Food processing and refining has dramatically changed the human diet, but little is known about whether this affected the evolution of enzymes in human microbiota. We present evidence that glycoside hydrolase family 70 (GH70) glucansucrases from lactobacilli, synthesizing α-glucan-type extracellular polysaccharides from sucrose, likely evolved from GH13 starch-acting α-amylases, via GH70 4,6-α-glucanotransferases. The crystal structure of a 4,6-α-glucanotransferase explains the mode of action and unique product specificity of these enzymes. While the α-amylase substrate-binding scaffold is retained, active-site loops adapted to favor transglycosylation over hydrolysis; the structure also gives clues as to how 4,6-α-glucanotransferases may have evolved further toward sucrose utilization instead of starch. Further supported by genomic, phylogenetic, and in vivo studies, we propose that dietary changes involving starch (and starch derivatives) and sucrose intake were critical factors during the evolution of 4,6-α-GTs and glucansucrases from α-amylases, allowing oral bacteria to produce extracellular polymers that contribute to biofilm formation from different substrates.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are known to produce large amounts of α-glucan exopolysaccharides. Family GH70 glucansucrase (GS) enzymes catalyze the synthesis of these α-glucans from sucrose. The elucidation of the crystal structures of representative GS enzymes has advanced our understanding of their reaction mechanism, especially structural features determining their linkage specificity. In addition, with the increase of genome sequencing, more and more GS enzymes are identified and characterized. Together, such knowledge may promote the synthesis of α-glucans with desired structures and properties from sucrose. In the meantime, two new GH70 subfamilies (GTFB- and GTFC-like) have been identified as 4,6-α-glucanotransferases (4,6-α-GTs) that represent novel evolutionary intermediates between the family GH13 and “classical GH70 enzymes”. These enzymes are not active on sucrose; instead, they use (α1 → 4) glucans (i.e. malto-oligosaccharides and starch) as substrates to synthesize novel α-glucans by introducing linear chains of (α1 → 6) linkages. All these GH70 enzymes are very interesting biocatalysts and hold strong potential for applications in the food, medicine and cosmetic industries. In this review, we summarize the microbiological distribution and the structure–function relationships of family GH70 enzymes, introduce the two newly identified GH70 subfamilies, and discuss evolutionary relationships between family GH70 and GH13 enzymes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00018-016-2245-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

c 4,6-␣-Glucanotransferase (4,6-␣-GTase) enzymes, such as GTFB and GTFW of Lactobacillus reuteri strains, constitute a new reaction specificity in glycoside hydrolase family 70 (GH70) and are novel enzymes that convert starch or starch hydrolysates into isomalto/maltopolysaccharides (IMMPs). These IMMPs still have linear chains with some ␣1¡4 linkages but mostly (relatively long) linear chains with ␣1¡6 linkages and are soluble dietary starch fibers. 4,6-␣-GTase enzymes and their products have significant potential for industrial applications. Here we report that an N-terminal truncation (amino acids 1 to 733) strongly enhances the soluble expression level of fully active GTFB-⌬N (approximately 75-fold compared to full-length wild type GTFB) in Escherichia coli. In addition, quantitative assays based on amylose V as the substrate are described; these assays allow accurate determination of both hydrolysis (minor) activity (glucose release, reducing power) and total activity (iodine staining) and calculation of the transferase (major) activity of these 4,6-␣-GTase enzymes. The data show that GTFB-⌬N is clearly less hydrolytic than GTFW, which is also supported by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis of their final products. From these assays, the biochemical properties of GTFB-⌬N were characterized in detail, including determination of kinetic parameters and acceptor substrate specificity. The GTFB enzyme displayed high conversion yields at relatively high substrate concentrations, a promising feature for industrial application. Starch is the second-most-abundant carbohydrate on earth and a major dietary carbohydrate for humans; as a storage carbohydrate it is present in seeds, roots, and tubers of plants (1). It consists of ␣-glucan polymers with ␣1¡4 linkages and a low percentage of ␣1¡6 linkages, in the form of amylose and branched amylopectin (2). Starches are applied in various industrial products such as food, paper, and textiles, often after processing by physical, chemical, or enzymatic treatment (3-6).Dietary fibers and low-glycemic-index (low-GI) food are considered healthy food contributing to our long-term well-being (7,8). Of all the nutritional types of starch, slowly digestible starch with low GI has drawn the strongest interest. Annealing/heatmoisture treatment, recrystallization, and enzymatic treatment are recognized approaches to obtain slowly digestible starch (9-11). Slowly digestible starch materials prepared by physical processing suffer losses upon boiling; therefore, structural modifications through enzymatic treatment of starch are more desirable. In the human digestive system, the ␣1¡6 linkages in starch are hydrolyzed at a lower rate than ␣1¡4 linkages (12, 13). Branching enzymes, alone or in combination with ␤-amylase, are used to increase the percentage of ␣1¡4,6 branches in starches (12)(13)(14).The 4,6-␣-glucanotransferase (4,6-␣-GTase) enzymes, such as GTFB, GTFW, and GTFML4, of Lactobacillus reuteri strains constitute a subfamily of glycoside hydrolase family 70 (GH70); GH70 ...