Converting a {beta}-glycosidase into a {beta}-transglycosidase by directed evolution

Directed evolution was applied to the beta-glycosidase of Thermus thermophilus in order to increase its ability to synthesize oligosaccharide by transglycosylation. Wild-type enzyme was able to transfer the glycosyl residue with a yield of 50% by self-condensation and of about 8% by transglycosylation on disaccharides without nitrophenyl at their reducing end. By using a simple screening procedure, we could produce mutant enzymes possessing a high transferase activity. In one step of random mutagenesis and in vitro recombination, the hydrolysis of substrates and of transglycosylation products was considerably reduced. For certain mutants, synthesis by self-condensation of nitrophenyl glycosides became nearly quantitative, whereas synthesis by transglycosylation on maltose and on cellobiose could reach 60 and 75%, respectively. Because the most efficient mutations, F401S and N282T, were located just in front of the subsite (-1), molecular modeling techniques were used to explain their effects on the synthesis reaction; we can suggest that repositioning of the glycone in the (-1) subsite together with a better fit of the acceptor in the (+1) subsite might favor the attack of a glycosyl acceptor in the mutant at the expense of water. Thus these new transglycosidases constitute an interesting alternative for the synthesis of oligosaccharides by using stable and accessible donor substrates.