The inverting glycoside hydrolase Trichoderma reesei (Hypocrea jecorina) Cel6A is a promising candidate for protein engineering for more economical production of biofuels. Until recently, its catalytic mechanism had been uncertain: the best candidate residue to serve as a catalytic base, D175, is further from the glycosidic cleavage site than in other glycoside hydrolase enzymes. Recent unbiased transition path sampling simulations revealed the hydrolytic mechanism for this more distant base, employing a water wire; however, it is not clear why the enzyme employs a more distant catalytic base, a highly-conserved feature among homologs across different kingdoms. In this work, we describe molecular dynamics simulations designed to uncover how a base with a longer side chain, as in a D175E mutant, affects procession and active site alignment in the Michaelis complex. We show that the hydrogen bond network is tuned to the shorter aspartate side chain, and that a longer glutamate side chain inhibits procession as well as being less likely to adopt a catalytically productive conformation. Furthermore, we draw comparisons between the active site in TrCel6A and another inverting, processive cellulase to deduce the contribution of the wire water to the overall enzyme function, revealing that the more distant catalytic base enhances product release. Our results can inform efforts in the study and design of enzymes by demonstrating how counterintuitive sacrifices in chemical reactivity can have worthwhile benefits for other steps in the catalytic cycle.In order to tap into the deep reservoir of renewable energy represented by fuels derived from plant matter, an economical means of converting lignocellulose is required (1). Decomposition of the primary component, cellulose, is catalyzed by glycoside hydrolase (GH) enzymes, which are found ubiquitously in nature (2); therefore, improved catalytic efficiency of cellulose decomposition enzymes would help biomass to compete with non-renewable carbon sources. This motivates molecular-level studies into GH enzymatic mechanisms, as such understanding has previously proven invaluable in efforts to engineer variants with increased activities (3)(4)(5).A particularly important GH enzyme is Trichoderma reesei Cel6A (TrCel6A), which plays a key synergistic role in industrial enzyme cocktails for cellulose digestion. This enzyme is a cellobiohydrolase of GH family 6, which cleave β-1,4 glycosidic bonds processively along cellulose chains, from the non-reducing towards the reducing end, to release the glucose dimer cellobiose as the main product (6). This processive mode of action is believed to be key to their efficiency on highly crystalline cellulose. Glycoside hydrolase family 6 (GH6) enzymes exhibit a range of activity on a continuum between cellobiohydrolase processive activity and endoglucanase activity, characterized by cleavage of internal bonds (7)(8)(9)(10)
Advantages of a Distant Cellulase Catalytic Basegenerally exhibit higher catalytic rate constants, only show app...