Ulvan is a major cell wall component of green algae of the genus Ulva and some marine bacteria encode enzymes that can degrade this polysaccharide. The first ulvan degrading lyases have been recently characterized and several putative ulvan lyases have been recombinantly expressed, confirmed as ulvan lyases and partially characterized. Two families of ulvan degrading lyases, PL24 and PL25, have recently been established. The PL24 lyase LOR_107 from the bacterial Alteromonadales sp. strain LOR degrades ulvan endolytically, cleaving the bond at the C4 of a glucuronic acid. However, the mechanism and LOR_107 structural features involved are unknown. We present here the crystal structure of LOR_107, representing the first PL24 family structure. We found that LOR_107 adopts a seven-bladed β-propeller fold with a deep canyon on one side of the protein. Comparative sequence analysis revealed a cluster of conserved residues within this canyon, and site-directed mutagenesis disclosed several residues essential for catalysis. We also found that LOR_107 uses the His/Tyr catalytic mechanism, common to several PL families. We captured a tetrasaccharide substrate in the structures of two inactive mutants, which indicated a two-step binding event, with the first substrate interaction near the top of the canyon coordinated by Arg-320, followed by sliding of the substrate into the canyon toward the active-site residues. Surprisingly, the LOR_107 structure was very similar to that of PL25 family PLSV_3936, despite only ~14% sequence identity between the two enzymes. On the basis of our structural and mutational analyses, we propose a catalytic mechanism for LOR_107 that differs from the typical His/Tyr mechanism.Ulvan is one of the two major cell wall components of marine green algae (genus Ulva and Enteromorpha). It is a complex sulfated polysaccharide composed mainly of 3-sulfated rhamnose (Rha3S), glucuronic acid (GlcA), iduronic acid (IdoA) and xylose (1). The common disaccharide repetitive units within the ulvan polysaccharides are [→4)-β-D-GlcA-(1→4)-α-LRha3S-(1→] called type A ulvanobiourinic-3-sulfate (A 3S ) and [→4)-α-L-IdoA-(1→4)-α-LRha3S(1→] called type B ulvanobiouronic-3-sulfate (B 3S ) (1) (Schema 1). The presence of iduronic acid and sulfated rhamnose differentiates ulvan from other polysaccharides of marine origin and displays similarity with mammalian glycosaminoglycans such as chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid. This distinctive chemical feature makes ulvan an attractive candidate for various biomedical, nanobiotechnological and drug delivery applications (2-6).Polysaccharides containing uronic acid sugars can be degraded by enzymes utilizing a β-http://www.jbc.org/cgi/doi/10.1074/jbc.RA117. (PLs). They utilize a β-elimination mechanism to cleave the oxygenaglycone bond by abstracting the C5 proton, which results in the formation of an unsaturated 4-deoxy-L-threo-hex-4-enopyranosiduronic acid (ΔUA) at the non-reducing end of the oligosaccharide product (7). These enzymes are presently classified into 26 s...