Xylanolytic enzyme activities produced by mesophilic and thermophilic actinomycetes grown on graminaceous xylan and lignocellulose

Mesophilic and thermophilic strains of actinomycetes were grown on media containing graminaceous xylan or lignocellulose. Aliquots of the culture fluids were sampled and assayed for enzyme activities involved in the degradation of hemicellulose. Xylanase, acetyl esterase and α-arabinofuranosidase activities could be detected after different times of incubation; their production was also dependent on the growth medium. The highest levels of xylanase activity were found in cultures of strains of Streptomyces, Actinomadura sp. and Saccharomonospora viridis. Streptomyces cyaneus produced the highest amount of arabinofuranosidase whereas acetyl esterase activities were highest in S. cyaneus, S. viridis and Pseudonocardia thermophila .     

Xylanolytic Activity of Clostridium acetobutylicum

Of 20 strains of Clostridium spp. screened, 17 hydrolyzed larch wood xylan. Two strains of Clostridium acetobutylicum, NRRL B527 and ATCC 824, hydrolyzed xylan but failed to grow on solid media with larch xylan as the sole carbon source; however, strain ATCC 824 was subsequently found to grow on xylan under specified conditions in a chemostat. These two strains possessed cellulolytic activity and were therefore selected for further studies. In cellobiose-limited continuous cultures, strain NRRL B527 produced maximum xylanase activity at pH 5.2. Strain ATCC 824 produced higher xylanase, xylopyranosidase, and arabinofuranosidase activities in chemostat culture with xylose than with any other soluble carbon source as the limiting nutrient. The activities of these enzymes were markedly reduced when the cells were grown in the presence of excess glucose. The xylanase showed maximum activity at pH 5.8 to 6.0 and 65°C. The enzyme was stable on the alkaline side of pH 5.2 but was unstable below this pH value. The extracellular xylanolytic activity from strain ATCC 824 hydrolyzed 12% of the larch wood xylan during a 24-h incubation period, yielding xylose, xylobiose, and xylotriose as the major hydrolysis products. Strain ATCC 824, after being induced to grow in batch culture in xylan medium supplemented with a low concentration of xylose, failed to grow reproducibly in unsupplemented xylan medium. A mutant obtained by mutagenesis with ethyl methanesulfonate was able to grow reproducibly in batch culture on xylan. Both the parent strain and the mutant were able to grow with xylan as the sole source of carbohydrate in continuous culture with the pH maintained at either 5.2 or 6.0. Under these conditions, the cells utilized approximately 50% of the xylan.     

Xylanolytic anaerobic thermophiles from Icelandic hot-springs

Anaerobic enrichment cultures inoculated with neutral and alkaline (pH 7.0–9.0) sediment and biomat samples from hot-springs in Hveragerdi and Fluir, Iceland, were screened for growth on beech xylan from pH 8.0 to 10.0 at 68° C: no growth occured in cultures above pH 8.4. Five anaerobic xylanolytic bacteria were isolated from enrichment cultures at pH 8.4; all five microbes were Gram-positive rods with terminal spores, and produced CO₂, H₂, acetate, lactate and ethanol from xylan and xylose. One of the isolates, strain A2, grew from 50 to 75° C, with optimum growth near 68° C, and from pH 5.2 to 9.0 with an optimum between 6.8 and 7.4. Taxonomically, strain A2 was most similar to Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum. At pH 7.0, the supernatant xylanases of strain A2 had a temperature range from 50 to 78° C with an optimum between 68 and 78° C. At 68° C, xylanase activity occurred from pH 4.9 to 9.1, with an optimum from pH 5.0 to 6.6. At pH 7.0 and 68° C, the K _m of the supernatant xylanases was 2.75 g xylan/l and the V _max was 2.65 × 10^–6 kat/l culture supernatant. When grown on xylose, xylanase production was as high as when grown on xylan. Correspondence to: B. K. Ahring     

Protein content and enzyme activities in methanol- and acetate-grown Methanosarcina thermophila.

The cell extract protein content of acetate- and methanol-grown Methanosarcina thermophila TM-1 was examined by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. More than 100 mutually exclusive spots were present in acetate- and methanol-grown cells. Spots corresponding to acetate kinase, phosphotransacetylase, and the five subunits of the carbon monoxide dehydrogenase complex were identified in acetate-grown cells. Activities of formylmethanofuran dehydrogenase, formylmethanofuran:tetrahydromethanopterin formyltransferase, 5,10-methenyltetrahydromethanopterin cyclohydrolase, methylene tetrahydromethanopterin:coenzyme F420 oxidoreductase, formate dehydrogenase, and carbonic anhydrase were examined in acetate- and methanol-grown Methanosarcina thermophila. Levels of formyltransferase in either acetate- or methanol-grown Methanosarcina thermophila were approximately half the levels detected in H2-CO2-grown Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum. All other enzyme activities were significantly lower in acetate- and methanol-grown Methanosarcina thermophila.     

Xylanolytic activity and xylose utilization by thermophilic molds

Among thirteen thermophilic fungal strains,viz. Malbranchea pulchella var.sulfurea, Sporotrichum thermophile, Thielavia terrestris, Humicola insolens andAcremonium alabamensis produced high levels of xylanolytic enzymes. The secretion of xylanolytic enzymes was higher in wheat straw medium than in wheat straw hemicellulose. All fungi utilized xylose as the carbon source. However,Mucor pusillus, Torula thermophila andSporotrichum thermophile consumed 90–93% of xylose provided in the medium while others utilized 51–83%. The consumption of glucose by the fungi was high in comparison with that of xylose. Of all the treatments tried, xylose isomerase yield was highest when the mycelium ofHumicola insolens was homogenized with sand. The synthesis of xylose isomerase was very high in wheat straw hemicellulose as compared with that in xylose and glucose.     

Xylanolytic activities of Streptomyces sp. 1--taxonomy, production, partial purification and utilization of agricultural wastes

Twenty-four different strains of Streptomyces spp. isolated from Egyptian soil were tested for their ability to produce extracellular xylanases. Of all these isolates a Streptomyces sp. that had the highest potential for xylanolytic activity was chosen. From various morphological, physiological and antagonistic properties, this isolate was found to belong to Streptomyces lividans. Factors affecting xylanase production by this organism in a basal salt medium containing purified sugar-cane bagasse xylan as a sole carbon source were examined. A noticeable increase in enzyme activity was observed in the presence of peptone or soyabean meal. However, a slight increase was noticed with ammonium sulphate. Optimum production for xylanase was achieved after five days incubation on a rotary shaker (180 rpm) at 30 degrees C. The initial pH values were around neutrality. In addition, this organism has high potential for xylanolytic activity when grown on lignocellulosic wastes including corn cobs, wheat bran, peanut shells, sawdust, wheat straw and sugar-cane-bagasse. Partial purification of the enzyme in the culture supernatant was achieved by salting out at 50-80% ammonium sulphate saturation with a purification of 9.03-fold and 57.9% recovery.     

Xylanolytic activity of commercial juice-processing enzyme preparations

Of 22 commercial juice-processing enzyme preparations investigated, Clarex ML was found to exhibit the highest xylanase activity. The xylanase from Clarex ML was most active at 50–60°C and pH 5·0–5·5. The K _m and V _max values of the enzyme with oat-spelt xylan as the substrate were 8·6 mg ml⁻¹ and 42 μmol xylose l⁻¹ min⁻¹, respectively. Xylobiose was the main product of enzymatic hydrolysis of xylan.     

木聚糖降解酶系基因代谢调控研究进展

木聚糖是半纤维素的主要组成部分,是一类数量很大的再生生物资源,工业利用前景广阔。木聚糖降解需要多种酶的参与,主要有木聚糖酶、木糖苷酶、α-葡萄糖醛酸酶、乙酰木聚糖酯酶、阿拉伯糖酶、阿魏酸酯酶、p-香豆酸酯酶等。主要综述了木聚糖降解酶系基因代谢调控的研究进展,主要包括转录激活因子XlnR、抑制蛋白CreA、不同诱导物、pH值、HAP-CCAAT复合物等对木聚糖降解酶系基因表达的影响,最后探讨了木聚糖降解酶系基因代谢调控存在的问题,并对今后的研究进行了展望。     

Lack of expression of micronuclear genes determining two different enzymatic activities in Tetrahymena thermophila

Abstract. Several (albeit indirect) lines of evidence indicate that the 2n germline micronucleus of the ciliate protozoans is not expressed during vegetative growth, even though it resides in the same cytoplasm and in close physical proximity to the actively expressed large somatic macronucleus (45n). To test this hypothesis more directly and quantitatively at the level of biochemically assayable specific enzyme activities, special heterokaryon strains of Tetrahymena thermophila have been constructed which carry the wild-type alleles specifying galactokinase ( galA ⁺) and phenylalanine hydroxylase ( tyrC ⁺) in the micronucleus only. The heterokaryons were assayed for these two enzyme activities using in vitro radiometric assays. No galactokinase or phenylalanine hydroxylase attributable to the micronuclear genes was observed in such heterokaryons. These results extend the observation of lack of micronuclear gene expression to at least two specific genes, i.e., galA and tyrC , as well as extending previous phenotypic observations on heterokaryons and autoradiographic studies of micronuclear RNA synthesis. By conjugating two of these heterokaryons to each other, it is now possible to determine precisely and unambiguously at what point during macronuclear differentiation the genes in the new macronucleus begin to be actively expressed relative to the timing of the extensive molecular changes that accompany the differentiation of the new macronucleus. These heterokaryons thus provide an excellent model system for the investigation of fundamental genetic regulatory mechanisms in operation during the differentiation of an entire eukaryotic genome.     

微生物木聚糖降解酶研究进展及应用前景

木聚糖是植物半纤维素的主要成分,它是除纤维素外,自然界中最为丰富的多糖。木聚糖的基本结构单元是由β－１．４或β－１．３糖苷键连接的多聚木糖链,在Ｄ－木糖的第二位氧上连接有Ｄ－葡萄糖醛酸或４－Ｏ－甲基葡萄糖醛酸或在第三位氧上连接有Ｌ－阿拉伯呋喃糖。有些木聚糖还在第二或第三位氧上发生乙酰化。不同来源的木聚糖在结构上有一定差异。木聚糖酶是一类木聚糖降解酶系（表１）,对降解自然界大量存在的半纤维素起着重要作用。它们不但可以降解木聚糖生成木糖,而且能以农作物残渣中的半纤维素为原料生产经济价值较高的产品。由…     

New methodology for fungal screening: Xylanolytic enzymes

Summary The technique for determining extracellular xylanolytic activity consists of growing selected fungi for four days on agar medium containing 1% xylan. A section of the agar is then homogenized in buffer and the filtered solution tested for xylanase activity and other related enzymes.     

Phosphofructokinase activities within the order Spirochaetales and the characterisation of the pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase from Spirochaeta thermophila

The subtype of phosphofructokinase activity, either ATP-, ADP- or pyrophosphate-dependent, present in members of three genera from the Spirochaetales was investigated. The individual species/strains examined included Spirochaeta alkalica, S. asiatica, S. halophila, S. isovalerica, S. litoralis, S. zuelzerae, S. thermophila, two thermophilic spirochetes, Treponema bryantii, T. denticola, paragraph signT. pectinovorum, Leptospira biflexa and L. interrogans. All of the Spirochaeta strains, regardless of their phenotype, possessed primarily a pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase. In contrast, T. bryantii, T. denticola and L. biflexa had predominantly an ATP-dependent activity, whereas no activity was detected in T. pectinovorum or paragraph signL. interrogans. The results suggest that pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase activity may be a reliable phenotypic marker for the genus Spirochaeta and that there are potentially interesting differences in how the catabolism of saccharides is controlled among members of genera within the Spirochaetales. The pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase from S. thermophila strain RI 19.B1 was purified (303-fold) to homogeneity and biochemically characterised. The S. thermophila enzyme displayed hyperbolic kinetics with respect to both the forward and reverse cosubstrates and was not significantly affected by traditional activators or inhibitors of phosphofructokinase. The biochemical characterisation represents the first spirochete phosphofructokinase to be described.     

Ogataea thermophila sp. nov., the teleomorph of Candida thermophila

Ascospore formation was observed in the type strain of Candida thermophila Shin K-S, Shin YK, Yoon and Park on some yeast sporulation media. In addition, a further sporulating strain was found that proved to be conspecific with C. thermophila on the basis of sequences of the D1/D2 domain of the large-subunit (26S) rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)1-5.8S rRNA gene - ITS2 region. Therefore, Ogataea thermophila Péter, Tornai-Lehoczki, Shin K-S & Dlauchy sp. nov. is proposed as the teleomorph of C. thermophila. The type strain is Y94(T)=JCM 10994(T)=KCCM 50661(T)=KCTC 17233(T).     

Glutathione in Tetrahymena thermophila

In Tetrahymena , glutathione is synthesized from the same precursors as it is in higher animals and is present in similar intracellular concentrations. The intracellular thiol-disulfide ratio is also identical to that of mammalian tissues, due to the activity of glutathione reductase. The intracellular GSH-level was found to be dependent on the sulfur-containing amino acids in the chemically defined medium.     

Regulation and Characterization of Xylanolytic Enzymes of Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum B6A-RI

During growth on xylan and xylose Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum B6A-RI produced endoxylanase, β-xylosidase, arabinofuranosidase, and acetyl esterase, and the first three activities appeared to be produced coordinately. During nonlimiting growth on xylan, these enzyme activities were predominantly cell associated; however, during growth on limiting concentrations of xylan, the majority of endoxylanase activity was extracellular rather than cell associated. Endoxylanase, β-xylosidase, and arabinofuranosidase activities were induced by xylan, xylose, and arabinose, respectively. Acetyl esterase activity was constitutive, and endoxylanase activity was catabolite repressed by glucose. Extracellular endoxylanase existed as a high-molecular-weight complex (molecular weight, more than 10⁶). When analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and zymograms, the crude endoxylanase complex was composed of at least six activity bands. Endoxylanase was purified by gel filtration with Sephacryl S-300 and affinity chromatography with xylan coupled to Sepharose CL-4B preequilibrated to 45°C with 50 mM sodium acetate buffer (pH 4.0) and eluted with 0.1% soluble xylan. A single area of endoxylanase activity was identified on the zymogram; when this activity was analyzed by SDS-PAGE, it was composed of a major protein with a molecular weight of approximately 160,000 and a minor protein with a molecular weight of approximately 130,000. The endoxylanase activity stained with Schiff's reagent, indicative of glycoproteins, displayed a specific activity of 41 U/mg of protein on xylan, and had pH and temperature optima of 6.0 and 70°C, respectively.     

Glutathione in Tetrahymena thermophila

In Tetrahymena, glutathione is synthesized from the same precursors as it is in higher animals and is present in similar intracellular concentrations. The intracellular thiol-disulfide ratio is also identical to that of mammalian tissues, due to the activity of glutathione reductase. The intracellular GSH-level was found to be dependent on the sulfur-containing amino acids in the chemically defined medium.     

Induction of Cellulolytic and Xylanolytic Enzyme Systems in Streptomyces spp

Extracellular enzyme preparations from Streptomyces flavogriseus and Streptomyces olivochromogenes cultures grown on cellulose contained primarily cellulase activities, but similar preparations from cultures grown on xylan-containing materials possessed high levels of both cellulase and xylanase activities. Growth conditions that gave high endoxylanase levels also resulted in the production of enzymes involved in the hydrolysis of the nonxylose components of xylan. Specific acetyl xylan esterase activities were identified in enzyme preparations from both organisms. Both organisms also produced alpha-l-arabinofuranosidase activity that was not associated with endoxylanase activity. Other activities produced were alpha-l-O-methylglucuronidase and ferulic acid esterase. The latter enzyme was produced only by S. olivochromogenes and is an activity which has not previously been identified as a component of hemicellulase preparations.     

Extracellular aldonolactonase from Myceliophthora thermophila

Fungi secrete many different enzymes to deconstruct lignocellulosic biomass, including several families of hydrolases, oxidative enzymes, and many uncharacterized proteins. Here we describe the isolation, characterization, and primary sequence analysis of an extracellular aldonolactonase from the thermophilic fungus Myceliophthora thermophila (synonym Sporotrichum thermophile). The lactonase is a 48-kDa glycoprotein with a broad pH optimum. The enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of glucono-δ-lactone and cellobiono-δ-lactone with an apparent second-order rate constant, k(cat)/K(m), of ~1 × 10(6) M(-1) s(-1) at pH 5.0 and 25°C but is unable to hydrolyze xylono-γ-lactone or arabino-γ-lactone. Sequence analyses of the lactonase show that it has distant homology to cis-carboxy-muconate lactonizing enzymes (CMLE) as well as 6-phosphogluconolactonases present in some bacteria. The M. thermophila genome contains two predicted extracellular lactonase genes, and expression of both genes is induced by the presence of pure cellulose. Homologues of the M. thermophila lactonase, which are also predicted to be extracellular, are present in nearly all known cellulolytic ascomycetes.     

Small RNAs of Tetrahymena thermophila

Highly purified nuclear and cytoplasmic RNAs were obtained from Tetrahymena thermophila BVII containing only a minimal amount of cross-contamination. In the nuclear RNA fraction we have detected at least 6 distinct snRNAs. Some of the RNA species showed microheterogeneity. SnRNAs of Tetrahymena thermophila are very similar to rat snRNAs, as far as length is concerned. Our cytoplasmic small RNA fraction contained two RNAs, 7S and T7, reported recently (18) as nuclear, particularly nucleolar RNAs. Moreover, we could detect only one cytoplasmic small RNA species Tc1, Tc2 was not observed.Neither the nuclear nor the cytoplasmic small RNA species are degradation products of ribosomal RNA as was shown by Northern blotting and following hybridization with pGY17 containing the entire transcribed region of the ribosomal DNA of Tetrahymena thermophila.