Search

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) constitute a unique family of bioactive lactose-based molecules present in human breast milk. HMOs are of major importance for infant health and development but also virtually absent from bovine milk used for infant formula. Among the HMOs, the fucosylated species are the most abundant. Transfucosylation catalysed by retaining α-l-fucosidases is a new route for manufacturing biomimetic HMOs. Seven α-l-fucosidases from glycosyl hydrolase family 29 were expressed, characterized in terms of substrate specificity and thermal stability, and shown to be able to catalyse transfucosylation. The α-l-1,3/4-fucosidase CpAfc2 from Clostridium perfringens efficiently catalysed the formation of the more complex human milk oligosaccharide structure lacto-N-fucopentaose II (LNFP II) using 3-fucosyllactose as fucosyl donor and lacto-N-tetraose as acceptor with a 39% yield. α-l-Fucosidases FgFCO1 from Fusarium graminearum and Mfuc5 from a soil metagenome were able to catalyse transfucosylation of lactose using citrus xyloglucan as fucosyl donor. FgFCO1 catalysed formation of 2'-fucosyllactose, whereas Mfuc5 catalysis mainly produced an unidentified, non-HMO fucosyllactose, reaching molar yields based on the donor substrate of 14% and 18%, respectively., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) designate a unique family of bioactive lactose-based molecules present in human breast milk. Using lactose as a cheap donor, some β-galactosidases (EC 3.2.1.23) can catalyze transgalactosylation to form the human milk oligosaccharide lacto-N-neotetraose (LNnT; Gal-β(1,4)-GlcNAc-β(1,3)-Gal-β(1,4)-Glc). In order to reduce reaction times and be able to work at temperatures, which are less welcoming to microbial growth, the current study investigates the possibility of using thermostable β-galactosidases for synthesis of LNnT and N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc; Gal-β(1,4)-GlcNAc), the latter being a core structure in HMOs. Two hyperthermostable GH 1 β-galactosidases, Ttβ-gly from Thermus thermophilus HB27 and CelB from Pyrococcus furiosus, were codon-optimized for expression in Escherichia coli along with BgaD-D, a truncated version of the GH 42 β-galactosidase from Bacillus circulans showing high transgalactosylation activity at low substrate concentrations. The three β-galactosidases were compared in the current study in terms of their transgalactosylation activity in the formation of LacNAc and LNnT. In all cases, BgaD-D was the most potent transgalactosidase, but both thermostable GH 1 β-galactosidases could catalyze formation of LNnT and LacNAc, with Ttβ-gly giving higher yields than CelB. The thermal stability of the three β-galactosidases was elucidated and the results were used to optimize the reaction efficiency in the formation of LacNAc, resulting in 5-6 times higher reaction yields and significantly shorter reaction times., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Sialylated galactooligosaccharides (GOS) represent a potential infant formula ingredient, which is believed to contribute with a combination of the beneficial properties of the prebiotic GOS as well as of sialylated human milk oligosaccharides. Sialylated GOS do not exist in natural milk, but can be produced from κ(kappa)-casein glycomacropeptide (CGMP), a sialylated side stream component from cheese-making, by sialidase-catalyzed transsialylation. Using a rationally designed mutant of the sialidase from Trypanosoma rangeli, Tr13, with enhanced transsialylation activity, six different GOS preparations with a varying degree of polymerization (DP) were effectively sialylated with molar yields of 20-30% on the CGMP sialyl in batch reactions. The rate of sialylation of the individual DPs was largely dependent on the DP distribution in each GOS preparation, and Tr13 catalysis did not discriminate against large GOS molecules, providing the novelty point that GOS molecules are sialylated independently of their size by Tr13. Using CGMP, GOS, and Tr13, the production of gram-scale quantities of sialyl-GOS was achieved in 20L volume reactions. Compared to the benchmark transsialidase from pathogenic Trypanosoma cruzi, the Tr13 was significantly more thermostable. By employing an enzymatic membrane reactor, Tr13 could be recycled and after seven consecutive 1-h reaction cycles, the biocatalytic productivity of the enzyme was increased 7-fold compared to the batch reaction. Assuming that the enzyme may be specific for α-2,3-bound sialyl moieties only, and that only 50% of sialyl linkages in CGMP are α-2,3-linked, the molar yield of sialyl-GOS on the available α-2,3-bound sialyl moieties in CGMP reached 80% in the enzymatic membrane reactor system., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This paper describes the discovery and characterization of two novel β-N-acetylhexosaminidases HEX1 and HEX2, capable of catalyzing the synthesis of human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) backbone structures with fair yields using chitin oligomers as β-N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) donor. The enzyme-encoding genes were identified by functional screening of a soil-derived metagenomic library. The β-N-acetylhexosaminidases were expressed in Escherichia coli with an N-terminal His6-tag and were purified by nickel affinity chromatography. The sequence similarities of the enzymes with their respective closest homologues are 59 % for HEX1 and 51 % for HEX2 on the protein level. Both β-N-acetylhexosaminidases are classified into glycosyl hydrolase family 20 (GH 20) are able to hydrolyze para-nitrophenyl-β-N-acetylglucosamine (pNP-GlcNAc) as well as para-nitrophenyl-β-N-acetylgalactosamine (pNP-GalNAc) and exhibit pH optima of 8 and 6 for HEX1 and HEX2, respectively. The enzymes are able to hydrolyze N-acetylchitooligosaccharides with a degree of polymerization of two, three, and four. The major findings were, that HEX1 and HEX2 catalyze trans-glycosylation reactions with lactose as acceptor, giving rise to the human milk oligosaccharide precursor lacto-N-triose II (LNT2) with yields of 2 and 8 % based on the donor substrate. In total, trans-glycosylation reactions were tested with the disaccharide acceptors β-lactose, sucrose, and maltose, as well as with the monosaccharides galactose and glucose resulting in the successful attachment of GlcNAc to the acceptor in all cases.

Recently, significant progress has been made within enzymatic synthesis of biomimetic, functional glycans, including, for example, human milk oligosaccharides. These compounds are mainly composed of N-acetylglucosamine, fucose, sialic acid, galactose, and glucose, and their controlled enzymatic synthesis is a novel field of research in advanced food ingredient chemistry, involving the use of rare enzymes, which have until now mainly been studied for their biochemical significance, not for targeted biosynthesis applications. For the enzymatic synthesis of biofunctional glycans reaction parameter optimization to promote "reverse" catalysis with glycosidases is currently preferred over the use of glycosyl transferases. Numerous methods exist for minimizing the undesirable glycosidase-catalyzed hydrolysis and for improving the trans-glycosylation yields. This review provides an overview of the approaches and data available concerning optimization of enzymatic trans-glycosylation for novel synthesis of complex bioactive carbohydrates using sialidases, α-l-fucosidases, and β-galactosidases as examples. The use of an adequately high acceptor/donor ratio, reaction time control, continuous product removal, enzyme recycling, and/or the use of cosolvents may significantly improve trans-glycosylation and biocatalytic productivity of the enzymatic reactions. Protein engineering is also a promising technique for obtaining high trans-glycosylation yields, and proof-of-concept for reversing sialidase activity to trans-sialidase action has been established. However, the protein engineering route currently requires significant research efforts in each case because the structure-function relationship of the enzymes is presently poorly understood.

An integrated membrane system was investigated for the production of 3'-sialyllactose by an engineered sialidase using casein glycomacropeptide (CGMP) and lactose as substrates. CGMP was purified by ultrafiltration (UF) to remove any small molecules present and then an enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) was used to separate the product and reuse the enzyme. A PLCC regenerated cellulose membrane was found to be the most suitable for both the UF purification and EMR. Subsequently, nanofiltration (NF) was conducted to increase the purity of the 3'-sialyllactose by removing the excess lactose present. The NTR7450 membrane outperformed others in NF due to its high retention of 3'-sialyllactose (98%) and relatively low rejection of lactose (40%). The lactose in the permeate could be concentrated by the NF45 membrane and recycled into the EMR. The described integrated membrane system enables a more economic and efficient enzymatic production of 3'-sialyllactose., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Biocatalytic trans-sialylation is relevant for the design of biomimetic oligosaccharides such as human milk oligosaccharides. t-Butanol and ionic liquids, EAN (ethylammonium nitrate), [MMIm][MeSO4] (1,3-dimethylimidazolium methyl sulfate), and [C2OHMIm][PF6] (1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate), were examined as co-solvents for the improvement of the synthesis versus hydrolysis ratio in the trans-sialylation of lactose, catalysed by an engineered sialidase from Trypanosoma rangeli. The use of 25 % (v/v) t-butanol as co-solvent significantly increased 3'-sialyllactose production by 40 % from 1.04 ± 0.09 to 1.47 ± 0.01 mM. The synthesis versus hydrolysis ratio increased correspondingly by 1.2-times. 1-2.5 % (v/v) EAN or [C2OHMIm][PF6] improved the synthesis versus hydrolysis ratio up to 2.5-times but simultaneously decreased the 3'-sialyllactose yield, probably due to enzyme inactivation caused by the ionic liquid. [MMIm][MeSO4] had a detrimental effect on the trans-sialylation yield and on the ratio between synthesis and hydrolysis.

An engineered sialidase, Tr6, from Trypanosoma rangeli was used for biosynthetic production of 3'-sialyllactose, a human milk oligosaccharide case compound, from casein glycomacropeptide (CGMP) and lactose, components abundantly present in industrial dairy side streams. Four different enzyme re-use methods were compared to optimize the biocatalytic productivity, i.e. 3'-sialyllactose formation per amount of Tr6 employed: (i) His-tag immobilization on magnetic Cu²⁺-iminodiacetic acid-functionalized nanoparticles (MNPs), (ii) membrane immobilization, (iii) calcium alginate encapsulation of cross-linked Tr6, and (iv) Tr6 catalysis in a membrane reactor. Tr6 immobilized on MNPs gave a biocatalytic productivity of 84 mg 3'-sialyllactose/mg Tr6 after seven consecutive reaction runs. Calcium-alginate and membrane immobilization were inefficient. Using free Tr6 in a 10 kDa membrane reactor produced a 9-fold biocatalytic productivity increase compared to using free Tr6 in a batch reactor giving 306 mg 3'-sialyllactose/mg Tr6 after seven consecutive reaction runs. The 3'-sialyllactose yield on α-2,3-bound sialic acid in CGMP was 74%. Using circular dichroism, a temperature denaturation midpoint of Tr6, Tm, of 57.2 °C was determined. The thermal stability of free Tr6 was similarly high and the Tr6 was stable at the reaction temperature (25 °C) for at least 24 h., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A novel Emericella nidulans endo-β-1,4-galactanase ( EnGAL) demonstrates a strong capacity to generate high levels of very potent prebiotic oligosaccharides from potato pulp, a by-product of the agricultural potato-starch industry. EnGAL belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 53 and shows high (72.5%) sequence identity to an endo-β-1,4-galactanase from Aspergillus aculeatus. Diffraction data extending to 2.0 Å resolution were collected from a crystal of EnGAL grown from conditions containing 0.2 M zinc acetate. The crystal structure showed a high similarity between EnGAL and other endo-β-1,4-galactanases belonging to GH53. It also revealed 15 zinc ions bound to the protein, one of which is located in the active site, where it is coordinated by residues Glu136 and Glu246 which comprise the catalytic machinery. The majority of the zinc ions are located on the surface of the enzyme, in some cases with side chains from two different molecules as ligands, thus explaining why the presence of zinc ions was essential for crystallization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]