Enzymic degradation of chemically modified extracellular polysaccharides from Rhizobia

Extracellular polysaccharides from Rhizobium trifolii, U226, Coryn and Bart A; Rhizobium phaseoli, U453; Rhizobium leguminosarum, U331; and Rhizobium meliloti, U27, after chemical modification, become substrates for certain β-d-glucan hydrolases. The Streptomyces (1 → 4)-β-d-glucan endohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.4) hydrolyses reduced and deacetylated rhizobial polysaccharides, both before and after removal of carboxyethylidene substituents, to produce a series of oligosaccharides. The Rhizopus arrhizus (1 → 3)-β-d-glucan endohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.6) hydrolyses only fully modified polysaccharides to yield, in the case of R. meliloti U27, laminarabiose, and, in all other instances, a disaccharide identified β-d-Gal-(1 → 3)-D-Glc. The same disaccharides are released by the Rhizopus enzyme from oligosaccharides produced by the action of the Streptomyces enzyme on fully modified polysaccharides. The results are discussed in relation to the available data for the structure of the polysaccharides and the specificity of the enzymes.