Use of psychrophilic xylanases provides insight into the xylanase functionality in bread making.

The bread-improving potential of three psychrophilic xylanases from Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAH3A (XPH), Flavobacterium sp. MSY-2 (rXFH), and unknown bacterial origin (rXyn8) was compared to that of the mesophilic xylanases from Bacillus subtilis (XBS) and Aspergillus aculeatus (XAA). XPH, rXFH, and rXyn8 increased specific bread volumes up to 28%, 18%, and 18%, respectively, while XBS and XAA gave increases of 23% and 12%, respectively. This could be related to their substrate hydrolysis behavior. Xylanases with a high capacity to solubilize water-unextractable arabinoxylan (WU-AX) during mixing, such as XBS and XPH, increased bread volume more than xylanases that mainly solubilized WU-AX during fermentation, such as rXFH, rXyn8, and XAA. Irrespective of their intrinsic bread-improving potential, the dosages needed to increase bread volume to a similar extent were much lower for psychrophilic than for mesophilic xylanases. The xylanase efficiency mainly depended on the enzyme's temperature activity profile and its inhibition sensitivity.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of a cold-active endo-ß-1,4-D-xylanase from glycoside hydrolase family 8.

Endo-ß-1,4-D-xylanases are used in a multitude of industrial applications. Native crystals of a cold-adapted xylanase from glycoside hydrolase family 8 were obtained by the vapour-diffusion technique. The crystals belonged to space group I222, with unit-cell parameters a=46.6, b=110.8, c=150.2 Šat 100 K, and diffracted to 2.7 Šresolution at a synchrotron source. The asymmetric unit is likely to contain one molecule, with a VM of 2.07 Å3 Da(-1), corresponding to a solvent content of ∼40%.

Truncated derivatives of a multidomain thermophilic glycosyl hydrolase family 10 xylanase from Thermotoga maritima reveal structure related activity profiles and substrate hydrolysis patterns.

Efficient heteroxylan degradation in the context of economically feasible lignocellulosic biomass biorefining requires xylanolytic enzymes with optimal thermostability and specificity. Therefore, the structure activity relationship of a modular thermophilic glycoside hydrolase family 10 xylanase (xylanase A from Thermotoga maritima MSB8, rXTMA) was investigated through construction of six truncated derivatives, lacking at least one of the 2 N- and/or 2 C-terminal modules. The temperatures for optimal activity and stability of the xylanases were strongly influenced by the presence of the different modules and ranged from 60 to 80 degrees C and 50 to 80 degrees C, respectively. In contrast, the pH for optimal activity was only slightly affected (pH 6.0 to 7.0). The tested xylanases retained over 80% activity after 2h pre-incubation at 50 degrees C between pH 5.0 and 11.0. Most unexpectedly, changes in the modular structure led to a 26-fold wide range of specific activities of the enzymes towards xylohexaose, while the activity towards insoluble polymeric heteroxylan was comparable for all but one xylanase. rXTMADeltaC, lacking the C-terminal modules, had a 60% higher specific activity towards the latter substrate than the wild type enzyme. These results show that key properties of XTMA can be tuned to allow for optimal performance of the enzyme in biotechnological processes such as in the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass.

Phage display based identification of novel stabilizing mutations in glycosyl hydrolase family 11 B. subtilis endoxylanase XynA.

Two combinatorial libraries of glycosyl hydrolase family 11 (GH11) Bacillus subtilis endoxylanase XynA were constructed and displayed on phage. Both phage-displayed libraries were subjected to three consecutive biopanning rounds against immobilized endoxylanase inhibitor TAXI, each time preceded by an incubation step at elevated temperature. DNA sequence analysis of enriched phagemid panning isolates allowed identification of mutations conferring enhanced thermal stability. In particular, substitutions T44C, T44Y, F48C, T87D, and Y94C were retained, and their thermostabilizing effect was confirmed by testing site-directed XynA variants. None of these mutations was identified in earlier endoxylanase engineering studies. Each single mutation increased the half-inactivation temperature by 2-3 degrees C over that of the wild-type enzyme. Intriguingly, the three selected cysteine variants generated dimers by formation of intermolecular disulfide bridges.