No abstract

High-resolution, three-dimensional structures of the archetypal glycoside hydrolase family 16 (GH16) endo-xyloglucanases Tm-NXG1 and Tm-NXG2 from nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) have been solved by x-ray crystallography. Key structural features that modulate the relative rates of substrate hydrolysis to transglycosylation in the GH16 xyloglucan-active enzymes were identified by structure–function studies of the recombinantly expressed enzymes in comparison with data for the strict xyloglucan endo-transglycosylase Ptt-XET16-34 from hybrid aspen (Populus tremula × Populus tremuloides). Production of the loop deletion variant Tm-NXG1-ΔYNIIG yielded an enzyme that was structurally similar to Ptt-XET16-34 and had a greatly increased transglycosylation:hydrolysis ratio. Comprehensive bioinformatic analyses of XTH gene products, together with detailed kinetic data, strongly suggest that xyloglucanase activity has evolved as a gain of function in an ancestral GH16 XET to meet specific biological requirements during seed germination, fruit ripening, and rapid wall expansion.

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The enzymatic degradation of cellulose is an important process, both ecologically and commercially. The three-dimensional structure of a cellulase, the enzymatic core of CBHII from the fungus Trichoderma reesei reveals an alpha-beta protein with a fold similar to but different from the widely occurring barrel topology first observed in triose phosphate isomerase. The active site of CBHII is located at the carboxyl-terminal end of a parallel beta barrel, in an enclosed tunnel through which the cellulose threads. Two aspartic acid residues, located in the center of the tunnel are the probable catalytic residues.