Efficient enzymatic conversion of crystalline polysaccharides is crucial for an economically and environmentally sustainable bioeconomy but remains unfavorably inefficient. We describe an enzyme that acts on the surface of crystalline chitin, where it introduces chain breaks and generates oxidized chain ends, thus promoting further degradation by chitinases. This enzymatic activity was discovered and further characterized by using mass spectrometry and chromatographic separation methods to detect oxidized products generated in the absence or presence of H(2)(18)O or (18)O(2). There are strong indications that similar enzymes exist that work on cellulose. Our findings not only demonstrate the existence of a hitherto unknown enzyme activity but also provide new avenues toward more efficient enzymatic conversion of biomass.

The bulk terrestrial biomass resource in a future bio-economy will be lignocellulosic biomass, which is recalcitrant and challenging to process. Enzymatic conversion of polysaccharides in the lignocellulosic biomass will be a key technology in future biorefineries and this technology is currently the subject of intensive research. We describe recent developments in enzyme technology for conversion of cellulose, the most abundant, homogeneous and recalcitrant polysaccharide in lignocellulosic biomass. In particular, we focus on a recently discovered new type of enzymes currently classified as CBM33 and GH61 that catalyze oxidative cleavage of polysaccharides. These enzymes promote the efficiency of classical hydrolytic enzymes (cellulases) by acting on the surfaces of the insoluble substrate, where they introduce chain breaks in the polysaccharide chains, without the need of first “extracting” these chains from their crystalline matrix.

Chitinase B (ChiB) from Serratia marcescens is a family 18 exochitinase whose catalytic domain has a TIM-barrel fold with a tunnel-shaped active site. We have solved structures of three ChiB complexes that reveal details of substrate binding, substrateassisted catalysis, and product displacement. The structure of an inactive ChiB mutant (E144Q) complexed with a pentameric substrate (binding in subsites ؊2 to ؉3) shows closure of the ''roof'' of the active site tunnel. It also shows that the sugar in the ؊1 position is distorted to a boat conformation, thus providing structural evidence in support of a previously proposed catalytic mechanism. The structures of the active enzyme complexed to allosamidin (an analogue of a proposed reaction intermediate) and of the active enzyme soaked with pentameric substrate show events after cleavage of the glycosidic bond. The latter structure shows reopening of the roof of the active site tunnel and enzyme-assisted product displacement in the ؉1 and ؉2 sites, allowing a water molecule to approach the reaction center. Catalysis is accompanied by correlated structural changes in the core of the TIM barrel that involve conserved polar residues whose functions were hitherto unknown. These changes simultaneously contribute to stabilization of the reaction intermediate and alternation of the pKa of the catalytic acid during the catalytic cycle.C hitinases hydrolyze chitin, a linear polymer of ␤-(1,4)-linked N-acetylglucosamine (NAG), which is an abundant biopolymer. These enzymes are essential to chitin-containing organisms (fungi, insects, crustaceans) and are used by several bacteria to exploit chitin as a source of energy. Chitinase inhibitors have generated a lot of interest given their potential as insecticides (1), fungicides (2, 3), and antimalarials (4, 5). Biotechnological exploitation of chitinases, as well as design of inhibitors with sufficiently high selectivity and affinity, requires detailed knowledge of the catalytic mechanism and enzyme-substrate interactions.Most nonplant chitinases belong to glycosidase family 18 (6) and degrade chitin with retention of the stereochemistry at the anomeric carbon (7-10). The reaction is thought to be initiated by distortion of the Ϫ1 sugar ring and protonation of the glycosidic oxygen by a protonated acidic residue. The subsequent nucleophilic attack differs from classical reaction mechanisms of retaining enzymes such as lysozyme (11) and amylases (12) in that it involves the N-acetyl group of the Ϫ1 sugar, rather than a carboxylate side chain on the protein (8,9,13,14). Thus, the first step of chitinolysis results in cleavage of the sugar chain and formation of an oxazolinium ion intermediate, and hydrolysis of this ion completes the reaction (9, 15) (Fig. 1).Although the current model for the catalytic mechanism is well established, the amount of structural evidence in its support is limited (8). Important elements of the proposed mechanism were inferred from modeling studies and structures of glycosidases that do not belong to f...

Ninety percent of lignocellulose-degrading fungi contain genes encoding lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs). These enzymes catalyze the initial oxidative cleavage of recalcitrant polysaccharides after activation by an electron donor. Understanding the source of electrons is fundamental to fungal physiology and will also help with the exploitation of LPMOs for biomass processing. Using genome data and biochemical methods, we characterized and compared different extracellular electron sources for LPMOs: cellobiose dehydrogenase, phenols procured from plant biomass or produced by fungi, and glucose-methanol-choline oxidoreductases that regenerate LPMO-reducing diphenols. Our data demonstrate that all three of these electron transfer systems are functional and that their relative importance during cellulose degradation depends on fungal lifestyle. The availability of extracellular electron donors is required to activate fungal oxidative attack on polysaccharides.

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Chitin proteins are commonly found in bacteria that utilize chitin as a source of energy. CBP21 is a chitinbinding protein from Serratia marcescens, a Gram-negative soil bacterium capable of efficient chitin degradation. When grown on chitin, S. marcescens secretes large amounts of CBP21, along with chitin-degrading enzymes. In an attempt to understand the molecular mechanism of CBP21 action, we have determined its crystal structure at 1.55 Å resolution. This is the first structure to be solved of a family 33 carbohydrate-binding module. The structure reveals a "budded" fibronectin type III fold consisting of two ␤-sheets, arranged as a ␤-sheet sandwich, with a 65-residue "bud" consisting of three short helices, located between ␤-strands 1 and 2. Remarkably, conserved aromatic residues that have been suggested previously to play a role in chitin binding were mainly found in the interior of the protein, seemingly incapable of interacting with chitin, whereas the structure revealed a surface patch of highly conserved, mainly hydrophilic residues. The roles of six of these conserved surface-exposed residues (Tyr-54, Glu-55, Glu-60, His-114, Asp-182, and Asn-185) were probed by site-directed mutagenesis and subsequent binding studies. All single point mutations lowered the affinity of CBP21 for ␤-chitin, as shown by 3-8-fold increases in the apparent binding constant. Thus, binding of CBP21 to chitin seems to be mediated primarily by conserved, solvent-exposed, polar side chains.

Background: Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are recently discovered enzymes that cleave polysaccharides. Results: We describe a novel LPMO and use a range of analytical methods to characterize its activity. Conclusion: Cellulose and cello-oligosaccharides are cleaved by oxidizing the sugar at the nonreducing end in the C4 position. Significance: This study provides unequivocal evidence for C4 oxidation of the nonreducing end sugar and demonstrates a novel LPMO substrate specificity.

Bacterial proteins categorized as family 33 carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM33) were recently shown to cleave crystalline chitin, using a mechanism that involves hydrolysis and oxidation. We show here that some members of the CBM33 family cleave crystalline cellulose as demonstrated by chromatographic and mass spectrometric analyses of soluble products released from Avicel or filter paper on incubation with CelS2, a CBM33-containing protein from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). These enzymes act synergistically with cellulases and may thus become important tools for efficient conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Fungal proteins classified as glycoside hydrolase family 61 that are known to act synergistically with cellulases are likely to use a similar mechanism.