Characterization and engineering of carbohydrate-active enzymes for biotechnological applications

Abstract: Extremozymes are enzymes produced by microorganisms that live in extreme habitats. Due to their higher stability, extremozymes is attracting interest as biocatalysts in various industrial processes. In this context, carbohydrate-active extremozymes can be used in various processes relevant to the paper, food and feed industry.In this thesis, the crystal structure, biochemical characterization and the capacity to synthesize prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) were investigated for a ?-glucosidase (HoBGLA) from the halothermophilic bacterium Halothermothrix orenii. The wild-type enzyme displays favorable characteristics for lactose hydrolysis and produces a range of prebiotic GOS, of which ?-D-Galp-(1?6)-D-Lac and ?-D-Galp-(1?3)-D-Lac are the major products (Paper I).To further improve GOS synthesis by HoBGLA, rational enzyme engineering was performed (Paper II). Six enzyme variants were generated by replacing strategically positioned active-site residues. Two HoBGLA variants were identified as potentially interesting, F417S and F417Y. The former appears to synthesize one particular GOS product in higher yield, whereas the latter produces a higher yield of total GOS.In Paper III, the high-resolution crystal structure and biochemical characterization of a hemicellulase (HoAraf43) from  H. orenii is presented. HoAraf43 folds as a five-bladed ?-propeller and displays ?-Larabinofuranosidase activity. The melting temperature of  HoAraf43 increases significantly in the presence of high salt and divalent cations, which is consistent with H. orenii being a halophile.Furthermore, the crystal structures of a thermostable tetrameric pyranose 2-oxidase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium (PcP2O) were determined to investigate the structural determinants of thermostability (Paper IV). PcP2O has an increased number of salt links between subunits, which may provide a mechanism for increased stability. The structures also imply that the N-terminal region acts as an intramolecular chaperone during homotetramer assembly.