BGL Activity Research Articles

A <i>β</i>-Glucosidase Activity Potentially Involved in Cell Division and Wall Development of <i>Phyllostachys</i> Bamboo Suspension Cells

We propose a novel Madake (Phyllostachys bambusoides) bamboo suspension culture model for investigation of key enzyme(s) activity involved in growth/differentiation. Sedimented Cell Volume (SCV) and fresh weight (FW) of the suspension cultured cells reached 34% (v/v) and 8.7 g in 10 μM 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)-containing medium while only 7% (v/v) SCV and 1.9 g FW of the cells in 10 μM gibberellic acid (GA3)-containing medium in 14 days. Proportion of mitotically active cells (S to G2/M phases) at a log phase was identified as 29.5% in the former cells with tiny cytoplasmic features while 5.4% in the latter cells with elongation, wall thickening, and lignification by using flow cytometry and laser scanning microscopic analysis. The total β-glucosidase (BGL) activity under the 2,4-D condition increased from 4.8 U in day 2 to 26.2 U in day 14 (ca. 5.5-fold) while a slight reduction, from 4.4 U in day 2 to 2.1 U in day 14 (ca. 0.5-fold), occurred when cell division was suppressed under the GA3 condition. Ratio of the BGL activity of the soluble fractions to the membrane-associated fractions varied depending of the culture condition. The ratio was stable (2 to 8) during the culture period under the 2,4-D condition. Interestingly, the activity of the soluble enzyme fractions increased up to ca. 65% under the GA3 condition in inverse proportion to the membrane-associated enzymes. All together, it was strongly suggested that the detected specificity/variability of BGL activity is potentially involved in cell division and lignification in Madake bamboo cells.

Co-fermentation of cellulose/xylan using engineered industrial yeast strain OC-2 displaying both β-glucosidase and β-xylosidase

We constructed a recombinant industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain OC2-AXYL2-ABGL2-Xyl2 by inserting two copies of the β-glucosidase (BGL) and β-xylosidase (XYL) genes, and a gene cassette for xylose assimilation in the genome of yeast strain OC-2HUT. Both BGL and XYL were expressed on the yeast cell surface with high enzyme activities. Using OC2-AXYL2-ABGL2-Xyl2, we performed ethanol fermentation from a mixture of powdered cellulose (KC-flock) and Birchwood xylan, with the additional supplementation of a 30-g/l Trichoderma reesei cellulase complex mixture. The ethanol yield (gram per gram of added cellulases) of the strain OC2-AXYL2-ABGL2-Xyl2 increased approximately 2.5-fold compared to that of strain OC2-Xyl2, which lacked β-glucosidase and β-xylosidase activities. Notably, the concentration of additional T. reesei cellulase was reduced from 30 to 24g/l without affecting ethanol production. The BGL- and XYL-displaying industrial yeast of the strain OC2-AXYL2-ABGL2-Xyl2 represents a promising yeast for reducing cellulase consumption of ethanol fermentation from lignocellulosic biomass by compensating for the inherent weak BGL and XYL activities of T. reesei cellulase complexes.

Fomitopsis palustris의 균체 외 효소에 의한 볏짚 당화에 관한 연구

갈색부후균인 Fomitopsis palustris에서 균체 외 cellulase 생산 특성과 이 효소를 이용하여 목재와 볏짚의 당화특성, mediator 첨가 효과, 목질기질의 미세 표면구조나 결정화도가 효소 당화에 미치는 영향 등에 대해 연구하였다. F. palustris의 균체 외 효소의 생산에 혼합목분을 탄소원으로 이용 시 endo-<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>-1,4-gulcanase (EG)는 12.0 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX>, <TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>-glucosidase (BGL)는 116.68 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX>, cellobiohydrolase (CBH)는 18.82 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX>, 그리고 <TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>- xylosidase (BXL)는 13.33 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX>의 활성을 보였다. 이러한 활성은 BGL, CBH, 그리고 BXL이 볏짚을 이용한 경우보다 약 2~4배 정도 높았다. 볏짚을 탄소원으로 이용하여 생산한 cellulase-RS의 효소 최적반응 온도 및 pH는 <TEX>$45^{\circ}C$</TEX>와 pH 5.0이었으며, 혼합 목분을 탄소원으로 이용하여 생산한 cellulase-SW의 경우에는 <TEX>$50^{\circ}C$</TEX>와 pH 5.0이었다. Cellulase-SW는 볏짚을 기질로 사용할 때 <TEX>$40.6{\pm}0.6%$</TEX>로 가장 높은 당화율을 보였다. 또한 당화촉매제인 Tween 20의 첨가로 당화율이 44%로 상승하여 상용화 효소인 Celluclast 1.5L의 53.7%의 당화율 대비 약 82% 수준으로 상승되었다. 이는 본 실험에서 사용한 효소가 조효소 형태임을 고려하면 상용화 효소에 매우 근접한 당화율을 얻은 것으로 판단된다. 또한 볏짚의 낮은 조직 결정화도와 주사전자현미경을 이용한 볏짚 표면의 섬유화를 통한 표면적 증대 효과는 목재에 비해 높은 볏짚의 당화율에 대한 원인을 제시하였다. In the enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw and wood meals using extra-cellular enzymes from Fomitopsis palustris, key factors which enhanced the sugar conversion yield were investigated in this work, such as enzyme production and enzyme reaction conditions, surfactant effects, and the surface structure of substrates. F. palustris cultured with softwood mixture produced 12.0 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX> for endo-<TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>-1,4-gulcanase (EG), 116.68 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX> for <TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>-glucosidase (BGL), 18.82 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX> for cellobiohydrolase (CBH), and 13.33 U/<TEX>$m{\ell}$</TEX> for <TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>-xylosidase (BXL). These levels of BGL, CBH, and BXL activities were two to four folds more than enzyme activities of F. palustris cultured with rice straw. The optimum reaction conditions of cellulase-RS which produced by F. palustris with rice straw and cellulase-SW which produced by F. palustris with softwood mixture were pH 5.0 at <TEX>$45^{\circ}C$</TEX> and pH 5.0 at <TEX>$50^{\circ}C$</TEX>, respectively. The sugar conversion yield of cellulase-SW had the highest value of <TEX>$40.6{\pm}0.6%$</TEX> within 72 h when rice straw was used as substrate. By adding 0.1% Tween 20 (w/w-substrate), the sugar conversion yield of rice straw was increased to 44%, which was about four fifths sugar conversion yield of commercial enzyme, Celluclast 1.5L (Novozyme A/S). A low crystallinity and an intensive fibril surface observed by the scanning electron microscope may explain the high sugar conversion yield of rice straw.

Enhanced expression of thebgloperon ofEscherichia coliin the stationary phase

The bgl operon is silent and uninducible in wild-type strains of Escherichia coli and requires mutational activation for optimal expression. We show that transcription from the wild-type and the activated bgl promoter exhibits a growth phase-dependent enhancement that is highest in the stationary phase. We have assessed the effect of mutations in rpoS, crl, hns, leuO and bglJ, known to regulate bgl expression, on the growth phase-dependent increase in bgl activity. These studies show that this increase is greater in the absence of wild-type rpoS and/or crl. Our studies also indicate that while BglJ has a moderate effect on the expression of the bgl operon in the stationary phase in the absence of rpoS/crl, the modest increase in LeuO concentration in the stationary phase is insufficient to affect transcription from the bgl promoter. Measurements of the fitness of strains carrying the wild type or a null allele of crl showed that, while the strain deleted for crl exhibited a growth advantage over the crl+ strain in an rpoS+ background, it showed a low-level disadvantage in the presence of an rpoS allele that results in attenuated RpoS expression. Possible physiological implications of these results are discussed.

Beta-D-glucoside utilization by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC: possible involvement in the control of cytotoxicity towards bovine lung cells.

BackgroundContagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small-colony type (SC) is among the most serious threats for livestock producers in Africa. Glycerol metabolism-associated H2O2 production seems to play a crucial role in virulence of this mycoplasma. A wide number of attenuated strains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC are currently used in Africa as live vaccines. Glycerol metabolism is not affected in these vaccine strains and therefore it does not seem to be the determinant of their attenuation. A non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the bgl gene coding for the 6-phospho-β-glucosidase (Bgl) has been described recently. The SNP differentiates virulent African strains isolated from outbreaks with severe CBPP, which express the Bgl isoform Val204, from strains to be considered less virulent isolated from CBPP outbreaks with low mortality and vaccine strains, which express the Bgl isoform Ala204.ResultsStrains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC considered virulent and possessing the Bgl isoform Val204, but not strains with the Bgl isoform Ala204, do trigger elevated levels of damage to embryonic bovine lung (EBL) cells upon incubation with the disaccharides (i.e., β-D-glucosides) sucrose and lactose. However, strains expressing the Bgl isoform Val204 show a lower hydrolysing activity on the chromogenic substrate p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (pNPbG) when compared to strains that possess the Bgl isoform Ala204. Defective activity of Bgl in M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC does not lead to H2O2 production. Rather, the viability during addition of β-D-glucosides in medium-free buffers is higher for strains harbouring the Bgl isoform Val204 than for those with the isoform Ala204.ConclusionOur results indicate that the studied SNP in the bgl gene is one possible cause of the difference in bacterial virulence among strains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC. Bgl does not act as a direct virulence factor, but strains possessing the Bgl isoform Val204 with low hydrolysing activity are more prone to survive in environments that contain high levels of β-D-glucosides, thus contributing in some extent to mycoplasmaemia.

-Glucosidase as a reporter for the gene expression studies in Thermus thermophilus and constitutive expression of DNA repair genes

Thermus thermophilus is an extremely thermophilic eubacterium that grows optimally at 70-75 degrees C. Because the frequency of DNA damage, such as deamination, depurination and single-strand breaks, increases as the temperature rises, the regulation of expression as well as the specificities and activities of T.thermophilus DNA repair systems are of particular interest. To study those systems, we developed a gene expression vector using the T.thermophilus beta-glucosidase gene (bgl) with host strain JOS9 (Deltabgl) derived from the T.thermophilus wild-type strain HB27. Since HB27 has two putative beta-galactosidase genes, the use of a single bgl gene as a reporter in combination with a Deltabgl host strain permits the study of gene expression against a low background level. We assayed Bgl activity with 2-nitrophenyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside as the substrate at 80 degrees C. We measured the expression of seven genes involved in DNA repair--three nucleotide excision repair genes (uvrA, uvrB and uvrC) and four recombinational repair genes (recA, ruvA, ruvB and ruvC). Expression levels of uvrA and uvrB were about three times those of uvrC, while those of ruvA, ruvB and ruvC were almost equal. Both ruvA and ruvC formed an operon with their adjacent 5'-upstream gene paaG and ftsQAZ, respectively. recA was transcribed as an operon of four genes, amt-cinA-ligT-recA. All seven DNA repair genes were expressed constitutively, and the DNA damaging agent mitomycin C did not increase their expression.

Family 3 β-glucosidase from cellulose-degrading culture of the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium is a glucan 1,3-β-glucosidase

The substrate specificity of an extracellular β-glucosidase (BGL) from cellulose-degrading culture of the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium was investigated, using a variety of compounds with β-glucosidic linkages. Amino acid sequencing data for the purified BGL showed that the enzyme is identical to the glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 3 BGL of the same fungus previously reported [Li, B. and Renganathan, V, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 64, 2748-2754 (1998)]. The BGL can hydrolyze both cellobiose and cellobionolactone, but cellobionolactone was hydrolyzed very much more slowly than cellobiose. Moreover, cellobionolactone inhibited cellobiose hydrolysis by the BGL, suggesting that this enzyme cannot cooperate with cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) in cellulose degradation by P. chrysosporium. In addition to cellobiose, BGL utilized various glucosyl-β-glucosides, such as sophorose, laminaribiose and gentiobiose, as substrates. Among the four substrates, laminaribiose (β-1,3-glucosidic linkage) was hydrolyzed most effectively. Moreover, the hydrolytic rate of laminarioligosaccharides increased proportionally to the degree of polymerization (DP), and the activity of BGL even towards laminarin with an average DP of 25 was similar to that towards laminaripentaose (DP 5). Therefore, we conclude that the extracellular BGL from P. chrysosporium is primarily a glucan 1,3-β-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.58), which might play a role on fungal cell wall metabolism, rather than a β-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.21), which might be involved in the hydrolysis of β-1,4-glucosidic compounds during cellulose degradation.

Nucleotide sequence of bglC, the gene specifying enzymeIIbgl of the PEP:sugar phosphotransferase system in Escherichia coli K12, and overexpression of the gene product.

The EnzymeIIbgl of the phosphoenolpyruvate- (PEP-) dependent phosphotransferase system catalyses the uptake and concomitant phosphorylation of beta-glucosides by Escherichia coli; it is specified by the gene bglC. The nucleotide sequence of a 3.6 kb HindIII restriction fragment spanning bglC, cloned on a plasmid, was determined. DNA analysis strongly suggests that the published order of this and other genes involved in beta-glucoside utilization, bgl C, S, B, is incorrect, and that the regulatory gene bglS may be located upstream of the structural genes bglC and bglB. From the deduced amino acid sequence it is predicted that the membrane protein specified by bglC consists of 625 amino acid residues (66.48 kDa). The protein has the hydropathic profile expected of an integral membrane protein (average hydropathy = 0.62). Comparisons between the amino acid sequences deduced for the EnzymeIIbgl and for the mannitol-specific EnzymeIImtl show that these proteins are related, and a little direct homology is apparent. A 2.3 kb AluI fragment spanning bglC was subcloned into an expression vector which carries the lambda PL promoter and then transformed into a host strain which produces thermolabile cI857 repressor and the anti-terminator N; thermoinduction resulted in the overproduction of a membrane protein and the appearance of Bgl activity.