scholarly journals Establishment of a Simple Lactobacillus plantarum Cell Consortium for Cellulase-Xylanase Synergistic Interactions

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (17) ◽  
pp. 5242-5249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Moraïs ◽  
Naama Shterzer ◽  
Inna Rozman Grinberg ◽  
Geir Mathiesen ◽  
Vincent G. H. Eijsink ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTLactobacillus plantarumis an attractive candidate for bioprocessing of lignocellulosic biomass due to its high metabolic variability, including its ability to ferment both pentoses and hexoses, as well as its high acid tolerance, a quality often utilized in industrial processes. This bacterium grows naturally on biomass; however, it lacks the inherent ability to deconstruct lignocellulosic substrates. As a first step toward engineering lignocellulose-converting lactobacilli, we have introduced genes coding for a GH6 cellulase and a GH11 xylanase from a highly active cellulolytic bacterium intoL. plantarum. For this purpose, we employed the recently developed pSIP vectors for efficient secretion of heterologous proteins. Both enzymes were secreted byL. plantarumat levels estimated at 0.33 nM and 3.3 nM, for the cellulase and xylanase, respectively, in culture at an optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of 1. Transformed cells demonstrated the ability to degrade individually either cellulose or xylan and wheat straw. When mixed together to form a two-strain cell-based consortium secreting both cellulase and xylanase, they exhibited synergistic activity in the overall release of soluble sugar from wheat straw. This result paves the way toward metabolic harnessing ofL. plantarumfor novel biorefining applications, such as production of ethanol and polylactic acid directly from plant biomass.

mBio ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Moraïs ◽  
Ely Morag ◽  
Yoav Barak ◽  
Dan Goldman ◽  
Yitzhak Hadar ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTLignocellulosic biomass, the most abundant polymer on Earth, is typically composed of three major constituents: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. The crystallinity of cellulose, hydrophobicity of lignin, and encapsulation of cellulose by the lignin-hemicellulose matrix are three major factors that contribute to the observed recalcitrance of lignocellulose. By means of designer cellulosome technology, we can overcome the recalcitrant properties of lignocellulosic substrates and thus increase the level of native enzymatic degradation. In this context, we have integrated six dockerin-bearing cellulases and xylanases from the highly cellulolytic bacterium,Thermobifida fusca, into a chimeric scaffoldin engineered to bear a cellulose-binding module and the appropriate matching cohesin modules. The resultant hexavalent designer cellulosome represents the most elaborate artificial enzyme composite yet constructed, and the fully functional complex achieved enhanced levels (up to 1.6-fold) of degradation of untreated wheat straw compared to those of the wild-type free enzymes. The action of these designer cellulosomes on wheat straw was 33 to 42% as efficient as the natural cellulosomes ofClostridium thermocellum. In contrast, the reduction of substrate complexity by chemical or biological pretreatment of the substrate removed the advantage of the designer cellulosomes, as the free enzymes displayed higher levels of activity, indicating that enzyme proximity between these selected enzymes was less significant on pretreated substrates. Pretreatment of the substrate caused an increase in activity for all the systems, and the native cellulosome completely converted the substrate into soluble saccharides.IMPORTANCECellulosic biomass is a potential alternative resource which could satisfy future demands of transportation fuel. However, overcoming the natural lignocellulose recalcitrance remains challenging. Current research and development efforts have concentrated on the efficient cellulose-degrading strategies of cellulosome-producing anaerobic bacteria. Cellulosomes are multienzyme complexes capable of converting the plant cell wall polysaccharides into soluble sugar products en route to biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels. Using a designer cellulosome approach, we have constructed the largest form of homogeneous artificial cellulosomes reported to date, which bear a total of six different cellulases and xylanases from the highly cellulolytic bacteriumThermobifida fusca. These designer cellulosomes were comparable in size to natural cellulosomes and displayed enhanced synergistic activities compared to their free wild-type enzyme counterparts. Future efforts should be invested to improve these processes to approach or surpass the efficiency of natural cellulosomes for cost-effective production of biofuels.


2012 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 1316-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost van den Brink ◽  
Gonny C. J. van Muiswinkel ◽  
Bart Theelen ◽  
Sandra W. A. Hinz ◽  
Ronald P. de Vries

ABSTRACTRapid and efficient enzymatic degradation of plant biomass into fermentable sugars is a major challenge for the sustainable production of biochemicals and biofuels. Enzymes that are more thermostable (up to 70°C) use shorter reaction times for the complete saccharification of plant polysaccharides compared to hydrolytic enzymes of mesophilic fungi such asTrichodermaandAspergillusspecies. The genusMyceliophthoracontains four thermophilic fungi producing industrially relevant thermostable enzymes. Within this genus, isolates belonging toM. heterothallicawere recently separated from the well-described speciesM. thermophila. We evaluate here the potential ofM. heterothallicaisolates to produce efficient enzyme mixtures for biomass degradation. Compared to the other thermophilicMyceliophthoraspecies, isolates belonging toM. heterothallicaandM. thermophilagrew faster on pretreated spruce, wheat straw, and giant reed. According to their protein profiles andin vitroassays after growth on wheat straw, (hemi-)cellulolytic activities differed strongly betweenM. thermophilaandM. heterothallicaisolates. Compared toM. thermophila,M. heterothallicaisolates were better in releasing sugars from mildly pretreated wheat straw (with 5% HCl) with a high content of xylan. The high levels of residual xylobiose revealed that enzyme mixtures ofMyceliophthoraspecies lack sufficient β-xylosidase activity. Sexual crossing of twoM. heterothallicashowed that progenies had a large genetic and physiological diversity. In the future, this will allow further improvement of the plant biomass-degrading enzyme mixtures ofM. heterothallica.


mBio ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Moraïs ◽  
Yoav Barak ◽  
Jonathan Caspi ◽  
Yitzhak Hadar ◽  
Raphael Lamed ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTDesigner cellulosomes are precision-engineered multienzyme complexes in which the molecular architecture and enzyme content are exquisitely controlled. This system was used to examine enzyme cooperation for improved synergy amongThermobifida fuscaglycoside hydrolases. TwoT. fuscacellulases, Cel48A exoglucanase and Cel5A endoglucanase, and twoT. fuscaxylanases, endoxylanases Xyn10B and Xyn11A, were selected as enzymatic components of a mixed cellulase/xylanase-containing designer cellulosome. The resultant mixed multienzyme complex was fabricated on a single scaffoldin subunit bearing all four enzymes. Conversion ofT. fuscaenzymes to the cellulosomal mode followed by their subsequent incorporation into a tetravalent cellulosome led to assemblies with enhanced activity (~2.4-fold) on wheat straw as a complex cellulosic substrate. The enhanced synergy was caused by the proximity of the enzymes on the complex compared to the free-enzyme systems. The hydrolytic properties of the tetravalent designer cellulosome were compared with the combined action of two separate divalent cellulase- and xylanase-containing cellulosomes. Significantly, the tetravalent designer cellulosome system exhibited an ~2-fold enhancement in enzymatic activity compared to the activity of the mixture of two distinct divalent scaffoldin-borne enzymes. These results provide additional evidence that close proximity between cellulases and xylanases is key to the observed concerted degradation of the complex cellulosic substrate in which the integrated enzymes complement each other by promoting access to the relevant polysaccharide components of the substrate. The data demonstrate that cooperation among xylanases and cellulases can be augmented by their integration into a single designer cellulosome.IMPORTANCEGlobal efforts towards alternative energy programs are highlighted by processes for converting plant-derived carbohydrates to biofuels. The major barrier in such processes is the inherent recalcitrance to enzymatic degradation of cellulose combined with related associated polysaccharides. The multienzyme cellulosome complexes, produced by anaerobic bacteria, are considered to be the most efficient systems for degradation of plant cell wall biomass. In the present work, we have employed a synthetic biology approach by producing artificial designer cellulosomes of predefined enzyme composition and architecture. The engineered tetravalent cellulosome complexes contain two different types of cellulases and two distinct xylanases. Using this approach, enhanced synergistic activity was observed on wheat straw, a natural recalcitrant substrate. The present work strives to gain insight into the combined action of cellulosomal enzyme components towards the development of advanced systems for improved degradation of cellulosic material.


mSystems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke Zhang ◽  
Weishu Zhao ◽  
Dmitry A. Rodionov ◽  
Gabriel M. Rubinstein ◽  
Diep N. Nguyen ◽  
...  

The extremely thermophilic cellulolytic bacterium, Caldicellulosiruptor bescii , degrades plant biomass at high temperatures without any pretreatments and can serve as a strategic platform for industrial applications. The metabolic engineering of C. bescii , however, faces potential bottlenecks in bio-based chemical productions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun-Ki Kim ◽  
Michael E. Himmel ◽  
Yannick J. Bomble ◽  
Janet Westpheling

ABSTRACTMembers of the genusCaldicellulosiruptorhave the ability to deconstruct and grow on lignocellulosic biomass without conventional pretreatment. A genetically tractable species,Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, was recently engineered to produce ethanol directly from switchgrass.C. besciicontains more than 50 glycosyl hydrolases and a suite of extracellular enzymes for biomass deconstruction, most prominently CelA, a multidomain cellulase that uses a novel mechanism to deconstruct plant biomass. Accumulation of cellobiose, a product of CelA during growth on biomass, inhibits cellulase activity. Here, we show that heterologous expression of a cellobiose phosphorylase fromThermotoga maritimaimproves the phosphorolytic pathway inC. besciiand results in synergistic activity with endogenous enzymes, including CelA, to increase cellulolytic activity and growth on crystalline cellulose.IMPORTANCECelA is the only known cellulase to function well on highly crystalline cellulose and it uses a mechanism distinct from those of other cellulases, including fungal cellulases. Also unlike fungal cellulases, it functions at high temperature and, in fact, outperforms commercial cellulase cocktails. Factors that inhibit CelA during biomass deconstruction are significantly different than those that impact the performance of fungal cellulases and commercial mixtures. This work contributes to understanding of cellulase inhibition and enzyme function and will suggest a rational approach to engineering optimal activity.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 2527
Author(s):  
Zahra Azzouz ◽  
Azzeddine Bettache ◽  
Nawel Boucherba ◽  
Alicia Prieto ◽  
Maria Jesus Martinez ◽  
...  

Plant biomass constitutes the main source of renewable carbon on the planet. Its valorization has traditionally been focused on the use of cellulose, although hemicellulose is the second most abundant group of polysaccharides on Earth. The main enzymes involved in plant biomass degradation are glycosyl hydrolases, and filamentous fungi are good producers of these enzymes. In this study, a new strain of Aspergillus niger was used for hemicellulase production under solid-state fermentation using wheat straw as single-carbon source. Physicochemical parameters for the production of an endoxylanase were optimized by using a One-Factor-at-a-Time (OFAT) approach and response surface methodology (RSM). Maximum xylanase yield after RSM optimization was increased 3-fold, and 1.41- fold purification was achieved after ultrafiltration and ion-exchange chromatography, with about 6.2% yield. The highest activity of the purified xylanase was observed at 50 °C and pH 6. The enzyme displayed high thermal and pH stability, with more than 90% residual activity between pH 3.0–9.0 and between 30–40 °C, after 24 h of incubation, with half-lives of 30 min at 50 and 60 °C. The enzyme was mostly active against wheat arabinoxylan, and its kinetic parameters were analyzed (Km = 26.06 mg·mL−1 and Vmax = 5.647 U·mg−1). Wheat straw xylan hydrolysis with the purified β-1,4 endoxylanase showed that it was able to release xylooligosaccharides, making it suitable for different applications in food technology.


2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 3406-3412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gino Vrancken ◽  
Luc De Vuyst ◽  
Tom Rimaux ◽  
Joke Allemeersch ◽  
Stefan Weckx

ABSTRACTSourdough is a very competitive and challenging environment for microorganisms. Usually, a stable microbiota composed of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts dominates this ecosystem. Although sourdough is rich in carbohydrates, thus providing an ideal environment for microorganisms to grow, its low pH presents a particular challenge. The nature of the adaptation to this low pH was investigated forLactobacillus plantarumIMDO 130201, an isolate from a laboratory wheat sourdough fermentation. Batch fermentations were carried out in wheat sourdough simulation medium, and total RNA was isolated from mid-exponential-growth-phase cultures, followed by differential gene expression analysis using a LAB functional gene microarray. At low pH values, an increased expression of genes involved in peptide and amino acid metabolism was found as well as that of genes involved in plantaricin production and lipoteichoic acid biosynthesis. The results highlight cellular mechanisms that allowL. plantarumto function at a low environmental pH.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (11) ◽  
pp. 6378-6384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Held ◽  
Tamirat Gebru ◽  
Markus Kalesse ◽  
Rolf Jansen ◽  
Klaus Gerth ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMyxobacteria are Gram-negative soil-dwelling bacteria belonging to the phylumProteobacteria. They are a rich source of promising compounds for clinical application, such as epothilones for cancer therapy and several new antibiotics. In the course of a bioactivity screening program of secondary metabolites produced bySorangium cellulosumstrains, the macrolide chlorotonil A was found to exhibit promising antimalarial activity. Subsequently, we evaluated chlorotonil A againstPlasmodium falciparumlaboratory strains and clinical isolates from Gabon. Chlorotonil A was highly active, with a 50% inhibitory concentration between 4 and 32 nM; additionally, no correlations between the activities of chlorotonil A and artesunate (rho, 0.208) or chloroquine (rho, −0.046) were observed.Per ostreatment ofPlasmodium berghei-infected mice with four doses of as little as 36 mg of chlorotonil A per kg of body weight led to the suppression of parasitemia with no obvious signs of toxicity. Chlorotonil A acts against all stages of intraerythrocytic parasite development, including ring-stage parasites and stage IV to V gametocytes, and it requires only a very short exposure to the parasite to exert its antimalarial action. Conclusively, chlorotonil A has an exceptional and unprecedented profile of action and represents an urgently required novel antimalarial chemical scaffold. Therefore, we propose it as a lead structure for further development as an antimalarial chemotherapeutic.


2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Li ◽  
Yukie Shibata ◽  
Toru Takeshita ◽  
Yoshihisa Yamashita

ABSTRACTAStreptococcus mutansmutant defective in aciduricity was constructed by random-insertion mutagenesis. Sequence analysis of the mutant revealed a mutation ingidA, which is known to be involved in tRNA modification inStreptococcus pyogenes. Complementation ofgidAbyS. pyogenesgidArecovered the acid tolerance ofS. mutans. Although thegidA-inactivatedS. pyogenesmutant exhibited significantly reduced expression of multiple extracellular virulence proteins, theS. mutansmutant did not. On the other hand, thegidAmutant ofS. mutansshowed reduced ability to withstand exposure to other stress conditions (high osmotic pressure, high temperature, and bacitracin stress) besides an acidic environment. In addition, loss of GidA decreased the capacity for glucose-dependent biofilm formation by over 50%. This study revealed thatgidAplays critical roles in the survival ofS. mutansunder stress conditions, including lower pH.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (12) ◽  
pp. 7398-7404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamirat Gebru ◽  
Benjamin Mordmüller ◽  
Jana Held

ABSTRACTPlasmodium falciparumgametocytes are not associated with clinical symptoms, but they are responsible for transmitting the pathogen to mosquitoes. Therefore, gametocytocidal interventions are important for malaria control and resistance containment. Currently available drugs and vaccines are not well suited for that purpose. Several dyes have potent antimicrobial activity, but their use against gametocytes has not been investigated systematically. The gametocytocidal activity of nine synthetic dyes and four control compounds was tested against stage V gametocytes of the laboratory strain 3D7 and three clinical isolates ofP. falciparumwith a bioluminescence assay. Five of the fluorescent dyes had submicromolar 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values against mature gametocytes. Three mitochondrial dyes, MitoRed, dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide (DiOC6), and rhodamine B, were highly active (IC50s < 200 nM). MitoRed showed the highest activity against gametocytes, with IC50s of 70 nM against 3D7 and 120 to 210 nM against clinical isolates. All compounds were more active against the laboratory strain 3D7 than against clinical isolates. In particular, the endoperoxides artesunate and dihydroartemisinin showed a 10-fold higher activity against 3D7 than against clinical isolates. In contrast to all clinically used antimalarials, several fluorescent dyes had surprisingly highin vitroactivity against late-stage gametocytes. Since they also act against asexual blood stages, they shall be considered starting points for the development of new antimalarial lead compounds.


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