William T. Beeson

Cellobiose Dehydrogenase and a Copper-Dependent Polysaccharide Monooxygenase Potentiate Cellulose Degradation by Neurospora crassa

The high cost of enzymes for saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass is a major barrier to the production of second generation biofuels. Using a combination of genetic and biochemical techniques, we report that filamentous fungi use oxidative enzymes to cleave glycosidic bonds in cellulose. Deletion of cdh-1, the gene encoding the major cellobiose dehydrogenase of Neurospora crassa, reduced cellulase activity substantially, and addition of purified cellobiose dehydrogenases from M. thermophila to the Δcdh-1 strain resulted in a 1.6- to 2.0-fold stimulation in cellulase activity. Addition of cellobiose dehydrogenase to a mixture of purified cellulases showed no stimulatory effect. We show that cellobiose dehydrogenase enhances cellulose degradation by coupling the oxidation of cellobiose to the reductive activation of copper-dependent polysaccharide monooxygenases (PMOs) that catalyze the insertion of oxygen into C-H bonds adjacent to the glycosidic linkage. Three of these PMOs were characterized and shown to have different regiospecifities resulting in oxidized products modified at either the reducing or nonreducing end of a glucan chain. In contrast to previous models where oxidative enzymes were thought to produce reactive oxygen species that randomly attacked the substrate, the data here support a direct, enzyme-catalyzed oxidation of cellulose. Cellobiose dehydrogenases and proteins related to the polysaccharide monooxygenases described here are found throughout both ascomycete and basidiomycete fungi, suggesting that this model for oxidative cellulose degradation may be widespread throughout the fungal kingdom. When added to mixtures of cellulases, these proteins enhance cellulose saccharification, suggesting that they could be used to reduce the cost of biofuel production.

Oxidative Cleavage of Cellulose by Fungal Copper-Dependent Polysaccharide Monooxygenases

Fungal-derived, copper-dependent polysaccharide monooxygenases (PMOs), formerly known as GH61 proteins, have recently been shown to catalyze the O(2)-dependent oxidative cleavage of recalcitrant polysaccharides. Different PMOs isolated from Neurospora crassa were found to generate oxidized cellodextrins modified at the reducing or nonreducing ends upon incubation with cellulose and cellobiose dehydrogenase. Here we show that the nonreducing end product formed by an N. crassa PMO is a 4-ketoaldose. Together with isotope labeling experiments, further support is provided for a mechanism involving oxygen insertion and subsequent elimination to break glycosidic bonds in crystalline cellulose.

Cellodextrin Transport in Yeast for Improved Biofuel Production

Improving Yeast for Biofuel Production The biofuels industry uses the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce ethanol from sugars derived from cornstarch or sugar cane. Plant cell walls are an attractive sugar source; however, yeast does not grow efficiently on cellulose–derived sugars (cellodextrins). Galazka et al. (p. 84, published online 9 September) now show that a model cellolytic fungus Neurospora crassa relies on a cellodextrin transport system to facilitate growth on cellulose. Yeast reconstituted with this transport system grew efficiently on cellodextrins, which could potentially improve the efficiency of cellulosic biofuel production. Reconstitution of a fungal transport system allows yeast to grow on sugars derived from cellulose. Fungal degradation of plant biomass may provide insights for improving cellulosic biofuel production. We show that the model cellulolytic fungus Neurospora crassa relies on a high-affinity cellodextrin transport system for rapid growth on cellulose. Reconstitution of the N. crassa cellodextrin transport system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae promotes efficient growth of this yeast on cellodextrins. In simultaneous saccharification and fermentation experiments, the engineered yeast strains more rapidly convert cellulose to ethanol when compared with yeast lacking this system.

Systems analysis of plant cell wall degradation by the model filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa.

The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa is a model laboratory organism, but in nature is commonly found growing on dead plant material, particularly grasses. Using functional genomics resources available for N. crassa, which include a near-full genome deletion strain set and whole genome microarrays, we undertook a system-wide analysis of plant cell wall and cellulose degradation. We identified approximately 770 genes that showed expression differences when N. crassa was cultured on ground Miscanthus stems as a sole carbon source. An overlap set of 114 genes was identified from expression analysis of N. crassa grown on pure cellulose. Functional annotation of up-regulated genes showed enrichment for proteins predicted to be involved in plant cell wall degradation, but also many genes encoding proteins of unknown function. As a complement to expression data, the secretome associated with N. crassa growth on Miscanthus and cellulose was determined using a shotgun proteomics approach. Over 50 proteins were identified, including 10 of the 23 predicted N. crassa cellulases. Strains containing deletions in genes encoding 16 proteins detected in both the microarray and mass spectrometry experiments were analyzed for phenotypic changes during growth on crystalline cellulose and for cellulase activity. While growth of some of the deletion strains on cellulose was severely diminished, other deletion strains produced higher levels of extracellular proteins that showed increased cellulase activity. These results show that the powerful tools available in N. crassa allow for a comprehensive system level understanding of plant cell wall degradation mechanisms used by a ubiquitous filamentous fungus.

A family of starch-active polysaccharide monooxygenases

Significance Polysaccharide monooxygenases (PMOs) are recently discovered extracellular fungal and bacterial enzymes that are able to cleave the recalcitrant polysaccharides cellulose and chitin. We describe the discovery of a new family of fungal PMOs that act on starch based on bioinformatic, biochemical, and spectroscopic studies on NCU8746, a representative starch-active PMO from Neurospora crassa. The data support a proposed enzymatic mechanism and show that NCU08746 shares evolutionarily conserved features with previously reported PMOs. This discovery extends the currently known PMO family, suggesting the existence of a PMO superfamily with a much broader range of substrates. Starch-active PMOs provide an expanded perspective on studies of starch metabolism and may have potential in the food and starch-based biofuel industries. The recently discovered fungal and bacterial polysaccharide monooxygenases (PMOs) are capable of oxidatively cleaving chitin, cellulose, and hemicelluloses that contain β(1→4) linkages between glucose or substituted glucose units. They are also known collectively as lytic PMOs, or LPMOs, and individually as AA9 (formerly GH61), AA10 (formerly CBM33), and AA11 enzymes. PMOs share several conserved features, including a monocopper center coordinated by a bidentate N-terminal histidine residue and another histidine ligand. A bioinformatic analysis using these conserved features suggested several potential new PMO families in the fungus Neurospora crassa that are likely to be active on novel substrates. Herein, we report on NCU08746 that contains a C-terminal starch-binding domain and an N-terminal domain of previously unknown function. Biochemical studies showed that NCU08746 requires copper, oxygen, and a source of electrons to oxidize the C1 position of glycosidic bonds in starch substrates, but not in cellulose or chitin. Starch contains α(1→4) and α(1→6) linkages and exhibits higher order structures compared with chitin and cellulose. Cellobiose dehydrogenase, the biological redox partner of cellulose-active PMOs, can serve as the electron donor for NCU08746. NCU08746 contains one copper atom per protein molecule, which is likely coordinated by two histidine ligands as shown by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and sequence analysis. Results indicate that NCU08746 and homologs are starch-active PMOs, supporting the existence of a PMO superfamily with a much broader range of substrates. Starch-active PMOs provide an expanded perspective on studies of starch metabolism and may have potential in the food and starch-based biofuel industries.

Cellulose Degradation by Polysaccharide Monooxygenases

Polysaccharide monooxygenases (PMOs), also known as lytic PMOs (LPMOs), enhance the depolymerization of recalcitrant polysaccharides by hydrolytic enzymes and are found in the majority of cellulolytic fungi and actinomycete bacteria. For more than a decade, PMOs were incorrectly annotated as family 61 glycoside hydrolases (GH61s) or family 33 carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM33s). PMOs have an unusual surface-exposed active site with a tightly bound Cu(II) ion that catalyzes the regioselective hydroxylation of crystalline cellulose, leading to glycosidic bond cleavage. The genomes of some cellulolytic fungi contain more than 20 genes encoding cellulose-active PMOs, suggesting a diversity of biological activities. PMOs show great promise in reducing the cost of conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars; however, many questions remain about their reaction mechanism and biological function. This review addresses, in depth, the structural and mechanistic aspects of oxidative depolymerization of cellulose by PMOs and considers their biological function and phylogenetic diversity.

Determinants of Regioselective Hydroxylation in the Fungal Polysaccharide Monooxygenases

The ubiquitous fungal polysaccharide monooxygenases (PMOs) (also known as GH61 proteins, LPMOs, and AA9 proteins) are structurally related but have significant variation in sequence. A heterologous expression method in Neurospora crassa was developed as a step toward connecting regioselectivity of the chemistry to PMO phylogeny. Activity assays, as well as sequence and phylogenetic analyses, showed that the majority of fungal PMOs fall into three major groups with distinctive active site surface features. PMO1s and PMO2s hydroxylate glycosidic positions C1 and C4, respectively. PMO3s hydroxylate both C1 and C4. A subgroup of PMO3s (PMO3*) hydroxylate C1. Mutagenesis studies showed that an extra subdomain of about 12 amino acids contribute to C4 oxidation in the PMO3 family.

Extracellular Aldonolactonase from Myceliophthora thermophila

ABSTRACT 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/Km , of ∼1 × 106 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.

Expression and characterization of the Neurospora crassa endoglucanase GH5-1

Filamentous fungi secrete a wide range of enzymes, including cellulases and hemicellulases, with potential applications in the production of lignocellulosic biofuels. Of the cellulolytic fungi, Hypocrea jecorina (anamorph Trichoderma reesei) is the best characterized in terms of cellulose degradation, but other cellulolytic fungi, such as the model filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa, can serve a crucial role in building our knowledge about the fungal response to biomass due to the many molecular and genetic tools available for this organism. Here we cloned and expressed GH5-1 (NCU00762), a secreted endoglucanase in N. crassa. The protein was produced using a ccg-1 promoter under conditions in which no other cellulases are present. Native GH5-1 (nGH5-1) and this recombinant GH5-1 (rGH5-1) were purified to gauge differences in glycosylation and activity; both rGH5-1 and nGH5-1 were similarly glycosylated, with an estimated molecular weight of 52kDa. On azo-carboxymethylcellulose, rGH5-1 activity was equal to that of nGH5-1, and on cellulose (Avicel) rGH5-1 was 20% more active. The activity of a GH5-1-GFP fusion protein (rGH5-1-GFP-6xHis) was similar to rGH5-1 and nGH5-1. To determine the binding pattern of catalytically active rGH5-1-GFP-6xHis to plant cell walls, Arabidopsis seedlings were incubated with rGH5-1-GFP-6xHis or Pontamine Fast Scarlet 4B (S4B), a cellulose-specific dye. Confocal microscopy showed that rGH5-1-GFP-6xHis bound in linear, longitudinal patterns on seedling roots, similar to S4B. The functional expression and characterization of rGH5-1 and its GFP fusion derivative set important precedents for further investigation of biomass degradation by filamentous fungi, especially N. crassa, with applications for characterization and manipulation of novel enzymes.

NG-Aminoguanidines from Primary Amines and the Preparation of Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibitors

A concise, general, and high-yielding method for the preparation of N(G)-aminoguanidines from primary amines is reported. Using available and readily prepared materials, primary amines are converted to protected N(G)-aminoguanidines in a one-pot procedure. The method has been successfully applied to a number of examples including the syntheses of four nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors. The inhibitors prepared were investigated as competitive inhibitors and as mechanistic inactivators of the inducible isoform of NOS (iNOS). In addition, one of the four inhibitors prepared, N(G)-amino-N(G)-2,2,2-trifluoroethyl-L-arginine 19, displays the unique ability to both inhibit NO formation and prevent NADPH consumption by iNOS without irreversible inactivation of the enzyme.