Laminarinases hydrolyzing the -1,3-linkage of glucans play essential roles in microbial saccharide degradation. Here we report the crystal structures at 1.65-1.82 Å resolution of the catalytic domain of laminarinase from the thermophile Thermotoga maritima with various space groups in the ligand-free form or in the presence of inhibitors gluconolactone and cetyltrimethylammonium. Ligands were bound at the cleft of the active site near an enclosure formed by Trp-232 and a flexible GASIG loop. A closed configuration at the active site cleft was observed in some molecules. The loop flexibility in the enzyme may contribute to the regulation of endo-or exo-activity of the enzyme and a preference to release laminaritrioses in long chain carbohydrate hydrolysis. Glu-137 and Glu-132 are proposed to serve as the proton donor and nucleophile, respectively, in the retaining catalysis of hydrolyzation. Calcium ions in the crystallization media are found to accelerate crystal growth. Comparison of laminarinase and endoglucanase structures revealed the subtle difference of key residues in the active site for the selection of -1,3-glucan and -1,4-glucan substrates, respectively. Arg-85 may be pivotal to -1,3-glucan substrate selection. The similarity of the structures between the laminarinase catalytic domain and its carbohydrate-binding modules may have evolutionary relevance because of the similarities in their folds.Thermotoga maritima is a hyperthermophilic, anaerobic, and fermentive saccharolytic bacterium, catabolizing sugars and its polymers to make energy. Laminarinase (3--D-glucan glucanohydrolase; EC 3.2.1.39, Lam), 3 an endoglucosidase, hydrolyzes internal -1,3-glucosyl linkages in -D-glucans and is therefore crucial in carbohydrate degradation for nutrient uptake and energy production in bacteria. According to the sequenced genome of T. maritima MSB8 (1), the laminarinase gene encodes the enzyme composed of a catalytic domain and two carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) connected by a linker region on each terminus. The structure of TmLamCBM2, located on the C terminus, has previously been determined by Boraston et al. (2). The coexistence of CBM with catalytic domains is widespread in many modular bacterial polysaccharide hydrolases that contain separately folding modules (3). The prevalent role of CBMs is to facilitate the association of substrates with the catalytic module; moreover, they sometime boost the reaction efficiency of the catalytic domain (4, 5). The modularity in biological macromolecules draws scientists' attention in biocatalyst designs (6). Because of the substrate diversity among glycosyl hydrolases (GHs), it is not easy to classify these enzymes according to their substrate specificity. Henrissat and Bairoch (7) developed a sequence similarity-based classification to categorize GH enzymes as an alternative to the traditional enzyme classification system. Except for a laminaripentaose-producing -1,3-glucanase from Streptomyces matensis, which belongs to GH-64 (8), most of the bacterial la...