, which do not form disulfide bonds, are responsible for the loss of activity, and the aim of the present work was to test this idea. For this purpose, we replaced all 11 free cysteine residues of CDP from Acetivibrio thermocellus (formerly known as Clostridium thermocellum) with serine, which structurally resembles cysteine in our previous work. Herein, we show that the resulting CDP variant, named CDP-CS, has comparable activity to the wild-type enzyme, but shows increased stability to oxidation during long-term storage. X-Ray crystallography indicated that the mutations did not markedly alter the overall structure of the enzyme. Ensemble refinement of the crystal structures of CDP and CDP-CS indicated that the C372S and C625S mutations reduce structural fluctuations in the protein main chain, which may contribute to the increased stability of CDPCS to oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Yarrowia lipolytica, one of the most charming chassis cells in synthetic biology, is unable to use xylose and cellodextrins. Results Herein, we present work to tackle for the first time the engineering of Y. lipolytica to produce lipids from cellodextrins and xylose by employing rational and combinatorial strategies. This includes constructing a cellodextrin-phosphorolytic Y. lipolytica by overexpressing Neurospora crassa cellodextrin transporter, Clostridium thermocellum cellobiose/cellodextrin phosphorylase and Saccharomyces cerevisiae phosphoglucomutase. The effect of glucose repression on xylose consumption was relieved by installing a xylose uptake facilitator combined with enhanced PPP pathway and increased cytoplasmic NADPH supply. Further enhancing lipid production and interrupting its consumption conferred the obese phenotype to the engineered yeast. The strain is able to co-ferment glucose, xylose and cellodextrins efficiently, achieving a similar μmax of 0.19 h−1, a qs of 0.34 g-s/g-DCW/h and a YX/S of 0.54 DCW-g/g-s on these substrates, and an accumulation of up to 40% of lipids on the sugar mixture and on wheat straw hydrolysate. Conclusions Therefore, engineering Y. lipolytica capable of assimilating xylose and cellodextrins is a vital step towards a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process of LC biomass, allowing improved substrate conversion rate and reduced production cost due to low demand of external glucosidase.

Background: Yarrowia lipolytica, one of the most charming chassis cells in synthetic biology, is unable to use xylose and cellodextrins. Results: Herein, we present work to tackle for the first time the engineering of Y. lipolytica to produce lipids from cellodextrins and xylose by employing rational and combinatorial strategies. This includes constructing a cellodextrin-phosphorolytic Y. lipolytica by overexpressing Neurospora crassa cellodextrin transporter, Clostridium thermocellum cellobiose/cellodextrin phosphorylase and Saccharomyces cerevisiae phosphoglucomutase. The effect of glucose repression on xylose consumption was relieved by installing a xylose uptake facilitator combined with enhanced PPP pathway and increased cytoplasmic NADPH supply. Further enhancing lipid production and interrupting its consumption conferred the obese phenotype to the engineered yeast. The strain is able to co-ferment glucose, xylose and cellodextrins efficiently, achieving a similar μmax of 0.19 h−1, a qs of 0.34 g-s/g-DCW/h and a YX/S of 0.54 DCW-g/g-s on these substrates, and an accumulation of up to 40% of lipids on the sugar mixture and on wheat straw hydrolysate. Conclusions: Therefore, engineering Y. lipolytica capable of assimilating xylose and cellodextrins is a vital step towards a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process of LC biomass, allowing improved substrate conversion rate and reduced production cost due to low demand of external glucosidase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background In anaerobic cellulolytic micro-organisms, cellulolysis results in the action of several cellulases gathered in extracellular multi-enzyme complexes called cellulosomes. Their action releases cellobiose and longer cellodextrins which are imported and further degraded in the cytosol to fuel the cells. In Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum, an anaerobic and cellulolytic mesophilic bacteria, three cellodextrin phosphorylases named CdpA, CdpB, and CdpC, were identified in addition to the cellobiose phosphorylase (CbpA) previously characterized. The present study aimed at characterizing them, exploring their implication during growth on cellulose to better understand the life-style of cellulolytic bacteria on such substrate. Results The three cellodextrin phosphorylases from R. cellulolyticum displayed marked different enzymatic characteristics. They are specific for cellodextrins of different lengths and present different k cat values. CdpC is the most active enzyme before CdpA, and CdpB is weakly active. Modeling studies revealed that a mutation of a conserved histidine residue in the phosphate ion-binding pocket in CdpB and CdpC might explain their activity-level differences. The genes encoding these enzymes are scattered over the chromosome of R. cellulolyticum and only the expression of the gene encoding the cellobiose phosphorylase and the gene cdpA is induced during cellulose growth. Characterization of four independent mutants constructed in R. cellulolyticum for each of the cellobiose and cellodextrin phosphorylases encoding genes indicated that only the cellobiose phosphorylase is essential for growth on cellulose. Conclusions Unexpectedly, the cellobiose phosphorylase but not the cellodextrin phosphorylases is essential for the growth of the model bacterium on cellulose. This suggests that the bacterium adopts a “short” dextrin strategy to grow on cellulose, even though the use of long cellodextrins might be more energy-saving. Our results suggest marked differences in the cellulose catabolism developed among cellulolytic bacteria, which is a result that might impact the design of future engineered strains for biomass-to-biofuel conversion.

Understanding the fine details of the self‐assembly of building blocks into complex hierarchical structures represents a major challenge en route to the design and preparation of soft‐matter materials with specific properties. Enzymatically synthesised cellodextrins are known to have limited water solubility beyond DP9, a point at which they self‐assemble into particles resembling the antiparallel cellulose II crystalline packing. We have prepared and characterised a series of site‐selectively fluorinated cellodextrins with different degrees of fluorination and substitution patterns by chemoenzymatic synthesis. Bearing in mind the potential disruption of the hydrogen‐bond network of cellulose II, we have prepared and characterised a multiply 6‐fluorinated cellodextrin. In addition, a series of single site‐selectively fluorinated cellodextrins was synthesised to assess the structural impact upon the addition of one fluorine atom per chain. The structural characterisation of these materials at different length scales, combining advanced NMR spectroscopy and microscopy methods, showed that a 6‐fluorinated donor substrate yielded multiply 6‐fluorinated cellodextrin chains that assembled into particles presenting morphological and crystallinity features, and intermolecular interactions, that are unprecedented for cellulose‐like materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment and cellulose dissolution are principal challenges for its conversion to high-value chemicals, materials and fuels. This work focused on production of soluble cellooligosaccharides (COS) from palm bunch for future use as nutraceutical supplement to enhance human's immune and digestive systems. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been found as eco-friendly, renewable and promising solvents selective for lignin and hemicellulose removal from biomass. Additionally, the investigation of most suitable DES for both cellulose dissolution and subsequently cleavage of cellulose to COS is crucial. In the study, palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) was pretreated in different DES for screening of most favorable cellulose inter- and intra-molecular structural dissolution in a combination with beta,1–4 glycosidic bond cleavage by elevated reaction temperature for COS production. ChCl/urea was found to be the most promising DES for dissolving 76.83% of EFB constituents. The highest COS production yield at 90.1%w/w based on treated EFB fraction (74.7% COS yield based on cellulose in native EFB) was achieved in ChCl/urea DES from cellulose fraction extracted from EFB at 240 °C for 20 min. The study additionally provided insightful characterization and elucidation of COS molecular structure using 2D-HSQC and MALDI-TOF/MS techniques. MALDI-TOF/MS was a promising and rapid technique for simultaneously qualitative and quantitative analysis of COS at different degrees of polymerization in COS product. • DESs dissolve and cleave cellulose chain under elevated temperature for COS production. • ChCl/Urea provided highest cellulose dissolution among other deep eutectic solvents. • 90.9% COS with DP2 to DP6 were produced from cellulose-rich fraction from EFB. • Optimal temperature for COS production with DP3 to DP6 was 240 °C in ChCl/Urea. • Simultaneous quantification and qualification of COS can be done by MALDI-TOF/MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Like a number of anaerobic and cellulolytic Gram-positive bacteria, the model microorganism Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum produces extracellular multi-enzymatic complexes called cellulosomes, which efficiently degrade the crystalline cellulose. Action of the complexes on cellulose releases cellobiose and longer cellodextrins but to date, little is known about the transport and utilization of the produced cellodextrins in the bacterium. A better understanding of the uptake systems and fermentation of sugars derived from cellulose could have a major impact in the field of biofuels production. Results We characterized a putative ABC transporter devoted to cellodextrins uptake, and a cellobiose phosphorylase (CbpA) in R. cellulolyticum. The genes encoding the components of the ABC transporter (a binding protein CuaA and two integral membrane proteins) and CbpA are expressed as a polycistronic transcriptional unit induced in the presence of cellobiose. Upstream, another polycistronic transcriptional unit encodes a two-component system (sensor and regulator), and a second binding protein CuaD, and is constitutively expressed. The products might form a three-component system inducing the expression of cuaABC and cbpA since we showed that CuaR is able to recognize the region upstream of cuaA. Biochemical analysis showed that CbpA is a strict cellobiose phosphorylase inactive on longer cellodextrins; CuaA binds to all cellodextrins (G2–G5) tested, whereas CuaD is specific to cellobiose and presents a higher affinity to this sugar. This results are in agreement with their function in transport and signalization, respectively. Characterization of a cuaD mutant, and its derivatives, indicated that the ABC transporter and CbpA are essential for growth on cellobiose and cellulose. Conclusions For the first time in a Gram-positive strain, we identified a three-component system and a conjugated ABC transporter/cellobiose phosphorylase system which was shown to be essential for the growth of the model cellulolytic bacterium R. cellulolyticum on cellobiose and cellulose. This efficient and energy-saving system of transport and phosphorolysis appears to be the major cellobiose utilization pathway in R. cellulolyticum, and seems well adapted to cellulolytic life-style strain. It represents a new way to enable engineered strains to utilize cellodextrins for the production of biofuels or chemicals of interest from cellulose.

Summary: The plant cell wall is the barrier that pathogens must overcome to cause a disease, and to this end they secrete enzymes that degrade the various cell wall components. Due to the complexity of these components, several types of oligosaccharide fragments may be released during pathogenesis and some of these can act as damage‐associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Well‐known DAMPs are the oligogalacturonides (OGs) released upon degradation of homogalacturonan and the products of cellulose breakdown, i.e. the cellodextrins (CDs). We have previously reported that four Arabidopsis berberine bridge enzyme‐like (BBE‐like) proteins (OGOX1–4) oxidize OGs and impair their elicitor activity. We show here that another Arabidopsis BBE‐like protein, which is expressed coordinately with OGOX1 during immunity, specifically oxidizes CDs with a preference for cellotriose (CD3) and longer fragments (CD4–CD6). Oxidized CDs show a negligible elicitor activity and are less easily utilized as a carbon source by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. The enzyme, named CELLOX (cellodextrin oxidase), is encoded by the gene At4 g20860. Plants overexpressing CELLOX display an enhanced resistance to B. cinerea, probably because oxidized CDs are a less valuable carbon source. Thus, the capacity to oxidize and impair the biological activity of cell wall‐derived oligosaccharides seems to be a general trait of the family of BBE‐like proteins, which may serve to homeostatically control the level of DAMPs to prevent their hyperaccumulation. Significance Statement: This paper uncovers the activity of a member of the gene family encoding the berberine bridge enzyme‐like (BBE‐like) proteins. It encodes a specific oxidase that impairs the damage‐associated molecular pattern (DAMP) activity of cellodextrins and plays a role in immunity. The oxidation and inactivation of DAMPs seem to be general and important functions of several BBE‐like proteins and this work opens up avenues for the study of the physiological role and evolution of this family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Extra and intracellular cellobiose hydrolysis by Saccharomyces was analyzed. • The bottleneck for efficient intracellular cellobiose fermentation is sugar intake. • Ten sugar permeases from Trichoderma reesei were assayed in Saccharomyces. • Only one assayed sugar permease had cellobiose transport activity in Saccharomyces. • Extracellular cellobiose hydrolysis outperformed intracellular fermentation. Abstract A prevalent procedure for the production of second generation bioethanol makes use of engineered yeast strains capable to hydrolyze cellobiose either in the cytosol or extracellularly. These two approaches have been compared in this study. For intracellular cellobiose hydrolysis, we initially tested three recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that produced different cytosolic β-glucosidases and the cellodextrin transporter Po_CdtC from Penicillium oxalicum. The strain coexpressing Po_CdtC and the β-glucosidase from Neurospora crassa (NcBgl) showed the highest cellobiase activity but its growth in cellobiose was limited by sugar intake. A search of alternative cellobiose permeases was carried out among putative sugar transporters from Trichoderma reesei. Ten candidates were selected by sequence similarity with previously characterized fungal cellobiose permeases. Only one of them (Tr_StrC) was able to support yeast growth in cellobiose. Strains NcBgl/PoCdtC and NcBgl/TrStrC were compared to a yeast transformant (T500) that produced the extracellular β-glucosidase from Saccharomycopsis fibuligera , in terms of cellobiose fermentation. Extracellular hydrolysis resulted in faster cellobiose fermentation rates and higher ethanol yields. The strain producing extracellular β-glucosidase was also more efficient for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of cellulose. The main targets to improve cellobiose fermentation through both strategies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross‐linking of phosphoric acid doped polybenzimidazole membranes as fuel cell electrolytes represents an attractive approach to improving the mechanical robustness at a high acid loading. Numerous cross‐linking concepts have been reported in the literature, but a deeper understanding of how the cross‐linking chemistry affects the physicochemical properties of the membrane and its fuel cell performance and durability remains to be assessed. In this work, a series of cross‐linked membranes are prepared using cross‐linking agents of different regio‐chemistry and steric nature. It is shown, that the nature of the cross‐linking agent has a large impact on the effective degree of cross‐linking, which in turn determines the acid doping characteristics and ultimately the fuel cell performance and acid retention during long‐term operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of vinyl-based oligocelluloses using cellodextrin phosphorylase as biocatalyst in buffer solution is presented. Various types of vinyl glucosides bearing (meth)acrylates/(meth)acrylamides functionalities served as the glucosyl acceptor in the enzyme catalyzed reverse phosphorolysis reaction and α-glucose 1-phosphate as the glucosyl donor. The enzymatic reaction was followed by thin layer chromatography and the isolated product yields were about 65%. The synthesized vinyl-based oligocelluloses had an average number of repeating glucosyl units and a number average molecular weight up to 8.9 and 1553 g mol −1 , respectively. The majority of the bonds at the alpha position of acrylate units in oligocellulosyl-ethyl acrylate was fragmented as characterized by 1 H NMR spectroscopy and MALDI-ToF spectrometry. Nevertheless, a minor amount of fragmentation was observed in oligocellulosyl-ethyl methacrylate and oligocellulosyl-butyl acrylate but no fragmentation was detected in the (meth)acrylamide-based oligocelluloses. Crystal lattice of the prepared vinyl-based oligocelluloses was investigated via wide-angle X-ray diffraction experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient conversion of cellulosic sugars in cellulosic hydrolysates is important for economically viable production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass, but the goal remains a critical challenge. The present study reports a new approach for simultaneous fermentation of cellobiose and xylose by using the co-culture consisting of recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae specialist strains. The co-culture system can provide competitive advantage of modularity compared to the single culture system and can be tuned to deal with fluctuations in feedstock composition to achieve robust and cost-effective biofuel production. This study characterized fermentation kinetics of the recombinant cellobiose-consuming S. cerevisiae strain EJ2, xylose-consuming S. cerevisiae strain SR8, and their co-culture. The motivation for kinetic modeling was to provide guidance and prediction of using the co-culture system for simultaneous fermentation of mixed sugars with adjustable biomass of each specialist strain under different substrate concentrations. The kinetic model for the co-culture system was developed based on the pure culture models and incorporated the effects of product inhibition, initial substrate concentration and inoculum size. The model simulations were validated by results from independent fermentation experiments under different substrate conditions, and good agreement was found between model predictions and experimental data from batch fermentation of cellobiose, xylose and their mixtures. Additionally, with the guidance of model prediction, simultaneous co-fermentation of 60 g/L cellobiose and 20 g/L xylose was achieved with the initial cell densities of 0.45 g dry cell weight /L for EJ2 and 0.9 g dry cell weight /L SR8. The results demonstrated that the kinetic modeling could be used to guide the design and optimization of yeast co-culture conditions for achieving simultaneous fermentation of cellobiose and xylose with improved ethanol productivity, which is critically important for robust and efficient renewable biofuel production from lignocellulosic biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To efficiently ferment intermediate cellodextrins released during cellulose hydrolysis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been engineered by introduction of a heterologous cellodextrin utilizing pathway consisting of a cellodextrin transporter and either an intracellular β-glucosidase or a cellobiose phosphorylase. Among two types of cellodextrin transporters, the passive facilitator CDT-2 has not enabled better cellobiose fermentation than the active transporter CDT-1, which suggests that the CDT-2 might be engineered to provide energetic benefits over the active transporter in cellobiose fermentation. We attempted to improve cellobiose transporting activity of CDT-2 through laboratory evolution. Nine rounds of a serial subculture of S. cerevisiae expressing CDT-2 and cellobiose phosphorylase on cellobiose led to the isolation of an evolved strain capable of fermenting cellobiose to ethanol 10-fold faster than the original strain. After sequence analysis of the isolated CDT-2, a single point mutation on CDT-2 (N306I) was revealed to be responsible for enhanced cellobiose fermentation. Also, the engineered strain expressing the mutant CDT-2 with cellobiose phosphorylase showed a higher ethanol yield than the engineered strain expressing CDT-1 and intracellular β-glucosidase under anaerobic conditions, suggesting that CDT-2 coupled with cellobiose phosphorylase may be better choices for efficient production of cellulosic ethanol with the engineered yeast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hindgut homogenates of the termite Reticulitermes santonensis were incubated with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), crystalline celluloses or xylan substrates. Hydrolysates were analyzed with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The method was first set up using acid hydrolysis analysis to characterize non-enzymatic profiles. Commercial enzymes of Trichoderma reesei or T. longibrachiatum were also tested to validate the enzymatic hydrolysis analysis. For CMC hydrolysis, data processing and visual display were optimized to obtain comprehensive profiles and allow rapid comparison and evaluation of enzymatic selectivity, according to the number of substituents of each hydrolysis product. Oligosaccharides with degrees of polymerization (DPs) ranging from three to 12 were measured from CMC and the enzymatic selectivity was demonstrated. Neutral and acidic xylo-oligosaccharides with DPs ranging from three to 11 were measured from xylan substrate. These results are of interest for lignocellulose biomass valorization and demonstrated the potential of termites and their symbiotic microbiota as a source of interesting enzymes for oligosaccharides production.

The GH94 glycoside hydrolase cellodextrin phosphorylase (CDP, EC 2.4.1.49) produces cellodextrin oligomers from short β-1→4-glucans and α-D-glucose 1-phosphate. Compared to cellobiose phosphorylase (CBP), which produces cellobiose from glucose and α-D-glucose 1-phosphate, CDP is biochemically less well characterised. Herein, we investigate the donor and acceptor substrate specificity of recombinant CDP from Ruminiclostridium thermocellum and we isolate and characterise a glucosamine addition product to the cellobiose acceptor with the non-natural donor α-D-glucosamine 1-phosphate. In addition, we report the first X-ray crystal structure of CDP, along with comparison to the available structures from CBPs and other closely related enzymes, which contributes to understanding of the key structural features necessary to discriminate between monosaccharide (CBP) and oligosaccharide (CDP) acceptor substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Like a number of anaerobic and cellulolytic Gram-positive bacteria, the model microorganism Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum produces extracellular multi-enzymatic complexes called cellulosomes, which efficiently degrade the crystalline cellulose. Action of the complexes on cellulose releases cellobiose and longer cellodextrins but to date, little is known about the transport and utilization of the produced cellodextrins in the bacterium. A better understanding of the uptake systems and fermentation of sugars derived from cellulose could have a major impact in the field of biofuels production. Results: We characterized a putative ABC transporter devoted to cellodextrins uptake, and a cellobiose phosphorylase (CbpA) in R. cellulolyticum. The genes encoding the components of the ABC transporter (a binding protein CuaA and two integral membrane proteins) and CbpA are expressed as a polycistronic transcriptional unit induced in the presence of cellobiose. Upstream, another polycistronic transcriptional unit encodes a two-component system (sensor and regulator), and a second binding protein CuaD, and is constitutively expressed. The products might form a three-component system inducing the expression of cuaABC and cbpA since we showed that CuaR is able to recognize the region upstream of cuaA. Biochemical analysis showed that CbpA is a strict cellobiose phosphorylase inactive on longer cellodextrins; CuaA binds to all cellodextrins (G2-G5) tested, whereas CuaD is specific to cellobiose and presents a higher affinity to this sugar. This results are in agreement with their function in transport and signalization, respectively. Characterization of a cuaD mutant, and its derivatives, indicated that the ABC transporter and CbpA are essential for growth on cellobiose and cellulose. Conclusions: For the first time in a Gram-positive strain, we identified a three-component system and a conjugated ABC transporter/cellobiose phosphorylase system which was shown to be essential for the growth of the model cellulolytic bacterium R. cellulolyticum on cellobiose and cellulose. This efficient and energy-saving system of transport and phosphorolysis appears to be the major cellobiose utilization pathway in R. cellulolyticum, and seems well adapted to cellulolytic life-style strain. It represents a new way to enable engineered strains to utilize cellodextrins for the production of biofuels or chemicals of interest from cellulose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complete hydrolysis of cellulose has been a key characteristic of biomass technology because of the limitation of industrial production hosts to use cellodextrin, the partial hydrolysis product of cellulose. Cellobiose, a β -1,4-linked glucose dimer, is a major cellodextrin of the enzymatic hydrolysis (via endoglucanase and exoglucanase) of cellulose. Conversion of cellobiose to glucose is executed by β -glucosidase. The complete extracellular hydrolysis of celluloses has several critical barriers in biomass technology. An alternative bioengineering strategy to make the bioprocessing less challenging is to engineer microbes with the abilities to hydrolyze and assimilate the cellulosic-hydrolysate cellodextrin. Microorganisms engineered to metabolize cellobiose rather than the monomeric glucose can provide several advantages for lignocellulose-based biorefineries. This review describes the recent advances and challenges in engineering efficient intracellular cellobiose metabolism in industrial hosts. This review also describes the limitations of and future prospectives in engineering intracellular cellobiose metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides new insights into the solvent effect of gamma-valerolactone (GVL) during hydrothermal decomposition of cellobiose at 150-200 °C in GVL/water mixtures. It was found that GVL addition (even at a small concentration of 0.03%) strongly suppresses the isomerization reaction, which is the dominant primary reaction of cellobiose decomposition in water. In GVL/water mixtures, the selectivity of primary hydrolysis reaction rapidly increases from ~10% to ~80% when the GVL concentration increases from 0 to 10%. Due to the enhanced hydrolysis reaction in GVL/water mixtures, this study achieves a maximal glucose yield of ~66%, which is the highest glucose yield reported so far from cellobiose decomposition under acid-free conditions. The results clearly demonstrate that, in comparison to water only, GVL/water solvent is a promising reaction medium for glucose recovery under acid-free conditions, obviously due to the significantly enhanced hydrolysis reaction and suppressed isomerization reaction in GVL/water mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in vitro enzymatic synthesis of cellulose and its derivatives has attracted growing interest for fabricating novel cellulose-based supramolecular assemblies with unique physicochemical and functional properties. However, their potential biomedical applications have not been sufficiently demonstrated despite their useful features of designable structures and tailor-made surface functionalities. Herein, we demonstrated the production of crystalline nanoribbons composed of cellulose oligomer derivatives with primary amino groups via cellodextrin phosphorylase-catalyzed single-step reactions using α-d-glucose l-phosphate monomers and 2-aminoethyl-β-d-glucoside primers. Then, the fundamental properties of protein adsorption onto the surface-aminated nanoribbons were systematically investigated. It was found that the primary amino groups on the nanoribbon surfaces effectively attracted negatively charged proteins but not positively charged ones. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the nanoribbons did not show apparent cytotoxicity against cultured cells. Taken together, our findings open a new avenue for the facile production of cellulose-based supramolecular assemblies with tailor-made functionality for future biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degradation of polysaccharides forms an essential arc in the carbon cycle, provides a percentage of our daily caloric intake, and is a major driver in the renewable chemical industry. Microorganisms proficient at degrading insoluble polysaccharides possess large numbers of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes), many of which have been categorized as functionally redundant. Here we present data that suggests that CAZymes that have overlapping enzymatic activities can have unique, non-overlapping biological functions in the cell. Our comprehensive study to understand cellodextrin utilization in the soil saprophyte Cellvibrio japonicus found that only one of four predicted β-glucosidases is required in a physiological context. Gene deletion analysis indicated that only the cel3B gene product is essential for efficient cellodextrin utilization in C. japonicus and is constitutively expressed at high levels. Interestingly, expression of individual β-glucosidases in Escherichia coli K-12 enabled this non-cellulolytic bacterium to be fully capable of using cellobiose as a sole carbon source. Furthermore, enzyme kinetic studies indicated that the Cel3A enzyme is significantly more active than the Cel3B enzyme on the oligosaccharides but not disaccharides. Our approach for parsing related CAZymes to determine actual physiological roles in the cell can be applied to other polysaccharide-degradation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytophaga hutchinsonii is a gram-negative bacterium that can efficiently degrade crystalline cellulose by a novel strategy without cell-free cellulases or cellulosomes. Genomic analysis implied that C. hutchinsonii had endoglucanases and β-glucosidases but no exoglucanases which could processively digest cellulose and produce cellobiose. In this study, BglA was functionally expressed in Escherichia coli and found to be a β-glucosidase with wide substrate specificity. It can hydrolyze pNPG, pNPC, cellobiose, and cellodextrins. Moreover, unlike most β-glucosidases whose activity greatly decreases with increasing length of the substrate chains, BglA has similar activity on cellobiose and larger cellodextrins. The K values of BglA on cellobiose, cellotriose, and cellotetraose were calculated to be 4.8 × 10, 5.6 × 10, and 5.3 × 10 mol/l, respectively. These properties give BglA a great advantage to cooperate with endoglucanases in C. hutchinsonii in cellulose degradation. We proposed that C. hutchinsonii could utilize a simple cellulase system which consists of endoglucanases and β-glucosidases to completely digest amorphous cellulose into glucose. Moreover, BglA was also found to be highly tolerant to glucose as it retained 40 % activity when the concentration of glucose was 100 times higher than that of the substrate, showing potential application in the bioenergy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) is an extracellular enzyme produced by lignocellulolytic fungi. cdh gene expression is high in cellulose containing media, but relatively low CDH concentrations are found in the supernatant of fungal cultures due to strong binding to cellulose. Therefore, heterologous expression of CDH in Pichia pastoris was employed in the last 15 years, but the obtained enzymes were over glycosylated and had a reduced specific activity. Results: We compare the well-established CDH expression host P. pastoris with the less frequently used hosts Escherichia coli, Aspergillus niger, and Trichoderma reesei. The study evaluates the produced quantity and protein homogeneity of Corynascus thermophilus CDH in the culture supernatants, the purification, and finally compares the enzymes in regard to cofactor loading, glycosylation, catalytic constants and thermostability. Conclusions: Whereas E. coli could only express the catalytic dehydrogenase domain of CDH, all eukaryotic hosts could express full length CDH including the cytochrome domain. The CDH produced by T. reesei was most similar to the CDH originally isolated from the fungus C. thermophilus in regard to glycosylation, cofactor loading and catalytic constants. Under the tested experimental conditions the fungal expression hosts produce CDH of superior quality and uniformity compared to P. pastoris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) is a fungal extracellular oxidoreductase which fuels lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase with electrons during cellulose degradation. Interdomain electron transfer between the flavin and cytochrome domain in CDH, preceding the electron flow to lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase, is known to be pH dependent, but the exact mechanism of this regulation has not been experimentally proven so far. Methods To investigate the structural aspects underlying the domain interaction in CDH, hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX-MS) with improved proteolytic setup (combination of nepenthesin-1 with rhizopuspepsin), native mass spectrometry with ion mobility and electrostatics calculations were used. Results HDX-MS revealed pH-dependent changes in solvent accessibility and hydrogen bonding at the interdomain interface. Electrostatics calculations identified these differences to result from charge neutralization by protonation and together with ion mobility pointed at higher electrostatic repulsion between CDH domains at neutral pH. In addition, we uncovered extensive O-glycosylation in the linker region and identified the long-unknown exact cleavage point in papain-mediated domain separation. Conclusions Transition of CDH between its inactive (open) and interdomain electron transfer-capable (closed) state is shown to be governed by changes in the protein surface electrostatics at the domain interface. Our study confirms that the interdomain electrostatic repulsion is the key factor modulating the functioning of CDH. General significance The results presented in this paper provide experimental evidence for the role of charge repulsion in the interdomain electron transfer in cellobiose dehydrogenases, which is relevant for exploiting their biotechnological potential in biosensors and biofuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactose is often considered an unwanted and wasted byproduct, particularly lactose trapped in acid whey from yogurt production. But using specialized microbial fermentation, the surplus wasted acid whey could be converted into value-added chemicals. The baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is commonly used for industrial fermentation, cannot natively ferment lactose. The present study describes how an engineered S. cerevisiae yeast was constructed to produce lactic acid from purified lactose, whey, or dairy milk. Lactic acid is an excellent proof-of-concept chemical to produce from lactose, because lactic acid has many food, pharmaceutical, and industrial uses, and over 250,000 t are produced for industrial use annually. To ferment the milk sugar lactose, a cellodextrin transporter (CDT-1, which also transports lactose) and a β-glucosidase (GH1-1, which also acts as a β-galactosidase) from Neurospora crassa were expressed in a S. cerevisiae strain. A heterologous lactate dehydrogenase (encoded by ldhA) from the fungus Rhizopus oryzae was integrated into the CDT-1/GH1-1-expressing strain of S. cerevisiae. As a result, the engineered strain was able to produce lactic acid from purified lactose, whey, and store-bought milk. A lactic acid yield of 0.358 g/g of lactose was achieved from whey fermentation, providing an initial proof of concept for the production of value-added chemicals from excess industrial whey using engineered yeast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent findings indicate there is only a small window of sulfuric acid concentration (60-65 %) and temperature (45-65 °C) which allows efficient extraction of cellulose nanocrystals in significant quantities from bleached chemical pulp. In the present report, we develop a systematic explanation for how hydrolysis temperature, at a specific acid concentration, governs CNC surface properties. We demonstrate that CNCs with different suspension viscosity, stability in electrolyte-containing solutions, and optical properties can be produced, based on the presence or not of a precipitated oligosaccharide layer (OSL) on the surface of the nanocrystals. At hydrolysis temperatures below 65 °C, the degree of polymerization (DP) distribution of cellulose chains in CNC samples exhibits a bimodal distribution, indicating an accumulation of oligosaccharides on the CNC surface which increases as the hydrolysis temperature is decreased. At low hydrolysis temperature (45 °C), the oligosaccharides dissolved in the strong acid phase have a DP between 7 and 20 and precipitate onto CNCs when the reaction is quenched by diluting with water. As the temperature of hydrolysis is increased (50-60 °C), the dissolved oligosaccharides are hydrolyzed faster and their DP decreases such that they remain soluble after quenching. At 65 °C, no precipitated oligosaccharides can be detected on the CNC surface. Based on these results, we propose possible explanations to account for the effects of the OSL on the CNC suspension viscosity and stability and on optical properties of CNC films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the effect of non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) on the structure of microcrystalline cellulose. In particular, by means of different characterization methods, we demonstrate that NTAP promotes the partial cleavage of the β-1,4 glycosidic bond of cellulose leading to the release of short-chain cellodextrins that are reassembled in situ, preferentially at the C6 position, to form branched glucans with either a glucosyl or anhydroglucosyl terminal residue. The ramification of cellulosic chain induced by NTAP yields branched glucans that are soluble in DMSO or in water, thus opening a straightforward access to processable glucans from cellulose. Importantly, the absence of solvent and catalyst considerably facilitates downstream processing as compared to (bio)catalytic processes which typically occur in diluted conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels (second-generation biofuel production) is an environmentally friendlier alternative to petroleum-based energy sources. Enzymatic deconstruction of lignocellulose, catalyzed by filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus nidulans, releases a mixture of mono- and polysaccharides, including hexose (glucose) and pentose (xylose) sugars, cellodextrins (cellobiose), and xylooligosaccharides (xylobiose). These sugars can subsequently be fermented by yeast cells to ethanol. One of the major drawbacks in this process lies in the inability of yeast, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to successfully internalize sugars other than glucose. The aim of this study was, therefore, to screen the genome of A. nidulans, which encodes a multitude of sugar transporters, for transporters able to internalize non-glucose sugars and characterize them when introduced into S. cerevisiae. Results: This work identified two proteins in A. nidulans, CltA and CltB, with roles in cellobiose transport and cellulose signaling, respectively. CltA, when introduced into S. cerevisiae, conferred growth on low and high concentrations of cellobiose. Deletion of cltB resulted in reduced growth and extracellular cellulase activity in A. nidulans in the presence of cellobiose. CltB, when introduced into S. cerevisiae, was not able to confer growth on cellobiose, suggesting that this protein is a sensor rather than a transporter. However, we have shown that the introduction of additional functional copies of CltB increases the growth in the presence of low concentrations of cellobiose, strongly indicating CltB is able to transport cellobiose. Furthermore, a previously identified glucose transporter, HxtB, was also found to be a major xylose transporter in A. nidulans. In S. cerevisiae, HxtB conferred growth on xylose which was accompanied by ethanol production. Conclusions: This work identified a cellobiose transporter, a xylose transporter, and a putative cellulose transceptor in A. nidulans. This is the first time that a sensor role for a protein in A. nidulans has been proposed. Both transporters are also able to transport glucose, highlighting the preference of A. nidulans for this carbon source. This work provides a basis for future studies which aim at characterizing and/or genetically engineering Aspergillus spp. transporters, which, in addition to glucose, can also internalize other carbon sources, to improve transport and fermentation of non-glucose sugars in S. cerevisiae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soil bacterium Cytophaga hutchinsonii actively digests crystalline cellulose by a poorly understood mechanism. Genome analyses identified nine genes predicted to encode endoglucanases with roles in this process. No predicted cellobiohydrolases, which are usually involved in the utilization of crystalline cellulose, were identified. Chromosomal deletions were performed in eight of the endoglucanase-encoding genes: cel5A, cel5B, cel5C, cel9A, cel9B, cel9C, cel9E, and cel9F. Each mutant retained the ability to digest crystalline cellulose, although the deletion of cel9C caused a modest decrease in cellulose utilization. Strains with multiple deletions were constructed to identify the critical cellulases. Cells of a mutant lacking both cel5B and cel9C were completely deficient in growth on cellulose. Cell fractionation and biochemical analyses indicate that Cel5B and Cel9C are periplasmic nonprocessive endoglucanases. The requirement of periplasmic endoglucanases for cellulose utilization suggests that cellodextrins are transported across the outer membrane during this process. Bioinformatic analyses predict that Cel5A, Cel9A, Cel9B, Cel9D, and Cel9E are secreted across the outer membrane by the type IX secretion system, which has been linked to cellulose utilization. These secreted endoglucanases may perform the initial digestion within amorphous regions on the cellulose fibers, releasing oligomers that are transported into the periplasm for further digestion by Cel5B and Cel9C. The results suggest that both cell surface and periplasmic endoglucanases are required for the growth of C. hutchinsonii on cellulose and that novel cell surface proteins may solubilize and transport cellodextrins across the outer membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: β-glucosidases (BGLs) catalyze the hydrolysis of soluble cellodextrins to glucose and are a critical component of cellulase systems. In order to engineer Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass, a BGL tailored to industrial bioconversions is needed. Results: We applied a directed evolution strategy to a glycosyl hydrolase family 3 (GH3) BGL from Aspergillus niger (BGL1) by expressing a library of mutated bgl1 genes in S. cerevisiae and used a two-step functional screen to identify improved enzymes. Twelve BGL variants that supported growth of S. cerevisiae on cellobiose and showed increased activity on the synthetic substrate p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside were identified and characterized. By performing kinetic experiments, we found that a Tyr → Cys substitution at position 305 of BGL1 dramatically reduced transglycosidation activity that causes inhibition of the hydrolytic reaction at high substrate concentrations. Targeted mutagenesis demonstrated that the position 305 residue is critical in GH3 BGLs and likely determines the extent to which transglycosidation reactions occur. We also found that a substitution at Gln140 reduced the inhibitory effect of glucose and could be combined with the Y305C substitution to produce a BGL with decreased sensitivity to both the product and substrate. Using the crystal structure of a GH3 BGL from A. aculeatus, we mapped a group of beneficial mutations to the β/α domain of the molecule and postulate that this region modulates activity through subunit interactions. Six BGL variants were identified with substitutions in the MFα pre-sequence that was used to mediate secretion of the protein. Substitutions at Pro21 or Val22 of the MFα pre-sequence could produce up to a twofold increase in supernatant hydrolase activity and provides evidence that expression and/or secretion was an additional factor limiting hydrolytic activity. Conclusions: Using directed evolution on BGL1, we identified a key residue that controls hydrolytic and transglycosidation reactions in GH3 BGLs. We also found that several beneficial mutations could be combined and increased the hydrolytic activity for both synthetic and natural substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5-(3',4'-Dicarboxylphenoxy)isophthalic acid (H4L1) and 5-(2',3'-dicarboxylphenoxy)isophthalic acid (H4L2) were reacted with Cd2+ salt with without the assistance of N-donor ligands, creating five 3D CdII coordination polymers [Cd2(L1)(H2O)5]·H2O (1), [Cd2(L1)(bpe)(H2O)] (bpe=1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethene; 2), [Cd2(L1)(bpa)(H2O)] (bpa=1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane; 3), [Cd2(L1)(bpp)] (bpp=1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)propane; 4), and [Cd2(L2)(bpp)2(H2O)2]·H2O (5). Crystal-structure analysis reveals 1) in 1, phthalate moieties for L1 link Cd1 centers into a 1D slightly helical chain; Cd2 centers act as bridges, linking 1D helical chains into a 3D network with a (3,5)-connected topology; 2) in 2-4, although Cd2+ centers were further modified by the introduction of organic bases, L1 molecules still link Cd2+ centers into 3D networks, which can all be simplified as pcu topology; 3) in 2-4, phthalate moieties first link Cd2+ centers into an oligomer, in which carboxylate-bridged discrete or rodshaped secondary building units (SBUs) are found (tetranuclear SBU in 2 and 3, rod-shaped SBU in 4); and 4) in 5, L2 molecules link Cd2+ centers into a 2D (4,4) net; introduced bpp molecules serve as pillar linkers, extending Cd2+-L2 layers into a 3D network of 5. The sensing abilities of 2-5 for nitrobenzene (NB) were investigated. Results revealed that they could all serve as fluorescence probes to sense NB at ppm concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much progress was made in the straightforward and eco-friendly enzymatic synthesis of shorter cellulose chains (oligocellulose). Here, we report the determination of a molar mass distribution of the oligocellulose synthesized from cellobiose (CB) and α-glucose 1-phosphate by reverse phosphorolysis, using enzymes cellodextrin phosphorylase from Clostridium stercorarium or Clostridium thermocellum as catalyst. The oligocellulose molar mass distribution was analyzed using three different methods: ¹H NMR spectroscopy, matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The molar mass distribution of the synthesized oligocellulose was only dependent on the concentration of cellobiose used in the reaction. Data obtained from MALDI-ToF MS and SEC were almost identical and showed that oligocellulose synthesized using 10 mM CB has an average degree of polymerization (DPn) of ~7, while a DPn of ~14 was achieved when 0.2 mM CB was used in the reaction. Because of solvent limitation in SEC analysis, MALDI-ToF MS was shown to be the technique of choice for accurate, easy and fast oligocellulose molar mass distribution determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermobifida fusca is a moderately thermophilic actinobacterium naturally capable of utilizing lignocellulosic biomass. The B6 strain of T. fusca was previously engineered to produce 1-propanol directly on lignocellulosic biomass by expressing a bifunctional butyraldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase (adhE2). To characterize the intracellular mechanisms related to the accumulation of 1-propanol, the engineered B6 and wild-type (WT) strains were systematically compared by analysis of the transcriptome and intracellular metabolome during exponential growth on glucose, cellobiose, and Avicel. Of the 18 known cellulases in T. fusca, 10 cellulase genes were transcriptionally expressed on all three substrates along with three hemicellulases. Transcriptomic analysis of cellodextrin and cellulose transport revealed that Tfu_0936 (multiple sugar transport system permease) was the key enzyme regulating the uptake of sugars in T. fusca. For both WT and B6 strains, it was found that growth in oxygen-limited conditions resulted in a blocked tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle caused by repressed expression of Tfu_1925 (aconitate hydratase). Further, the transcriptome suggested a pathway for synthesizing succinyl-CoA: oxaloacetate to malate (by malate dehydrogenase), malate to fumarate (by fumarate hydratase), and fumarate to succinate (by succinate dehydrogenase/fumarate reductase) which was ultimately converted to succinyl-CoA by succinyl-CoA synthetase. Both the transcriptome and the intracellular metabolome confirmed that 1-propanol was produced through succinyl-CoA, L-methylmalonyl-CoA, D-methylmalonyl-CoA, and propionyl-CoA in the B6 strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurospora crassa recently has become a novel system to investigate cellulase induction. Here, we discovered a novel membrane protein, cellodextrin transporter-like protein 1 (CLP1; NCU05853), a putative cellodextrin transporter-like protein that is a critical component of the cellulase induction pathway in N. crassa. Although CLP1 protein cannot transport cellodextrin, the suppression of cellulase induction by this protein was discovered on both cellobiose and Avicel. The co-disruption of the cellodextrin transporters cdt2 and clp1 in strain Δ3βG formed strain CPL7. With induction by cellobiose, cellulase production was enhanced 6.9-fold in CPL7 compared with Δ3βG. We also showed that the suppression of cellulase expression by CLP1 occurred by repressing the expression of cellodextrin transporters, particularly cdt1 expression. Transcriptome analysis of the hypercellulase-producing strain CPL7 showed that the cellulase expression machinery was dramatically stimulated, as were the cellulase enzyme genes including the inducer transporters and the major transcriptional regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, levulinic acid (LA) and formic acid (FA) are considered as important carbohydrates for the production of valueadded chemicals. Their direct production from biomass will open up a new opportunity for the transformation of biomass resource to valuable chemicals. In this study, one-pot transformation of cellobiose into LA and FA was demonstrated, using a series of multiple-functional ionic liquid-based polyoxometalate (IL-POM) hybrids as catalytic materials. These IL-POMs not only markedly promoted the production of valuable chemicals including LA, FA and monosaccharides with high selectivities, but also provided great convenience of the recovery and the reuse of the catalytic materials in an environmentally friendly manner. Cellobiose conversion of 100%, LA selectivity of 46.3%, and FA selectivity of 26.1% were obtained at 423 K and 3 MPa for 3 h in presence of oxygen. A detailed catalytic mechanism for the one-pot transformation of cellobiose was also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bifidobacteria constitute a specific group of commensal bacteria that inhabit the gastrointestinal tracts of humans and other mammals. Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003 has previously been shown to utilize several plant-derived carbohydrates that include cellodextrins, starch, and galactan. In the present study, we investigated the ability of this strain to utilize the mucin- and human milk oligosaccharide (HMO)-derived carbohydrate sialic acid. Using a combination of transcriptomic and functional genomic approaches, we identified a gene cluster dedicated to the uptake and metabolism of sialic acid. Furthermore, we demonstrate that B. breve UCC2003 can cross feed on sialic acid derived from the metabolism of 3'-sialyllactose, an abundant HMO, by another infant gut bifidobacterial strain, Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cellobiose and xylose co-fermentation holds promise for efficiently producing biofuels from plant biomass. Cellobiose phosphorylase (CBP), an intracellular enzyme generally found in anaerobic bacteria, cleaves cellobiose to glucose and glucose-1-phosphate, providing energetic advantages under the anaerobic conditions required for large-scale biofuel production. However, the efficiency of CBP to cleave cellobiose in the presence of xylose is unknown. This study investigated the effect of xylose on anaerobic CBP-mediated cellobiose fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Results Yeast capable of fermenting cellobiose by the CBP pathway consumed cellobiose and produced ethanol at rates 61% and 42% slower, respectively, in the presence of xylose than in its absence. The system generated significant amounts of the byproduct 4-O-β-Dglucopyranosyl- D-xylose (GX), produced by CBP from glucose-1-phosphate and xylose. In vitro competition assays identified xylose as a mixed-inhibitor for cellobiose phosphorylase activity. The negative effects of xylose were effectively relieved by efficient cellobiose and xylose co-utilization. GX was also shown to be a substrate for cleavage by an intracellular β- glucosidase. Conclusions Xylose exerted negative impacts on CBP-mediated cellobiose fermentation by acting as a substrate for GX byproduct formation and a mixed-inhibitor for cellobiose phosphorylase activity. Future efforts will require efficient xylose utilization, GX cleavage by a β- glucosidase, and/or a CBP with improved substrate specificity to overcome the negative impacts of xylose on CBP in cellobiose and xylose co-fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hindgut homogenates of the termite Reticulitermes santonensis were incubated with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), crystalline celluloses or xylan substrates. Hydrolysates were analyzed with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The method was first set up using acid hydrolysis analysis to characterize non-enzymatic profiles. Commercial enzymes of Trichoderma reesei or T. longibrachiatum were also tested to validate the enzymatic hydrolysis analysis. For CMC hydrolysis, data processing and visual display were optimized to obtain comprehensive profiles and allow rapid comparison and evaluation of enzymatic selectivity, according to the number of substituents of each hydrolysis product. Oligosaccharides with degrees of polymerization (DPs) ranging from three to 12 were measured from CMC and the enzymatic selectivity was demonstrated. Neutral and acidic xylo-oligosaccharides with DPs ranging from three to 11 were measured from xylan substrate. These results are of interest for lignocellulose biomass valorization and demonstrated the potential of termites and their symbiotic microbiota as a source of interesting enzymes for oligosaccharides production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellobiose 2-epimerase (CE) reversibly converts D-glucose residues intoD-mannose residues at the reducing end of unmodified β1,4-linked oligosaccharides, including β-1,4-mannobiose, cellobiose, and lactose.CE is responsible for conversion of β1,4-mannobiose to 4-O--D-mannosyl-D-glucose in mannan metabolism. However, the detailed catalytic mechanism of CE is unclear due to the lack of structural data in complex with ligands. We determined the crystal structures of halothermophile Rhodothermus marinus CE (RmCE) in complex with substrates/products or intermediate analogs, and its apo form. The structures in complex with the substrates/products indicated that the residues in the β5-6 loop as well as those in the inner six helices formthe catalytic site. Trp-322 and Trp-385 interact with reducing and non-reducing end parts of these ligands, respectively, by stacking interactions. The architecture of the catalytic site also provided insights into the mechanism of reversible epimerization. His-259 abstracts theH2 proton of the D-mannose residue at the reducing end, and consistently forms the cis-enediol intermediate by facilitated depolarization of the 2-OH group mediated by hydrogen bonding interaction with His-200. His-390 subsequently donates the proton to the C2 atom of the intermediate to form a D-glucose residue. The reverse reaction is mediated by these three histidines with the inverse roles of acid/base catalysts. The conformation of cellobiitol demonstrated that the deprotonation/reprotonation step is coupled with rotation of the C2-C3 bond of the open form of the ligand. Moreover, it is postulated that His-390 is closely related to ring opening/closure by transferring a proton between the O5 and O1 atoms of the ligand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be engineered to ferment cellodextrins produced by cellulases as a product of cellulose hydrolysis. Direct fermentation of cellodextrins instead of glucose is advantageous because glucose inhibits cellulase activity and represses the fermentation of non-glucose sugars present in cellulosic hydrolyzates. To facilitate cellodextrin utilization by S. cerevisiae, a fungal cellodextrin-utilizing pathway from Neurospora crassa consisting of a cellodextrin transporter and a cellodextrin hydrolase has been introduced into S. cerevisiae. Two cellodextrin transporters (CDT-1 and CDT-2) were previously identified in N. crassa, but their kinetic properties and efficiency for cellobiose fermentation have not been studied in detail. In this study, CDT-1 and CDT-2, which are hypothesized to transport cellodextrin with distinct mechanisms, were introduced into S. cerevisiae along with an intracellular β-glucosidase (GH1-1). Cellobiose transport assays with the resulting strains indicated that CDT-1 is a proton symporter while CDT-2 is a simple facilitator. A strain expressing CDT-1 and GH1-1 (DCDT-1G) showed faster cellobiose fermentation than the strain expressing CDT-2 and GH1-1 (DCDT-2G) under various culture conditions with different medium compositions and aeration levels. While CDT-2 is expected to have energetic benefits, the expression levels and kinetic properties of CDT-1 in S. cerevisiae appears to be optimum for cellobiose fermentation. These results suggest CDT-1 is a more effective cellobiose transporter than CDT-2 for engineering S. cerevisiae to ferment cellobiose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CDT-1 and CDT-2 are two cellodextrin transporters discovered in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. Previous studies focused on characterizing the role of these transporters in only a few conditions, including cellulose degradation, and the function of these two transporters is not yet completely understood. In this study, we show that deletion of cdt-2, but not cdt-1, results in growth defects not only on Avicel but also on xylan. cdt-2 can be highly induced by xylan, and this mutant has a xylodextrin consumption defect. Transcriptomic analysis of the cdt-2 deletion strain on Avicel and xylan showed that major cellulase and hemicellulase genes were significantly down-regulated in the cdt-2 deletion strain and artificial over expression of cdt-2 in N. crassa increased cellulase and hemicellulase production. Together, these data clearly show that CDT-2 plays a critical role in hemicellulose sensing and utilization. This is the first time a sugar transporter has been assigned a function in the hemicellulose degradation pathway. Furthermore, we found that the transcription factor XLR-1 is the major regulator of cdt-2, while cdt-1 is primarily regulated by CLR-1. These results deepen our understanding of the functions of both cellodextrin transporters, particularly for CDT-2. Our study also provides novel insight into the mechanisms for hemicellulose sensing and utilization in N. crassa, and may be applicable to other cellulolytic filamentous fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CDT-1 and CDT-2 are two cellodextrin transporters discovered in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. Previous studies focused on characterizing the role of these transporters in only a few conditions, including cellulose degradation, and the function of these two transporters is not yet completely understood. In this study, we show that deletion of cdt-2, but not cdt-1, results in growth defects not only on Avicel but also on xylan. cdt-2 can be highly induced by xylan, and this mutant has a xylodextrin consumption defect. Transcriptomic analysis of the cdt-2 deletion strain on Avicel and xylan showed that major cellulase and hemicellulase genes were significantly down-regulated in the cdt-2 deletion strain and artificial over expression of cdt-2 in N. crassa increased cellulase and hemicellulase production. Together, these data clearly show that CDT-2 plays a critical role in hemicellulose sensing and utilization. This is the first time a sugar transporter has been assigned a function in the hemicellulose degradation pathway. Furthermore, we found that the transcription factor XLR-1 is the major regulator of cdt-2, while cdt-1 is primarily regulated by CLR-1. These results deepen our understanding of the functions of both cellodextrin transporters, particularly for CDT-2. Our study also provides novel insight into the mechanisms for hemicellulose sensing and utilization in N. crassa, and may be applicable to other cellulolytic filamentous fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurospora crassa colonizes burnt grasslands and metabolizes both cellulose and hemicellulose from plant cell walls. When switched from a favored carbon source to cellulose, N. crassa dramatically up-regulates expression and secretion of genes encoding lignocellulolytic enzymes. However, the means by which N. crassa and other filamentous fungi sense the presence of cellulose in the environment remains unclear. Previously, we have shown that a N. crassa mutant carrying deletions of three β-glucosidase enzymes (Δ3βG) lacks β-glucosidase activity, but efficiently induces cellulase gene expression and cellulolytic activity in the presence of cellobiose as the sole carbon source. These observations indicate that cellobiose, or a modified version of cellobiose, functions as an inducer of lignocellulolytic gene expression and activity in N. crassa. Here, we show that in N. crassa, two cellodextrin transporters, CDT-1 and CDT-2, contribute to cellulose sensing. A N. crassa mutant carrying deletions for both transporters is unable to induce cellulase gene expression in response to crystalline cellulose. Furthermore, a mutant lacking genes encoding both the β-glucosidase enzymes and cellodextrin transporters (Δ3βGΔ2T) does not induce cellulase gene expression in response to cellobiose. Point mutations that severely reduce cellobiose transport by either CDT-1 or CDT-2 when expressed individually do not greatly impact cellobiose induction of cellulase gene expression. These data suggest that the N. crassa cellodextrin transporters act as "transceptors" with dual functions - cellodextrin transport and receptor signaling that results in downstream activation of cellulolytic gene expression. Similar mechanisms of transceptor activity likely occur in related ascomycetes used for industrial cellulase production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Novel cellodextrin transporters and intracellular β-glucosidases were explored. [•] Engineered S. cerevisiae strains capable of fermenting cellobiose were constructed. [•] The Pc_ST/Tt_BG combination resulted in the reduction of cellodextrin accumulation. [•] S. cerevisiae Pc_ST/Tt_BG showed improved cellobiose fermentation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellodextrin transporters (cellodextrin permeases) have been identified in fungi in recent years. However, the functions of these transporters in cellulose utilization and cellulase expression have not been well studied. In this study, three cellodextrin transporters, namely, CdtC, CdtD, and CdtG, in the cellulolytic fungus Penicillium oxalicum (formally was classified as P. decumbens) were identified, and their functions were analyzed. The deletion of a single cellodextrin transporter gene slightly decreased cellobiose consumption, but no observable effect on cellulase expression was observed, which was attributed to the overlapping activity of isozymes. Further simultaneous deletion of cdtC and cdtD resulted in significantly decreased cellobiose consumption and poor growth on cellulose. The extracellular activity and transcription level of cellulases in the mutant without cdtC and cdtD were significantly lower than those in the wild-type strain when grown on cellulose. This result provides direct evidence of the crucial function of cellodextrin transporters in the induction of cellulase expression by insoluble cellulose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruminococcus albus has the ability to intracellularly degrade cello-oligosaccharides primarily via phosphorolysis. In this study, the enzymatic characteristics of R. albus cellodextrin phosphorylase ( Ra CDP), which is a member of glycoside hydrolase family 94, was investigated. Ra CDP catalyzes the phosphorolysis of cellotriose through an ordered 'bi bi' mechanism in which cellotriose binds to Ra CDP before inorganic phosphate, and then cellobiose and glucose 1-phosphate ( Glc1 P) are released in that order. Among the cello-oligosaccharides tested, Ra CDP had the highest phosphorolytic and synthetic activities towards cellohexaose and cellopentaose, respectively. Ra CDP successively transferred glucosyl residues from Glc1 P to the growing cello-oligosaccharide chain, and insoluble cello-oligosaccharides comprising a mean of eight residues were produced. Sophorose, laminaribiose, β-1,4-xylobiose, β-1,4-mannobiose and cellobiitol served as acceptors for Ra CDP. Ra CDP had very low affinity for phosphate groups in both the phosphorolysis and synthesis directions. A sequence comparison revealed that Ra CDP has Gln at position 646 where His is normally conserved in the phosphate binding sites of related enzymes. A Q646H mutant showed approximately twofold lower apparent Km values for inorganic phosphate and Glc1 P than the wild-type. Ra CDP has Phe at position 633 corresponding to Tyr and Val in the +1 subsites of cellobiose phosphorylase and N, N′-diacetylchitobiose phosphorylase, respectively. A F633Y mutant showed higher preference for cellobiose over β-1,4-mannobiose as an acceptor substrate in the synthetic reaction than the wild-type. Furthermore, the F633Y mutant showed 75- and 1100-fold lower apparent Km values for inorganic phosphate and Glc1 P, respectively, in phosphorolysis and synthesis of cellotriose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic engineering has been successful in generating highly efficient Escherichia coli catalysts for production of biofuels and other useful products. However, most of these engineered biocatalysts are only effective when glucose is used as the starting substrate. Strategies to overcome this limitation in the past almost exclusively relied on extracellular secretion or surface display of a β-glucosidase. We show here, for the first time, a periplasmic expression of a Sacchrophagus degradans cellodextrinase (Ced3A) as a successful strategy to enable E. coli to use cellodextrin. The engineered strain was able to grow with cellodextrin as sole carbon source. Additionally, we show that penetration of cellodextrin into periplasmic space was enhanced by using a mutant with leaky outer membrane. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the catalyst can efficiently ferment cellodextrin to lactic acid with about 80 % yield. The ability of a biocatalyst to use cellodextrin should make it useful in consolidated bioprocessing of cellulose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The optimization of metabolic pathways is critical for efficient and economical production of biofuels and specialty chemicals. One such significant pathway is the cellobiose utilization pathway, identified as a promising route in biomass utilization. Here we describe the optimization of cellobiose consumption and ethanol productivity by simultaneously engineering both proteins of the pathway, the β-glucosidase (gh1-1) and the cellodextrin transporter (cdt-1), in an example of pathway engineering through directed evolution. Results: The improved pathway was assessed based on the strain specific growth rate on cellobiose, with the final mutant exhibiting a 47% increase over the wild-type pathway. Metabolite analysis of the engineered pathway identified a 49% increase in cellobiose consumption (1.78 to 2.65 g cellobiose/(L . h)) and a 64% increase in ethanol productivity (0.611 to 1.00 g ethanol/(L . h)). Conclusions: By simultaneously engineering multiple proteins in the pathway, cellobiose utilization in S. cerevisiae was improved. This optimization can be generally applied to other metabolic pathways, provided a selection/ screening method is available for the desired phenotype. The improved in vivo cellobiose utilization demonstrated here could help to decrease the in vitro enzyme load in biomass pretreatment, ultimately contributing to a reduction in the high cost of biofuel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ability of fungal cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) to generate H2O2 in-situ is highly interesting for biotechnological applications like cotton bleaching, laundry detergents or antimicrobial functionalization of medical devices. CDH's ability to directly use polysaccharide derived mono- and oligosaccharides as substrates is a considerable advantage compared to other oxidases such as glucose oxidase which are limited to monosaccharides. However CDH's low activity with oxygen as electron acceptor hampers its industrial use for H2O2 production. A CDH variant with increased oxygen reactivity is therefore of high importance for biotechnological application. Uniform expression levels and an easy to use screening assay is a necessity to facilitate screening for CDH variants with increased oxygen turnover. Results: A uniform production and secretion of active Myriococcum thermophilum CDH was obtained by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as expression host. It was found that the native secretory leader sequence of the cdh gene gives a 3 times higher expression than the prepro leader of the yeast α-mating factor. The homogeneity of the expression in 96-well deep-well plates was good (variation coefficient <15%). A high-throughput screening assay was developed to explore saturation mutagenesis libraries of cdh for improved H2O2 production. A 4.5-fold increase for variant N700S over the parent enzyme was found. For production, N700S was expressed in P. pastoris and purified to homogeneity. Characterization revealed that not only the kcat for oxygen turnover was increased in N700S (4.5-fold), but also substrate turnover. A 3-fold increase of the kcat for cellobiose with alternative electron acceptors indicates that mutation N700S influences the oxidative- and reductive FAD half-reaction. Conclusions: Site-directed mutagenesis and directed evolution of CDH is simplified by the use of S. cerevisiae instead of the high-yield-host P. pastoris due to easier handling and higher transformation efficiencies with autonomous plasmids. Twelve clones which exhibited an increased H2O2 production in the subsequent screening were all found to carry the same amino acid exchange in the cdh gene (N700S). The sensitive location of the five targeted amino acid positions in the active site of CDH explains the high rate of variants with decreased or entirely abolished activity. The discovery of only one beneficial exchange indicates that a dehydrogenase's oxygen turnover is a complex phenomenon and the increase therefore not an easy target for protein engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many microorganisms possess enzymes that can efficiently degrade lignocellulosic materials, but do not have the capability to produce a large amount of ethanol. Thus, attempts have been made to transform such enzymes into fermentative microbes to serve as hosts for ethanol production. However, an efficient host for a consolidated bioprocess (CBP) remains to be found. For this purpose, a synthetic biology technique that can transform multiple genes into a genome is instrumental. Moreover, a strategy to select cellulases that interact synergistically is needed. Results: To engineer a yeast for CBP bio-ethanol production, a synthetic biology technique, called "promoter-based gene assembly and simultaneous overexpression" (PGASO), that can simultaneously transform and express multiple genes in a kefir yeast, Kluyveromyces marxianus KY3, was recently developed. To formulate an efficient cellulase cocktail, a filter-paper-activity assay for selecting heterologous cellulolytic enzymes was established in this study and used to select five cellulase genes, including two cellobiohydrolases, two endo-ß-1,4-glucanases and one beta-glucosidase genes from different fungi. In addition, a fungal cellodextrin transporter gene was chosen to transport cellodextrin into the cytoplasm. These six genes plus a selection marker gene were one-step assembled into the KY3 genome using PGASO. Our experimental data showed that the recombinant strain KR7 could express the five heterologous cellulase genes and that KR7 could convert crystalline cellulose into ethanol. Conclusion: Seven heterologous genes, including five cellulases, a cellodextrin transporter and a selection marker, were simultaneously transformed into the KY3 genome to derive a new strain, KR7, which could directly convert cellulose to ethanol. The present study demonstrates the potential of our strategy of combining a cocktail formulation protocol and a synthetic biology technique to develop a designer yeast host. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot utilize cellobiose, but this yeast can be engineered to ferment cellobiose by introducing both cellodextrin transporter (cdt-1) and intracellular β-glucosidase (gh1-1) genes from Neurospora crassa. Here, we report that an engineered S. cerevisiae strain expressing the putative hexose transporter gene HXT2.4 from Scheffersomyces stipitis and gh1-1 can also ferment cellobiose. This result suggests that HXT2.4p may function as a cellobiose transporter when HXT2.4 is overexpressed in S. cerevisiae. However, cellobiose fermentation by the engineered strain expressing HXT2.4 and gh1-1was much slower and less efficient than that by an engineered strain that initially expressed cdt-1 and gh1-1. The rate of cellobiose fermentation by the HXT2.4-expressing strain increased drastically after serial subcultures on cellobiose. Sequencing and retransformation of the isolated plasmids from a single colony of the fast cellobiose-fermenting culture led to the identification of a mutation (A291D) in HXT2.4 that is responsible for improved cellobiose fermentation by the evolved S. cerevisiae strain. Substitutions for alanine (A291) of negatively charged amino acids (A291E and A291D) or positively charged amino acids (A291K and A291R) significantly improved cellobiose fermentation. The mutant HXT2.4(A291D) exhibited 1.5-fold higher Km and 4-fold higher Vmax values than those from wild-type HXT2.4, whereas the expression levels were the same. These results suggest that the kinetic properties of wild-type HXT2.4 expressed in S. cerevisiae are suboptimal, and mutations of A291 into bulky charged amino acids might transform HXT2.4p into an efficient transporter, enabling rapid cellobiose fermentation by engineered S. cerevisiae strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]