Genomic walking PCR was used to obtained a 4,567-bp nucleotide sequence from Caldibacillus cellulovorans. Analysis of this sequence revealed that there were three open reading frames, designated ORF1, ORF2, and ORF3. Incomplete ORF1 encoded a putative C-terminal cellulose-binding domain (CBD) homologous to members of CBD family IIIb, while putative ORF3 encoded a protein of unknown function. The putative ManA protein encoded by complete manA ORF2 was an enzyme with a novel multidomain structure and was composed of four domains in the following order: a putative N-terminal domain (D1) of unknown function, an internal CBD (D2), a -mannanase catalytic domain (D3), and a C-terminal CBD (D4). All four domains were linked via proline-threonine-rich peptides. Both of the CBDs exhibited sequence similarity to family IIIb CBDs, while the mannanase catalytic domain exhibited homology to the family 5 glycosyl hydrolases. The purified recombinant enzyme ManAd3 expressed from the cloned catalytic domain (D3) exhibited optimum activity at 85°C and pH 6.0 and was extremely thermostable at 70°C. This enzyme exhibited high specificity with the substituted galactomannan locust bean gum, while more substituted galacto-and glucomannans were poorly hydrolyzed. Preliminary studies to determine the effect of the recombinant ManAd3 and a recombinant thermostable -xylanase on oxygen-delignified Pinus radiata kraft pulp revealed that there was an increase in the brightness of the bleached pulp.The use of hemicellulases in the manufacture of kraft pulp has been shown to promote pulp bleaching, and in most application studies the workers have focused on using xylanases (24,47,48). Using mannanases was not studied until recently, when it was shown that mannanases, acting in combination with xylanases, enhance enzyme-aided bleaching of pulps in modified kraft processes (10, 40).1,4--Mannans, which are some of the major constituents of hemicellulose, are hydrolyzed to mannose by endo-acting -mannanases and exo-acting -mannosidases. However, due to the complexity of the polysaccharide and the presence of side chain sugars, additional enzymes, including ␣-galactosidase, -glucosidase, and acetylmannan esterase, are required to completely hydrolyze mannans (34). Extremely thermophilic bacteria and hyperthermophilic archaea are known to produce several types of thermostable glycosyl hydrolases (38). Few thermostable -mannanases from thermophilic bacteria have been characterized and sequenced (14,(17)(18)(19)33), while no archaeal -mannanase has been described so far. The mannanases that have been sequenced belong to either glycosyl hydrolase family 5 or glycosyl hydrolase family 26 (22).Huang et al. (X. P. Huang, J. A. Hudson, F. A. Rainey, P. D. Nichols, and H. W. Morgan, submitted for publication) described a new thermophilic, spore-forming, aerobic bacterium related to the bacilli that was able to grow on crystalline cellulose, and they named this organism Caldibacillus cellulovorans. Their isolate was related to members of the genus Al...