Glycoside hydrolase family 74 (GH74) is a historically important family of endo--glucanases. On the basis of early reports of detectable activity on cellulose and soluble cellulose derivatives, GH74 was originally considered to be a "cellulase" family, although more recent studies have generally indicated a high specificity toward the ubiquitous plant cell wall matrix glycan xyloglucan. Previous studies have indicated that GH74 xyloglucanases differ in backbone cleavage regiospecificities and can adopt three distinct hydrolytic modes of action: exo, endo-dissociative, and endo-processive. To improve functional predictions within GH74, here we coupled in-depth biochemical characterization of 17 recombinant proteins with structural biology-based investigations in the context of a comprehensive molecular phylogeny, including all previously characterized family members. Elucidation of four new GH74 tertiary structures, as well as one distantly related dual seven-bladed propeller protein from a marine bacterium, highlighted key structure-function relationships along protein evolutionary trajectories. We could define five phylogenetic groups, which delineated the mode of action and the regiospecificity of GH74 members. At the extremes, a major group of enzymes diverged to hydrolyze the backbone of xyloglucan nonspecifically with a dissociative mode of action and relaxed backbone regiospecificity. In contrast, a sister group of GH74 enzymes has evolved a large hydrophobic platform comprising 10 subsites, which facilitates processivity. Overall, the findings of our study refine our understanding of catalysis in GH74, providing a framework for future experimentation as well as for bioinformatics predictions of sequences emerging from (meta)genomic studies. Terrestrial plants harbor ϳ80% of the biomass on Earth, some 450 gigatons of carbon, in the form of lignocellulose (cell walls comprised of cellulose, matrix glycans, lignin, and other polymers) (1). Although terrestrial biomass represents an attractive renewable resource for the production of fuels, chemicals, and materials for human consumption, the controlled degradation of lignocellulose, whether (thermo)chemical or enzymatic, is hindered by its heterogeneous composition and complex organization (2). Hence, significant efforts have been made to identify enzymes able to efficiently modify and deconstruct this complex material. Xyloglucans (XyGs) 3 comprise a prominent family of cell wall matrix glycans (hemicelluloses). XyGs are ubiquitous in land plants, in which they constitute up to 20% of the dry weight of cell walls (3, 4). Notably, XyGs are secreted by roots of diverse plant species and are therefore likely to actively influence rhizobiota (5). XyGs are also found as storage polysaccharides comprising ϳ50% of the mass of some seeds (e.g. tamarind and nasturtium) and therefore represent important agricultural byproducts with applications in the food, biomaterial, and medical sectors (6, 7). XyGs have a -1,4-linked glucosyl backbone ("G" unit), some of which a...