Paenibacillus odorifer produces a single multimodular enzyme containing a glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 74 module (AIQ73809). Recombinant production and characterization of the GH74 module (PoGH74cat) revealed a highly specific, processive endo-xyloglucanase that can hydrolyze the polysaccharide backbone at both branched and unbranched positions. X-ray crystal structures obtained for the free enzyme and oligosaccharide complexes evidenced an extensive hydrophobic binding platform — the first in GH74 extending from subsites −4 to +6 — and unique mobile active-site loops. Site-directed mutagenesis revealed that glycine-476 was uniquely responsible for the promiscuous backbone-cleaving activity of PoGH74cat; replacement with tyrosine, which is conserved in many GH74 members, resulted in exclusive hydrolysis at unbranched glucose units. Likewise, systematic replacement of the hydrophobic platform residues constituting the positive subsites indicated their relative contributions to the processive mode of action. Specifically, W347 (+3 subsite) and W348 (+5 subsite) are essential for processivity, while W406 (+2 subsite) and Y372 (+6 subsite) are not strictly essential, but aid processivity.

Glycoside hydrolase family 74 (GH74) is a historically important family of endo-␤-glucanases. On the basis of early reports of detectable activity on cellulose and soluble cellulose derivatives, GH74 was originally considered to be a "cellulase" family, although more recent studies have generally indicated a high specificity toward the ubiquitous plant cell wall matrix glycan xyloglucan. Previous studies have indicated that GH74 xyloglucanases differ in backbone cleavage regiospecificities and can adopt three distinct hydrolytic modes of action: exo, endo-dissociative, and endo-processive. To improve functional predictions within GH74, here we coupled in-depth biochemical characterization of 17 recombinant proteins with structural biology-based investigations in the context of a comprehensive molecular phylogeny, including all previously characterized family members. Elucidation of four new GH74 tertiary structures, as well as one distantly related dual seven-bladed ␤propeller protein from a marine bacterium, highlighted key structure-function relationships along protein evolutionary trajectories. We could define five phylogenetic groups, which delineated the mode of action and the regiospecificity of GH74 members. At the extremes, a major group of enzymes diverged to hydrolyze the backbone of xyloglucan nonspecifically with a dissociative mode of action and relaxed backbone regiospecificity. In contrast, a sister group of GH74 enzymes has evolved a large hydrophobic platform comprising 10 subsites, which facilitates processivity. Overall, the findings of our study refine our understanding of catalysis in GH74, providing a framework for future experimentation as well as for bioinformatics predictions of sequences emerging from (meta)genomic studies. Terrestrial plants harbor ϳ80% of the biomass on Earth, some 450 gigatons of carbon, in the form of lignocellulose (cell walls comprised of cellulose, matrix glycans, lignin, and other polymers) (1). Although terrestrial biomass represents an attractive renewable resource for the production of fuels, chemicals, and materials for human consumption, the controlled degradation of lignocellulose, whether (thermo)chemical or enzymatic, is hindered by its heterogeneous composition and complex organization (2). Hence, significant efforts have been made to identify enzymes able to efficiently modify and deconstruct this complex material. Xyloglucans (XyGs) 3 comprise a prominent family of cell wall matrix glycans (hemicelluloses). XyGs are ubiquitous in land plants, in which they constitute up to 20% of the dry weight of cell walls (3, 4). Notably, XyGs are secreted by roots of diverse plant species and are therefore likely to actively influence rhizobiota (5). XyGs are also found as storage polysaccharides comprising ϳ50% of the mass of some seeds (e.g. tamarind and nasturtium) and therefore represent important agricultural byproducts with applications in the food, biomaterial, and medical sectors (6, 7). XyGs have a ␤-1,4-linked glucosyl backbone ("G" unit), some of which a...

The quantitation of liberated reducing sugars by the copper-bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay provides a highly sensitive method for the measurement of glycoside hydrolase (GH) activity, particularly on soluble polysaccharide substrates. Here, we describe a straightforward method adapted to low-volume polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tubes which enables the rapid, parallel determination of GH kinetics in applications ranging from initial activity screening and assay optimization, to precise Michaelis-Menten analysis.