No abstract

The carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) in polysaccharide hydrolases plays a key role in the hydrolysis of cellulose, xylan and chitin. However, the function of CBM in alginate lyases has not been elucidated. A new alginate lyase gene, alyL2, was cloned from the marine bacterium Agarivorans sp. L11 by using degenerate and site-finding PCR. The alginate lyase, AlyL2, contained an N-terminal CBM13 and a C-terminal catalytic family 7 polysaccharide lyase (PL7) module. To better understand the function of CBM13 in alginate lyase AlyL2, the full-length enzyme (AlyL2-FL) and its catalytic module (AlyL2-CM) were expressed in Escherichia coli and characterized. The specific activity and catalytic efficiency of AlyL2-FL were approximately twice those of AlyL2-CM. The half-lives of AlyL2-FL were 4.7-6.6 times those of AlyL2-CM at 30-50°C. In addition, the presence of CBM13 in AlyL2 changed its substrate preference and increased the percentage of disaccharides from 50.5% to 64.6% in the total products. This first report of the function of CBM13 in alginate lyase provides new insights into the degradation of alginate by marine microorganisms.

Alginate oligosaccharides (AOS) show versatile bioactivities. Although various alginate lyases have been characterized, enzymes with special characteristics are still rare. In this study, a polysaccharide lyase family 7 (PL7) alginate lyase-encoding gene, aly08, was cloned from the marine bacterium Vibrio sp. SY01 and expressed in Escherichia coli. The purified alginate lyase Aly08, with a molecular weight of 35 kDa, showed a specific activity of 841 U/mg at its optimal pH (pH 8.35) and temperature (45 °C). Aly08 showed good pH-stability, as it remained more than 80% of its initial activity in a wide pH range (4.0–10.0). Aly08 was also a thermo-tolerant enzyme that recovered 70.8% of its initial activity following heat shock treatment for 5 min. This study also demonstrated that Aly08 is a polyG-preferred enzyme. Furthermore, Aly08 degraded alginates into disaccharides and trisaccharides in an endo-manner. Its thermo-tolerance and pH-stable properties make Aly08 a good candidate for further applications.

Chitosanase plays an important role in the production of chitooligosaccharides (CHOS), which possess various biological activities. Herein, a glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 46 chitosanase-encoding gene, csnB, was cloned from marine bacterium Bacillus sp. BY01 and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant chitosanase, CsnB, was optimally active at 35 °C and pH 5.0. It was also revealed to be a cold-adapted enzyme, maintaining 39.5% and 40.4% of its maximum activity at 0 and 10 °C, respectively. Meanwhile, CsnB showed wide pH-stability within the range of pH 3.0 to 7.0. Then, an improved reaction condition was built to enhance its thermostability with a final glycerol volume concentration of 20%. Moreover, CsnB was determined to be an endo-type chitosanase, yielding chitosan disaccharides and trisaccharides as the main products. Overall, CsnB provides a new choice for enzymatic CHOS production.