Search

An enzyme with mannosyl glycoprotein endo- N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase (ENGase)-type activity was partially purified from the extracellular medium of the mould Hypocrea jecorina ( Trichoderma reesei). Internal peptides were generated and used to identify the gene in the T. reesei genome. The active enzyme is processed both at the N- and at the C-terminus. High-mannose-type glycoproteins are good substrates, whereas complex-type glycans are not hydrolysed. The enzyme represents the first fungal member of glycoside hydrolase family 18 with ENGase-type activity. Bacterial ENGases and the fungal chitinases belonging to the same family show very low homology with Endo T. Database searches identify several highly homologous genes in fungi and the activity is also found within other Trichoderma species. This ENGase activity, not coregulated with cellulase production, could be responsible for the extensive N-deglycosylation observed for several T. reesei cellulases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xyloglucan endo-transglycosylases (XETs) are key enzymes involved in the restructuring of plant cell walls during morphogenesis. As members of glycoside hydrolase family 16 (GH16), XETs are predicted to employ the canonical retaining mechanism of glycosyl transfer involving a covalent glycosyl-enzyme intermediate. Here, we report the accumulation and direct observation of such intermediates of PttXET16 -34 from hybrid aspen by electrospray mass spectrometry in combination with synthetic "blocked" substrates, which function as glycosyl donors but are incapable of acting as glycosyl acceptors. Thus, GalGXXXGGG and GalGXXXGXXXG react with the wild-type enzyme to yield relatively stable, kinetically competent, covalent GalG-enzyme and GalGXXXG-enzyme complexes, respectively (Gal = Galβ(1→4), G = Glcβ(1→4), and X = Xylα(1→6)Glcβ(1→4)). Quantitation of ratios of protein and saccharide species at pseudo-equilibrium allowed us to estimate the free energy change (ΔG0)tor the formation of the covalent GalGXXXG-enzyme as 6.3-8.5 kJ/mol (1.5-2.0 kcal/mol). The data indicate that the free energy of the 18(1→4) glucosidic bond in xyloglucans is preserved in the glycosyl-enzyme intermediate and harnessed for religation of the polysaccharide in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The substrate specificity of the xyloglucanase Cel74A from Hypocrea jecorina ( Trichoderma reesei) was examined using several polysaccharides and oligosaccharides. Our results revealed that xyloglucan chains are hydrolyzed at substituted Glc residues, in contrast to the action of all known xyloglucan endoglucanases (EC 3.2.1.151). The building block of xyloglucan, XXXG (where X is a substituted Glc residue, and G is an unsubstituted Glc residue), was rapidly degraded to XX and XG ( kcat = 7.2 s−1 and Km = 120 µm at 37 °C and pH 5), which has only been observed before with the oligoxyloglucan-reducing-end-specific cellobiohydrolase from Geotrichum (EC 3.2.1.150). However, the cellobiohydrolase can only release XG from XXXGXXXG, whereas Cel74A hydrolyzed this substrate at both chain ends, resulting in XGXX. Differences in the length of a specific loop at subsite + 2 are discussed as being the basis for the divergent specificity of these xyloglucanases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]