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The family 1 cellulose-binding modules (CBM1) form a groupof small, stable carbohydrate-binding proteins. These modulesare essential for fungal cellulosedegradation. This thesisdescribes both functional studies of the CBM1s as well asprotein engineering of the modules for several objectives. The characteristics and specificity of CBM1s from theTrichoderma reeseiCel7A and Cel6A, along with severalother wild type and mutated CBMs, were studied using bindingexperiments and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Datafrom the binding studies confirmed that the presence of onetryptophan residue on the CBM1 binding face enhances itsbinding to crystalline cellulose. The twoT. reeseiCBM1s as well as the CBM3 from theClostridium thermocellumCipA were investigated by TEMexperiments. All three CBMs were found to bind in lineararrangements along the sides of the fibrils. Further analysesof the bound CBMs indicated that the CBMs bind to the exposedhydrophobic surfaces, the so called (200) crystalline face ofValoniacellulose crystals. The function and specificity of CBM1s as a part of an intactenzyme were studied by replacing the CBM from the exo-actingCel7A by the CBM1 from the endoglucanase Cel7B. Apart fromslightly improved affinity of the hybrid enzyme, the moduleexchange did not significantly influence the function of theCel7A. This indicates that the two CBM1s are analogous in theirbinding properties and function during cellulosehydrolysis. The CBM1 was also used for immobilization studies. Toimprove heterologous expression of a CBM1-lipase fusionprotein, a linker stability study was carried out inPichia pastoris. A proline/threonine rich linker peptidewas found to be stable for protein production in this host. Forwhole bacterial cell immobilization, theT. reeseiCel6A CBM1 was expressed on the surface of thegram-positive bacteria,Staphylococcus carnosus. The engineeredS. carnosuscells were shown to bind cellulosefibers. To exploit the stable CBM1 fold as a starting point forgenerating novel binders, a phage display library wasconstructed. Binding proteins against an amylase as well asagainst a metal ion were selected from the library. Theamylase-binding proteins were found to bind and inhibit thetarget enzyme. The metal binding proteins selected from thelibrary were cloned on the surface of theS. carnosusand clearly enhanced the metal bindingability of the engineered bacteria. <b>Keywords</b>: cellulose-binding, family 1carbohydrate-binding module, phage display, bacterial surfacedisplay, combinatorial protein library, metal binding, proteinengineering,Trichoderma reesei, Staphyloccus carnosus.

<p>The family 1 cellulose-binding modules (CBM1) form a groupof small, stable carbohydrate-binding proteins. These modulesare essential for fungal cellulosedegradation. This thesisdescribes both functional studies of the CBM1s as well asprotein engineering of the modules for several objectives.</p><p>The characteristics and specificity of CBM1s from the<i>Trichoderma reesei</i>Cel7A and Cel6A, along with severalother wild type and mutated CBMs, were studied using bindingexperiments and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Datafrom the binding studies confirmed that the presence of onetryptophan residue on the CBM1 binding face enhances itsbinding to crystalline cellulose. The two<i>T. reesei</i>CBM1s as well as the CBM3 from the<i>Clostridium thermocellum</i>CipA were investigated by TEMexperiments. All three CBMs were found to bind in lineararrangements along the sides of the fibrils. Further analysesof the bound CBMs indicated that the CBMs bind to the exposedhydrophobic surfaces, the so called (200) crystalline face of<i>Valonia</i>cellulose crystals.</p><p>The function and specificity of CBM1s as a part of an intactenzyme were studied by replacing the CBM from the exo-actingCel7A by the CBM1 from the endoglucanase Cel7B. Apart fromslightly improved affinity of the hybrid enzyme, the moduleexchange did not significantly influence the function of theCel7A. This indicates that the two CBM1s are analogous in theirbinding properties and function during cellulosehydrolysis.</p><p>The CBM1 was also used for immobilization studies. Toimprove heterologous expression of a CBM1-lipase fusionprotein, a linker stability study was carried out in<i>Pichia pastoris</i>. A proline/threonine rich linker peptidewas found to be stable for protein production in this host. Forwhole bacterial cell immobilization, the<i>T. reesei</i>Cel6A CBM1 was expressed on the surface of thegram-positive bacteria,<i>Staphylococcus carnosus</i>. The engineered<i>S. carnosus</i>cells were shown to bind cellulosefibers.</p><p>To exploit the stable CBM1 fold as a starting point forgenerating novel binders, a phage display library wasconstructed. Binding proteins against an amylase as well asagainst a metal ion were selected from the library. Theamylase-binding proteins were found to bind and inhibit thetarget enzyme. The metal binding proteins selected from thelibrary were cloned on the surface of the<i>S. carnosus</i>and clearly enhanced the metal bindingability of the engineered bacteria.</p><p><b>Keywords</b>: cellulose-binding, family 1carbohydrate-binding module, phage display, bacterial surfacedisplay, combinatorial protein library, metal binding, proteinengineering,<i>Trichoderma reesei, Staphyloccus carnosus</i>.</p>

Die Tailspike Proteine (TSP) der Bakteriophagen P22, Sf6 und HK620 dienen der Erkennung von Kohlenhydratstrukturen auf ihren gram-negativen Wirtsbakterien und zeigen, von den ersten 110 Aminosäuren des N-Terminus abgesehen, keine Sequenzübereinstimmung. Mit Röntgenkristallstrukturanalyse konnte gezeigt werden, dass HK620TSP und Sf6TSP ebenfalls zu einer parallelen, rechtsgängigen beta-Helix falten, wie dies schon für P22TSP bekannt war. Die Kohlenhydratbindestelle ist bei Sf6TSP im Vergleich zu P22TSP zwischen die Untereinheiten verschoben. / The bacteriophages P22, Sf6 and HK620 need their tailspike proteins (TSP) for recognition of surface carbohydrates on their gram-negative host bacteria. Sequence identity is completely lacking in their C-terminal 500 to 600 amino acids. The three TSP have the same fold, an oligomeric parallel beta-helix, as shown by crystal structure analyses of HK620TSP and Sf6TSP. Compared with P22TSP, the carbohydrate binding site of Sf6TSP is located at the interface between two monomers and not on a single monomer.

This thesis presents the application of different protein engineering methods on enzymes and non-catalytic proteins that act upon xyloglucans. Xyloglucans are polysaccharides found as storage polymers in seeds and tubers, and as cross-linking glucans in the cell wall of plants. Their structure is complex with intricate branching patterns, which contribute to the physical properties of the polysaccharide including its binding to and interaction with other glucans such as cellulose. One important group of xyloglucan-active enzymes is encoded by the GH16 XTH gene family in plants, including xyloglucan endo-transglycosylases (XET) and xyloglucan endo-hydrolases (XEH). The molecular determinants behind the different catalytic routes of these homologous enzymes are still not fully understood. By combining structural data and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, interesting facts were revealed about enzyme-substrate interaction. Furthermore, a pilot study was performed using structure-guided recombination to generate a restricted library of XET/XEH chimeras. Glycosynthases are hydrolytically inactive mutant glycoside hydrolases (GH) that catalyse the formation of glycosidic linkages between glycosyl fluoride donors and glycoside acceptors. Different enzymes with xyloglucan hydrolase activity were engineered into glycosynthases, and characterised as tools for the synthesis of well-defined homogenous xyloglucan oligo- and polysaccharides with regular substitution patterns. Carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM) are non-catalytic protein domains that bind to polysaccharidic substrates. An important technical application involves their use as molecular probes to detect and localise specific carbohydrates in vivo. The three-dimensional structure of an evolved xyloglucan binding module (XGBM) was solved by X-ray diffraction. Affinity-guided directed evolution of this first generation XGBM resulted in highly specific probes that were used to localise non-fucosylated xyloglucans in plant tissue sections. / QC 20100902

Protein-carbohydrate interactions are pivotal to many biological processes, from plant cell wall degradation to host-pathogen interactions. Many of these processes require the deployment of carbohydrate-active enzymes in order to achieve their intended effects. One such class of enzymes, glycoside hydrolases, break down carbohydrate substrates by hydrolyzing the glycosidic bond within polysaccharides or between carbohydrates and non-carbohydrate moieties. The catalytic efficiency of glycoside hydrolases is often enhanced by carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) which are part of the modular structure of these enzymes. Understanding the carbohydrate binding function of these modules is often key to studying the catalytic properties of the enzyme. This thesis investigates the molecular determinants of carbohydrate recognition by CBMs that share similar amino acid sequences and overall three-dimensional structures and thus fall within the same CBM family. Specifically this research focused on two families; plant cell wall binding family 6 CBMs and the alpha-glucan binding family 41 CBMs. Through X-ray crystallography, isothermal titration calorimetry and other biochemical experiments, the structural and biophysical properties of CBMs were analyzed. Studying members of CBM family 6 allowed us to establish the overall picture of how similar CBMs interact with a diverse range of polysaccharide ligands. This was found to be due to changes in the topology of the binding site brought about by changes in amino acid side chains in very distinct regions of the binding pocket such that it adopted a three-dimensional shape that is complementary to the shape of the carbohydrate ligand. Members of CBM family 41 were shown to have nearly identical modes of starch recognition as found in starch-binding CBMs from other families. However family 41 CBMs are distinct as they are found mainly in pullulanases (starch debranching enzymes) and have developed binding pockets which are able to accommodate alpha-1,6-linkages, unlike other starch-binding CBM families. These are the first studies comparing multiple CBMs from within a given CBM family at the molecular level whose results allow us to examine the distinct modes of carbohydrate recognition within a CBM family. Analysis of the family 41 CBMs revealed that these CBMs are mainly found in pullulanases from pathogenic bacteria. Members from Streptococcal species were shown to specifically interact with glycogen stores within mouse lung tissue, leading us to investigate the role of alpha-glucan degradation by the pullulanase SpuA in the pathogenesis of Streptococcus pneumoniae. SpuA targets the alpha-1,6-branches in glycogen granules, forming alpha-1,4-glucan products of varying lengths. The overall three-dimensional structure of SpuA in complex with maltotetraose was determined by X-ray crystallography and showed that its active site architecture is optimal for interacting with branched substrates. Additionally, the N-terminal CBM41 module participates in binding substrate within the active site, a novel feature for CBMs. This is the first study of alpha-glucan degradation by a streptococcal virulence factor and aids in explaining why it is crucial for full virulence of the organism.

Clostridium perfringens is a gram positive spore forming anaerobe and a causative agent of gas gangrene, necrotic enteritis (pig-bel) and food poisoning in humans and other animals. This organism secretes a battery of exotoxins during the course of infection as well as a variety of virulence factors which may help to potentiate the activities of the toxins. Among these virulence factors is the μ-toxin, a family 84 glycoside hydrolase which acts to degrade hyaluronan, a component of human connective tissue. C. perfringens has 53 open reading frames encoding glycoside hydrolases. About half of these glycoside hydrolases are predicted to be secreted. Among these are CpGH84C, a paralogue of the μ-toxin, and CpGH89. CpGH89 shares sequence similarity to the human α-N-acetylglucosaminidase, NAGLU, in which mutations can cause a devastating genetic disease called mucopolysaccharidosis IIIB. One striking feature of the secreted glycoside hydrolase enzymes of C. perfringens is their modularity, with modules predicted to be dedicated to catalysis, carbohydrate-binding, protein-protein interactions and cell wall attachment. The extent of the modularity is remarkable, with some enzymes containing up to eight ancillary modules. In order to help understand the role of carbohydrate-active enzymes produced by bacterial pathogens, this thesis will focus on the structure and function of the modular extracellular glycoside hydrolase enzymes secreted by the disease causing bacterium, C. perfringens. These structure function studies examine two family 32 CBMs (carbohydrate-binding modules), one from the μ-toxin and the other from CpGH84C. As well we examine the complete structure of CpGH84C in order to help further our understanding of the structure of carbohydrate-active enzymes as a whole. Finally, the catalytic module of CpGH89 is characterized and its relationship to the human NAGLU enzyme is discussed.

Wood and wood products are of great economical and environmental importance, both in Sweden and globally. Biotechnology can be used both for achieving raw material of improved quality and for industrial processes such as biobleaching. Despite the enormous amount of carbon that is fixed as wood, the knowledge about the enzymes involved in the biosynthesis, re-organization and degradation of plant cell walls is relatively limited. In order to exploit enzymes more efficiently or to develop new biotechnological processes, it is crucial to gain a better understanding of the function and mechanism of the enzymes. This work has aimed to increase the knowledge about some of the enzymes putatively involved in the wood forming processes in Populus. Xyloglucan endotransglycosylases and a putative xylanase represent transglycosylating and hydrolytic enzymes, respectively. Carbohydrate binding modules represent non-catalytic modules, which bind to the substrate. Among 24 genes encoding for putative xyloglucan endotransglycosylases or xyloglucan endohydrolases that were identified in the Populus EST database, two were chosen for further studies (PttXTH16-34 and PttXTH16-35). The corresponding proteins, PttXET16-34 and PttXET16-35, were expressed in P. pastoris, purified and biochemically characterized. The importance of the N-glycans was investigated by comparing the recombinant wild-type proteins with their deglycosylated counterparts. In order to obtain the large amounts of PttXET16-34 that were needed for crystallization and development of biotechnological applications, the conditions for the large-scale production of PttXET16-34 in a fermenter were optimized. In microorganisms, endo-(1,4)-β-xylanases are important members of the xylan degrading machinery. These enzymes are also present in plants where they might fulfill a similar, but probably more restrictive function. One putative endo-(1,4)-β-xylanase, denoted PttXYN10A, was identified in the hybrid aspen EST library. Sequence analysis shows that this protein contains three putative carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM) from family 22 in addition to the catalytic module from GH10. Heterologous expression and reverse genetics were applied in order to elucidate the function of the catalytic module as well as the binding modules of PttXYN10A. Just as in microorganisms, some of the carbohydrate active enzymes from plants have one or more CBM attached to the catalytic module. So far, a very limited number of plant CBMs has been biochemically characterized. A detailed bio-informatic analysis of the CBM family 43 revealed interesting modularity patterns. In addition, one CBM43 (CBM43PttGH17_84) from a putative Populus b-(1,3)-glucanase was expressed in E. coli and shown to bind to laminarin (β-(1,3)-glucan), mixed-linked β-(1,3)(1,4)-glucans and crystalline cellulose. Due to their high specificity for different carbohydrates, CBMs can be used as probes for the analysis of plant materials. Generally, they are more specific than both staining techniques and carbohydrate-binding antibodies. We have used cellulose- and mannan binding modules from microorganisms as tools for the analysis of intact fibers as well as processed pulps. / QC 20100903

Kohlenhydrat-bindende Module (CBMs) sind die bekanntesten nicht-katalytischen Module, die mit Enzymen assoziiert sind, welche die pflanzliche Zellwand hydrolysieren. Die beta-Mannanase 26 von Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus, Stamm Rt8B.4, ist eine thermostabile modulare Glycosidhydrolase, die N-terminal zwei dicht aufeinander folgende nicht-katalytische kohlenhydratbindende Module besitzt. Diese spezifisch beta-Mannan bindenden CBMs wurden kürzlich als Mitglieder der CBM-Familie 27 klassifiziert. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit wird die Kristallisation und Strukturanalyse des ersten kohlenhydratbindenden Moduls der ß-Mannanase aus C. saccharolyticus (CsCBM27-1) mit einer gebundenen Mannohexaose und in ligandfreier Form beschrieben. Grundlage für diese Arbeit waren Daten aus der isothermen Titrationskalorimetrie zur Quantifizierung der Affinität von CsCBM27-1 für lösliche Mannooligosaccharide. Die hier präsentierte hochaufgelöste Kristallstruktur des ungebundenen und Mannohexaose gebundenen CsCBM27-1 erlaubt weitere Einblicke in die Interaktion ß-Mannan bindender CBMs mit ihren entsprechenden Liganden. CsCBM27-1 zeigt eine typische ß-sandwich jellyroll-Struktur mit gebundenen Kalziumion. Die Mannohexaosebindung wird durch drei dem Lösungsmittel zugängliche Tryptophanreste und einige direkte Wasserstoffbrückenbindungen vermittelt. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Reinigung und Kristallisation der ATPase Virb11 HP0525 aus Helicobacter pylori. Das native Protein HP0525 ließ sich gut rekombinant herstellen und reinigen. Es wurde aus einer von mehreren Kristallisationsbedingungen durch Optimierung der Kristallisationskomponenten ausreichend große Kristalle erhalten, die gute Diffraktionseigenschaften zeigten. Neben dem nativen Protein wurde Selenomethionin-substituiertes Protein synthetisiert und gereinigt. Von diesem Protein SeMet-HP0525, resultierten hexagonale Kristalle. Zur Derivat-Datensatzsammlung ist es aufgrund der Publikation der Kristallstruktur dieser hexameren ATPase HP0525 nicht mehr gekommen. Weitere strukturelle Untersuchungen an diesem Protein wurden als nicht mehr erforderlich angesehen. / Carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) are the most common non-catalytic modules associated with enzymes active in plant cell-wall hydrolysis. Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus strain Rt8B.4 Man26 is a thermostable modular glycoside hydrolase beta-mannanase which contains two non-catalytic modules in tandem at its N-terminus. These modules were recently shown to function primarily as ß-mannan-binding modules and have accordingly been classified as members of a novel family of CBMs, family 27. In the first part of this study, the crystallization and crystal structure analysis of the first carbohydrate binding module (CsCBM27-1) of the beta-mannanase from C. saccharolyticus in native and mannohexaose-bound form is described. The basis for this study were data from isothermal titration calorimetry for quantifying the binding affinity of CsCBM27-1 for soluble mannooligosaccharidesBoth structures permit further insights into the interaction of beta-mannan binding CBMs with their corresponding ligands. CsCBM27-1 shows the typical beta-sandwich jellyroll fold observed in other CBMs with a single calcium ion bound opposite to the ligand binding site. This arrangement is similar to topologies of other CBM families. The crystal structures reveal that the overall fold of CsCBM27-1 remains virtually unchanged upon sugar binding and that binding is mediated by three solvent-exposed tryptophan residues and few direct hydrogen bonds. The second part of this study addressed the purification and crystallization of the VirB11 ATPase HP0525 of Helicobacter pylori. The native HP0525 protein was produced in recombinant Escherichia coli and purified for crystallization. One of several crystallization experiments yielded large crystals by optimization of the concentration of the crystallization components. The crystals revealed good diffraction behavior. In addition to the native protein, selenomethionine-substituted HP0525 was produced and purified. Hexagonal crystals were obtained from the SeMet-HP0525. No derivative datasets were collected, because the crystal structure of the hexameric ATPase HP0525 was published by Yeo et al. (2000). Further structural investigations for the protein HP0525 were judged unnecessary.

This thesis is concerned with the first ever X-ray crystallographic and complimentary solution studies on mycobacterial lectins. Lectins, described as multivalent carbohydrate binding proteins of non-immune origin, are found in all kingdoms of life. As explained in the introductory chapter, those from plants and animals are the best characterized in terms of structure and function. Although not that extensive, important studies have been carried out on viral, fungal and parasite lectins as well. Bacterial lectins studied so far can be classified in to fimbrial, surface and secretory (or toxic). Applications of lectins include blood typing, cell separation and purification of glycoconjugates, mitogenic stimulation of lymphocytes, mapping of neuronal pathways and drug targeting and delivery. The work reported in the thesis lies at the intersection of two major long range programs in this laboratory, one on lectins and the other on mycobacterial proteins. Three putative lectins Rv1419 and Rv2813 from M. tuberculosis and MSMEG_3662 from M. smegmatis were chosen for exploratory studies on the basis of preliminary genomic searches. Exploratory studies on Rv1419, Rv2813 and MSMEG_3662 are described in the second chapter. MSMEG_3662 contains two domains, a LysM domain and a lectin domain (MSL) connected by a long polypeptide chain. The two M. tuberculosis proteins, full length MSMEG_3662 and MSL were cloned, expressed, purified and characterized. Rv2813 did not show any appreciable agglutination activity. It showed ATPase activity. Clearly the protein was not a lectin. Rv1419, full length MSMEG_3662 and MSL exhibited lectin characteristics. Among them, Rv1419 and MSL could be crystallized. Preliminary X-ray diffraction studies on them were carried out. Rv1419 could be successfully expressed only once. However, that was enough for the determination of crystal structure and the glycan array analysis of the lectin (Chapter 3). The monomeric lectin has a β-trefoil fold. It has high affinity for LacNAc and its Neu5Ac derivatives. Modeling studies using complexes of homologous structures, led to the identification of two carbohydrate binding sites on the lectins. Sequence comparisons of Rv1419 with homologous proteins with known structures and phylogenetic analysis involving them provide interesting insights into the relationship among trefoil lectins from different sources. X-ray crystal structure analysis of MSL and its complexes with mannose and methyl-α-mannose, the first comprehensive effort of its kind on a mycobacterial lectin, reveals a structure very similar to β-prism II fold lectins from plant sources, but with extensive unprecedented domain swapping in dimer formation (Chapter 4). The two subunits in a dimer often show small differences in structure, but the two domains, not always related by 2-fold symmetry, have the same structure. Each domain carries three sugar-binding sites, similar to those in plant lectins, one on each Greek key motif. The occurrence of β-prism II fold lectins in bacteria, with characteristics similar to those from plants, indicates that this family of lectins is of ancient origin and had evolved into a mature system before bacteria and plants diverged. In plants, the number of binding sites per domain varies between one and three, whereas the number is two in the recently reported lectin domains from Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. An analysis of the sequences of the lectins and the lectin domains shows that the level of sequence similarity among the three Greek keys in each domain has a correlation with the number of binding sites in it. Furthermore, sequence conservation among the lectins from different species is the highest for that Greek key which carries a binding site in all of them. Thus, it would appear that carbohydrate binding influences the course of the evolution of the lectin. LysM domains have been recognized in bacteria and eukaryotes as carbohydrate-binding protein modules, but the mechanism of their binding to chitooligosaccharides is underexplored. Binding of a full length MSMEG_3662 containing LysM and lectin (MSL) domains to chitooligosaccharides has been studied using isothermal titration calorimetry and fluorescence titration (Chapter 5). This investigation demonstrates the presence of two binding sites of non-identical affinities per dimeric MSL-LysM molecule. Affinity of the molecule for chitooligosaccharides correlates with the length of the carbohydrate chain. Its binding to chitooligosaccharides is characterized by negative cooperativity in the interactions of the two domains. Apparently, the flexibility of the long linker that connects the LysM and MSL domains plays a facilitating role in this recognition. The LysM domain in MSL-LysM, like other bacterial domains but unlike plant LysM domains, recognizes equally well peptidoglycan fragments as well as chitin polymers. Interestingly, in the present case two LysM domains are enough for binding to peptidoglycan in contrast to the three reportedly required by the LysM domains of Bacillus subtilis and Lactococcus lactis. Also, the affinity of MSL-LysM for chitooligosaccharides is higher than that of LysM-chitooligosaccharide interactions reported so far. A part of the work presented in this thesis has been reported in the following publications: • Patra D, Mishra P, Surolia A, Vijayan M. 2014. Structure, interactions and evolutionary implications of a domain-swapped lectin dimer from Mycobacterium smegmatis. Glycobiology, 24:956-965. • Patra D, Sharma A, Chandran D, Vijayan M. 2011. Cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray studies of the mannose-binding lectin domain of MSMEG_3662 from Mycobacterium smegmatis. Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun, 67:596-599. • Patra D, Srikalaivani R, Misra A, Singh DD, Selvaraj M, Vijayan M. 2010. Cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray studies of a secreted lectin (Rv1419) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun, 66:1662-1665.