Cellobiohydrolase I is an industrially important exocellulase secreted in high yields by the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. The nature and effect of glycosylation of CBHI and other cellulolytic enzymes is largely unknown, although many other structural and mechanistic aspects of cellulolytic enzymes are well characterised. Using a combination of liquid chromatography, electrospray mass spectrometry, solidphase Edman degradation, and monosaccharide analysis we have identified every site of glycosylation of CBHI from a high cellulase-producing mutant strain of T. reesei, ALKO2877, and characterised each site in terms of its modifying carbohydrate and site-specific heterogeneity. The catalytic core domain comprises three N-linked glycans which each consist of a single N-acetylglucosamine residue. Within the glycopeptide linker domain, all eight threonines are variably glycosylated with between at least one, and up to three, mannose residues per site. All serines in this domain are at least partially glycosylated with a single mannose residue. This linker region has also been shown to be sulfated by a combination of ion chromatography and collision-induced dissociation electrospray mass spectrometry. The sulfate is probably mannose-linked. The biological significance of N-linked single N-acetylglucosamine in the catalytic core, and mannose sulfation in the linker region, is not known.
Keywords : cellobiohydrolase I; cellulase; fungal glycosylation; Trichoderma; N-acetylglucosamine.Cellobiohydrolase I (CBHI) is the major family C glycoprotein secreted by the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei, where it operates in synergy with other exo-glucanases and endo-glucanases to achieve the degradation of cellulose [1]. CBHI is typically secreted in the order of several grams/litre, and many aspects of its structure and biology are well characterised. Like most other fungal cellulolytic enzymes characterised, CBHI conforms to a well-defined multi-domain structure, typified by a relatively large catalytic (core) domain spatially removed from a smaller cellulose-binding domain (CBD) by a highly O-glycosylated linker domain [2]. Presumably, the CBD serves as a form of anchor, and the linker a form of torsional leash, providing the catalytic region with access to a wide range of potential (and perhaps otherwise inaccessible) sites [3]. Although the catalytic domain of CBHI by itself is sufficient for cellulose binding and full catalytic activity at low enzyme to cellulose ratios, a functional CBD with sufficient spatial separation from the catalytic region is necessary for cellulolytic activity at higher enzyme-to-cellulose ratios [3]. The importance of the linker domain in maintaining spatial orientation of catalytic Correspondence to N. H. Packer,