Analysis of functional divergence within two structurally related glycoside hydrolase families

Two glycoside hydrolase (GH) families were analyzed to detect the presence of functional divergence using the program DIVERGE. These two families, GH7 and GH16, each contain members related by amino acid sequence similarity, retaining hydrolytic mechanisms, and catalytic residue identity. GH7 and GH16 comprise GH Clan B, with a shared β‐jelly roll topology and mechanism. GH7 contains fungal cellobiohydrolases and endoglucanases and is divided into five main subfamilies, four of the former and one of the latter. Cluster comparisons between three of the cellobiohydrolase subfamilies and the endoglucanase subfamily identified specific amino acid residues that play a role in the functional divergence between the two enzyme types. GH16 contains subfamilies of bacterial agarases, xyloglucosyl transferases, 1,3‐β‐D ‐glucanases, lichenases, and other enzymes with various substrate specificities and product profiles. Four cluster comparisons between these four main subfamilies again have identified amino acid residues involved in functional divergence between the subfamilies. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 91: 478–495, 2009. This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The “Published Online” date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com     

The structure of endo-beta-1,4-galactanase from Bacillus licheniformis in complex with two oligosaccharide products

The beta-1,4-galactanase from Bacillus licheniformis (BLGAL) is a plant cell-wall-degrading enzyme involved in the hydrolysis of beta-1,4-galactan in the hairy regions of pectin. The crystal structure of BLGAL was determined by molecular replacement both alone and in complex with the products galactobiose and galactotriose, catching a first crystallographic glimpse of fragments of beta-1,4-galactan. As expected for an enzyme belonging to GH-53, the BLGAL structure reveals a (betaalpha)(8)-barrel architecture. However, BLGAL betaalpha-loops 2, 7 and 8 are long in contrast to the corresponding loops in structures of fungal galactanases determined previously. The structure of BLGAL additionally shows a calcium ion linking the long betaalpha-loops 7 and 8, which replaces a disulphide bridge in the fungal galactanases. Compared to the substrate-binding subsites predicted for Aspergillus aculeatus galactanase (AAGAL), two additional subsites for substrate binding are found in BLGAL, -3 and -4. A comparison of the pattern of galactan and galactooligosaccharides degradation by AAGAL and BLGAL shows that, although both are most active on substrates with a high degree of polymerization, AAGAL can degrade galactotriose and galactotetraose efficiently, whereas BLGAL prefers longer oligosaccharides and cannot hydrolyze galactotriose to any appreciable extent. This difference in substrate preference can be explained structurally by the presence of the extra subsites -3 and -4 in BLGAL.     

Clades, clans, and reciprocal monophyly under neutral evolutionary models

The Yule model and the coalescent model are two neutral stochastic models for generating trees in phylogenetics and population genetics, respectively. Although these models are quite different, they lead to identical distributions concerning the probability that pre-specified groups of taxa form monophyletic groups (clades) in the tree. We extend earlier work to derive exact formulae for the probability of finding one or more groups of taxa as clades in a rooted tree, or as ‘clans’ in an unrooted tree. Our findings are relevant for calculating the statistical significance of observed monophyly and reciprocal monophyly in phylogenetics.     

杨扇舟蛾颗粒体病毒gra基因的分析

本研究利用已知的颗粒体蛋白基因(granulin,gra)设计引物,通过PCR扩增得到ClanGV的gra基因。对 PCR结果序列分析表明,ClanGV的gra基因开放阅读框(ORF)全长747bp,共编码248个aa,预计编码的蛋白质 大小为29．3kDe。在启始密码子ATG上游-24bp处,有一个杆状病毒晚期启动子序列,ATAAG。有两个TATA 框,分别位于ATG上游的-26bp和-65bp位置。基于gra的同源分析和进化树分析表明,ClanGV和茶小卷叶蛾颗 粒体病毒(Adoxophyes orana granulovirus,AoGV)、苹果蠹蛾颗粒体病毒(Cydia pomonella granulovirus,CpGV)、 云杉卷叶蛾颗粒体病毒(Choristoneura fumiferana granulovirus,CfGV)、马铃薯块茎蛾颗粒体病毒(Phthorimaea operculella granulovirus,PoGV)的亲缘关系较近。利用提取的颗粒体蛋白免疫家兔,制备了抗体进行免疫杂交分 析,结果显示ClanGV除了与分月扇舟蛾颗粒体病毒(Clostera anastomosis L．granulovirus,CaLGV)的颗粒体蛋 白有较强的杂交信号外,与棉铃虫核多角体病毒(Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus,HaNPV)多角体蛋 白也有明显的杂交带出现,与甜菜夜蛾核多角体病毒(Spodoptera exigua nucleopolyhedrovirus,SeNPV)只有非常 微弱的杂交信号。     

Investigation of the functional relevance of the catalytically important Glu(28) in family 51 arabinosidases

The alpha-L-arabinofuranosidase (AbfD3) from Thermobacillus xylanilyticus is a family 51 glycosyl hydrolase. According to classification hierarchy, family 51 belongs to clan GH-A. While the major GH-A motifs, the catalytic acid-base and nucleophile, are conserved in AbfD3, a third catalytically important residue (Glu(28)) does not appear to be analogous to any known GH-A motif. To evaluate the importance of Glu(28), bioinformatics analyses and site-saturation mutagenesis were performed. The results indicate that Glu(28) forms part of a family 51 arabinosidase motif which might be functionally homologous to a conserved N-terminal motif found in exo-acting enzymes from families 1 and 5. Importantly, the data reveal that Glu(28) is a key determinant of substrate recognition in the -1 subsite, where it may also play an important role in water-mediated deglycosylation of the glycosyl-enzyme covalent intermediate.