The crystal structure of feruloyl esterase A from Aspergillus niger suggests evolutive functional convergence in feruloyl esterase family

As a component of the array of enzymes produced by micro-organisms to deconstruct plant cell walls, feruloyl esterases hydrolyze phenolic groups involved in the cross-linking of arabinoxylan to other polymeric structures. This is important for opening the cell wall structure, making material more accessible to glycosyl hydrolases. Here, we describe the first crystal structure of the non-modular type-A feruloyl esterase from Aspergillus niger (AnFaeA) solved at 2.5A resolution. AnFaeA displays an alpha/beta hydrolase fold similar to that found in fungal lipases and different from that reported for other feruloyl esterases. Crystallographic and site-directed mutagenesis studies allow us to identify the catalytic triad (Ser133-His247-Asp194) that forms the catalytic machinery of this enzyme. The active-site cavity is confined by a lid (residues 68-80), on the analogy of lipases, and by a loop (residues 226-244) that confers plasticity to the substrate-binding site. The lid presents a high ratio of polar residues, which in addition to a unique N-glycosylation site stabilises the lid in an open conformation, conferring the esterase character to this enzyme. A putative model for bound 5,5'-diferulic acid-linked arabinoxylan has been built, pointing to the more relevant residues involved in substrate recognition. Comparison with structurally related lipases reveals that subtle amino acid and conformational changes within a highly conserved protein fold may produce protein variants endowed with new enzymatic properties, while comparison with functionally related proteins points to a functional convergence after evolutionary divergence within the feruloyl esterases family.     

Synthesis of pentylferulate by a feruloyl esterase from Aspergillus niger using water-in-oil microemulsions

Pentylferulate synthesis was achieved at high yields (50–60%) with Aspergillus niger feruloyl esterase using a water-in-oil microemulsion system. The initial rate of synthesis decreased by 15–20% when the water content of the microemulsion was increased from 1.8 to 2.4% (v/v), although a concomitant decrease in conversion was not observed. The enzyme stability was significantly higher in the microemulsion than in an aqueous solution.     

黑曲霉阿魏酸酯酶在毕赤酵母中的组成型表达

【目的】实现黑曲霉来源的阿魏酸酯酶在毕赤酵母(Pichia pastoris GS115)中的组成型表达。【方法】以黑曲霉(Aspergillus niger)基因组为模板,经重叠延伸PCR扩增得到阿魏酸酯酶基因(AnfaeA),将其与载体pGAP9K相连,构建重组表达载体p GAP9KAnfae A,经SalI线性化后电转入毕赤酵母GS115中,得到重组菌株。高效液相色谱法测定发酵液中阿魏酸酯酶活力,并对重组菌进行了发酵优化。【结果】克隆得到783 bp的阿魏酸酯酶编码基因并实现了其在毕赤酵母中的组成型表达。重组菌发酵84 h后,上清液中酶活达5.72±0.10 U/m L。重组酶(reAnfaeA)经分离纯化后比酶活为59.75 U/mg,大小约为40 k D。发酵优化结果为:葡萄糖40.0 g/L,蛋白胨10.0 g/L,酵母膏30.0 g/L,CaCO_3 0.2 g/L,种龄28 h,接种量3%(体积比),装液量50 m L/250 m L。在此条件下发酵培养,酶活达15.60±0.23 U/m L。【结论】阿魏酸酯酶在毕赤酵母中的组成型表达,对研究毕赤酵母组成型表达系统和阿魏酸酯酶的发酵生产具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Synthesis of highly water-soluble feruloyl diglycerols by esterification of an Aspergillus niger feruloyl esterase

Ferulic acid (FA) is a component of plant cell walls that has applications in food, cosmetic, and health products, but its applications are limited by its high insolubility. We synthesized water-soluble FA derivatives by esterification of FA with diglycerol (DG) using feruloyl esterase purified from a commercial enzyme preparation produced by Aspergillus niger. The major reaction product, FA-DG1, was determined to be γ-feruloyl-α,α′-DG by NMR and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analyses. FA-DG1 is a sticky liquid whose water solubility (>980 mg/ml) is dramatically higher than that of FA (0.69 mg/ml). Suitable conditions for esterification of FA with DG were 100 mg of FA in the presence of 1 g of DG and 0.1 ml of 1 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) at 50 °C under reduced pressure. Under these conditions, 168 mg of feruloyl DGs (FA-DG1, 2, and 3) was obtained, corresponding to a 95 % conversion rate of FA. We also developed a batch method which resulted in synthesis of 729 mg of feruloyl DGs and 168 mg of diferuloyl DGs from 600 mg of FA and 1 g of DG (corresponding to conversion of 69 % of the FA to feruloyl DGs and 21 % of the FA to diferuloyl DGs). As an anti-oxidant, feruloyl DGs were essentially equal to FA and butyl hydroxytoluene in scavenging 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radicals. In contrast, the scavenging abilities of diferuloyl DGs were twice those of feruloyl DGs.     

Overproduction of the Aspergillus niger feruloyl esterase for pulp bleaching application

A well-known industrial fungus for enzyme production, Aspergillus niger, was selected to produce the feruloyl esterase FAEA by homologous overexpression for pulp bleaching application. The gpd gene promoter was used to drive FAEA expression. Changing the nature and concentration of the carbon source nature (maltose to glucose; from 2.5 to 60 g l(-1)), improved FAEA activity 24.5-fold and a yield of 1 g l(-1) of the corresponding protein in the culture medium was achieved. The secreted FAEA was purified 3.5-fold to homogeneity in a two-step purification procedure with a recovery of 69%. The overproduced protein was characterised and presented properties in good agreement with those of native FAEA. The recombinant FAEA was tested for wheat straw pulp bleaching, with or without a laccase mediator system and xylanase. Best results were obtained using a bi-sequential process with a sequence including xylanase, FAEA and laccase, and yielded very efficient delignification--close to 75%--and a kappa number of 3.9. This is the first report on the potential application of recombinant FAEA in the pulp and paper sector.     

Air pressure pulsation solid state fermentation of feruloyl esterase by Aspergillus niger

Air pressure pulsation solid state fermentation (APP-SSF) was applied to produce feruloyl esterase (FAE) by Aspergillus niger. With the optimization of some variables by orthogonal design, the optimal condition obtained was 0.2 MPa (gauge pressure) of high pressure intensity, 30 min of low pressure duration and 20s of high pressure duration. Based on the optimized condition, the APP-SSF achieved the reasonable enzyme yield of 881 mU/g at 48 h, which was 58% more than that by static solid state fermentation (static SSF) at 72 h. By comparison of two fermentation methods in temperature, O(2) and CO(2) concentration, and respiration intensity, it was concluded that APP-SSF enhanced heat and mass transfer of fermentation system and strengthened the metabolism of microorganisms. The APP-SSF had a greatly positive effect on FAE production by A. niger, by enhancing mass and heat transfer and activating growth and metabolism.     

Biomass-to-bio-products application of feruloyl esterase from Aspergillus clavatus

The structural polysaccharides contained in plant cell walls have been pointed to as a promising renewable alternative to petroleum and natural gas. Ferulic acid is a ubiquitous component of plant polysaccharides, which is found in either monomeric or dimeric forms and is covalently linked to arabinosyl residues. Ferulic acid has several commercial applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. The study herein introduces a novel feruloyl esterase from Aspergillus clavatus (AcFAE). Along with a comprehensive functional and biophysical characterization, the low-resolution structure of this enzyme was also determined by small-angle X-ray scattering. In addition, we described the production of phenolic compounds with antioxidant capacity from wheat arabinoxylan and sugarcane bagasse using AcFAE. The ability to specifically cleave ester linkages in hemicellulose is useful in several biotechnological applications, including improved accessibility to lignocellulosic enzymes for biofuel production.     

Esterification of ferulic acid with polyols using a ferulic acid esterase from Aspergillus niger

Commercially available enzyme preparations were screened for enzymes that have a high ability to catalyze direct ester-synthesis of ferulic acid with glycerol. Only a preparation, Pectinase PL "Amano" produced by Aspergillus niger, feruloylated glycerol under the experimental conditions. The enzyme responsible for the esterification was purified and characterized. This enzyme, called FAE-PL, was found to be quite similar to an A. niger ferulic acid esterase (FAE-III) in terms of molecular mass, pH and temperature optima, substrate specificity on synthetic substrates, and the N-terminal amino acid sequence. FAE-PL highly catalyzed direct esterification of ferulic acid and sinapinic acid with glycerol. FAE-PL could feruloylate monomeric sugars including arabinose, fructose, galactose, glucose, and xylose. We determined the suitable conditions for direct esterification of ferulic acid with glycerol to be as follows: 1% ferulic acid in the presence of 85% glycerol and 5% dimethyl sulfoxide at pH 4.0 and 50 degrees C. Under these conditions, 81% of ferulic acid could be converted to 1-glyceryl ferulate, which was identified by (1)H-NMR. The ability of 1-glyceryl ferulate to scavenge 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals was higher than that of the anti-oxidant butyl hydroxytoluene.     

黑曲霉h408阿魏酸酯酶基因的克隆及在毕赤酵母中的高效表达

【目的】实现在巴斯德毕赤酵母(Pichia pastoris)中高效表达黑曲霉(Aspergillus niger)h408阿魏酸酯酶A基因(AnfaeA),并对重组酶特性进行表征。【方法】采用重叠延伸PCR扩增黑曲霉h408的阿魏酸酯酶A基因。将AnfaeA基因和毕赤酵母表达载体pPIC9K连接,成功构建重组质粒pPIC9K-Anfae,经线性化后电转化P.pastoris GS115,透明圈法筛选活性高的转化子后进行诱导表达。利用紫外吸收法测定温度及pH对重组阿魏酸酯酶活性的影响。【结果】成功从A.niger h408中克隆得到阿魏酸酯酶A的cDNA基因(GenBank:KF911349),并实现了其在P.pastoris GS115中的高效表达。该基因长度为783bp,含有1个开放阅读框架(ORF),编码260个氨基酸,Blast分析显示该基因和GenBank中黑曲霉阿魏酸酯酶序列同源性为99%。翻译的氨基酸序列含有脂酶典型的活性盖子和催化三联体结构。从转化板上获得1株编号为pPIC9K-Anfae5的转化子阿魏酸酯酶活性最高,酶活达24.72 U/mL,比活力为40.84 U/mg,比黑曲霉出发菌株(22.1 mU/mL)提高了1100倍左右。重组阿魏酸酯酶的最适pH为5.0,且在pH 4.0-9.0稳定性较好;最适反应温度50℃,在40-60℃时较稳定。【结论】阿魏酸酯酶在毕赤酵母中的高效分泌表达为其在饲料工业和造纸工业等工业化应用提供了前提,也为后续改进酶学特性的定向进化奠定实验基础。     

Probing the determinants of substrate specificity of a feruloyl esterase, AnFaeA, from Aspergillus niger

Feruloyl esterases hydrolyse phenolic groups involved in the cross-linking of arabinoxylan to other polymeric structures. This is important for opening the cell wall structure making material more accessible to glycoside hydrolases. Here we describe the crystal structure of inactive S133A mutant of type-A feruloyl esterase from Aspergillus niger (AnFaeA) in complex with a feruloylated trisaccharide substrate. Only the ferulic acid moiety of the substrate is visible in the electron density map, showing interactions through its OH and OCH(3) groups with the hydroxyl groups of Tyr80. The importance of aromatic and polar residues in the activity of AnFaeA was also evaluated using site-directed mutagenesis. Four mutant proteins were heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris, and their kinetic properties determined against methyl esters of ferulic, sinapic, caffeic and p-coumaric acid. The k(cat) of Y80S, Y80V, W260S and W260V was drastically reduced compared to that of the wild-type enzyme. However, the replacement of Tyr80 and Trp260 with smaller residues broadened the substrate specificity of the enzyme, allowing the hydrolysis of methyl caffeate. The role of Tyr80 and Trp260 in AnFaeA are discussed in light of the three-dimensional structure.     

Expression in Escherichia coli, refolding and crystallization of Aspergillus niger feruloyl esterase A using a serial factorial approach

Hydrolysis of plant biomass is achieved by the combined action of enzymes secreted by microorganisms and directed against the backbone and the side chains of plant cell wall polysaccharides. Among side chains degrading enzymes, the feruloyl esterase A (FAEA) specifically removes feruloyl residues. Thus, FAEA has potential applications in a wide range of industrial processes such as paper bleaching or bio-ethanol production. To gain insight into FAEA hydrolysis activity, we solved its crystal structure. In this paper, we report how the use of four consecutive factorial approaches (two incomplete factorials, one sparse matrix, and one full factorial) allowed expressing in Escherichia coli, refolding and then crystallizing Aspergillus niger FAEA in 6 weeks. Culture conditions providing the highest expression level were determined using an incomplete factorial approach made of 12 combinations of four E. coli strains, three culture media and three temperatures (full factorial: 36 combinations). Aspergillus niger FAEA was expressed in the form of inclusion bodies. These were dissolved using a chaotropic agent, and the protein was purified by affinity chromatography on Ni column under denaturing conditions. A suitable buffer for refolding the protein eluted from the Ni column was found using a second incomplete factorial approach made of 96 buffers (full factorial: 3840 combinations). After refolding, the enzyme was further purified by gel filtration, and then crystallized following a standard protocol: initial crystallization conditions were found using commercial crystallization screens based on a sparse matrix. Crystals were then optimized using a full factorial screen.     

A halotolerant type A feruloyl esterase from Pleurotus eryngii

An extracellular feruloyl esterase (PeFaeA) from the culture supernatant of Pleurotus eryngii was purified to homogeneity using cation exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and size exclusion chromatography. The length of the complete coding sequence of PeFaeA was determined to 1668 bp corresponding to a protein of 555 amino acids. The catalytic triad of Ser-Glu-His demonstrated the uniqueness of the enzyme compared to previously published FAEs. The purified PeFaeA was a monomer with an estimated molecular mass of 67 kDa. Maximum feruloyl esterase (FAE) activity was observed at pH 5.0 and 50 °C, respectively. Metal ions (5 mM), except Hg²⁺, had no significant influence on the enzyme activity. Substrate specificity profiling characterized the enzyme as a type A FAE preferring bulky natural substrates, such as feruloylated saccharides, rather than small synthetic ones. K_m and k_cat of the purified enzyme for methyl ferulate were 0.15 mM and 0.85 s⁻¹. In the presence of 3 M NaCl activity of the enzyme increased by 28 %. PeFaeA alone released only little ferulic acid from destarched wheat bran (DSWB), whereas after addition of Trichoderma viride xylanase the concentration increased more than 20 fold.     

黑曲霉阿魏酸酯酶基因密码子优化及在毕赤酵母中的高效表达

【目的】对黑曲霉(Aspergillus niger)阿魏酸酯酶基因进行克隆和密码子优化,使其在毕赤酵母(Pichia pastoris X-33)中高效表达。【方法】以黑曲霉基因组为模板,经重叠延伸PCR扩增得到阿魏酸酯酶基因(Anfae A),并对Anfae A基因进行毕赤酵母密码子偏好性"随机优化"和"一对一优化",全基因合成后分别与表达载体pPICZαA连接,构建表达载体pPICZαA-Anfae A、pPICZαA-op Anfae A I和pPICZαA-op Anfae A II。经Sac I线性化后电转化至P.pastoris X-33中,筛选阳性转化子。摇瓶发酵4.5 d后,测定并比较重组阿魏酸酯酶(re Anfae A)酶活。【结果】密码子优化前阿魏酸酯酶酶活为6.8±0.1 U/m L,基因"一对一优化"和"随机优化"后的重组酶酶活分别为5.2±0.1 U/m L和39.9±0.1 U/m L,"随机优化"后酶活比优化前提高了近6倍,而"一对一优化"后酶活仅为优化前酶活的76.5%。重组阿魏酸酯酶的最适p H为5.5,且在pH 4.5-7.0稳定性较好;最适反应温度50°C,在45-50°C较稳定。【结论】阿魏酸酯酶基因经密码子"随机优化"后进行重组表达,酶活显著提高,对研究阿魏酸酯酶在毕赤酵母及其它宿主中的高效表达具有一定的借鉴意义,也为大规模工业化应用奠定了基础。     

Production of a chimeric enzyme tool associating the Trichoderma reesei swollenin with the Aspergillus niger feruloyl esterase A for release of ferulic acid

The main goals of this work were to produce the fusion protein of the Trichoderma reesei swollenin I (SWOI) and Aspergillus niger feruloyl esterase A (FAEA) and to study the effect of the physical association of the fusion partners on the efficiency of the enzyme. The fusion protein was produced up to 25 mg l⁻¹ in the T. reesei strains Rut-C30 and CL847. In parallel, FAEA alone was produced for use as a control protein in application tests. Recombinant FAEA and SWOI–FAEA were purified to homogeneity and characterized. The biochemical and kinetic characteristics of the two recombinant proteins were found to be similar to those of native FAEA, except for the temperature stability and specific activity of the SWOI–FAEA. Finally, the SWOI–FAEA protein was tested for release of ferulic acid from wheat bran. A period of 24 h of enzymatic hydrolysis with the SWOI–FAEA improved the efficiency of ferulic acid release by 50% compared with the results obtained using the free FAEA and SWOI. Ferulic acid is used as an antioxidant and flavor precursor in the food and pharmaceutical industries. This is the first report of a potential application of the SWOI protein fused with an enzyme of industrial interest.     

Influence of ferulic acid on the production of feruloyl esterases by Aspergillus niger

Extracellular feruloyl esterases from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger are induced by growth on oat spelt xylan (OSX), which contains no detectable esterified ferulic acid. FAE-III accounted for most of the feruloyl esterase activity. Addition of free ferulic acid to OSX at the start of the culture induced FAE-III secretion a further 2.3-fold, and also induced other feruloyl esterases which could not be ascribed to FAE-III. Wheat bran- (WB)-grown cultures, containing 1% (m/v) ester-linked ferulic acid, gave almost identical FAE-III and total feruloyl esterase activities as the cultures grown on OSX plus ferulic acid. De-esterification of WB yielded less total feruloyl esterase, and 2.4-fold less FAE-III, compared to untreated WB. A slightly modified form of FAE-III was produced on de-esterified WB. These results show that production of FAE-III does not absolutely require ferulic acid. However, production is stimulated by the presence of free ferulic acid through increased expression, and is reduced by the removal of esterified ferulic acid from the growth substrate.     

Release of ferulic acid from wheat bran by a ferulic acid esterase (FAE-III) from Aspergillus niger

Ferulic acid was efficiently released from a wheat bran preparation by a ferulic acid esterase from Aspergillus niger (FAE-III) when incubated together with a Trichoderma viride xylanase (a maximum of 95% total ferulic acid released after 5 h incubation). FAE-III by itself could release ferulic acid but at a level almost 24-fold lower than that obtained in the presence of the xylanase (2 U). Release of ferulic acid was proportional to the FAE-III concentration between 0.1 U and 1.3 U, but the presence of low levels of xylanase (0.1 U) increased the amount of ferulic acid released 6-fold. Total sugar release was not influenced by the action of FAE-III on the wheat bran, but the rate of release of the apparent end-products of xylanase action (xylose and xylobiose) was elevated by the presence of the esterase. The results show that FAE-III and the xylanase act together to break down feruloylated plant cell-wall polysaccharides to give a high yield of ferulic acid.