Zdeněk Krátký

Mechanisms of Substrate Digestion by Endo‐1,4‐β‐Xylanase of Cryptococcus albidus

The action pattern and reaction mechanism of the endo-1,4-beta-xylanase of the yeast Cryptococcus albidus were investigated using reducing-end (1-3H)-labelled and uniformly 14C-labelled beta-1,4-xylooligosaccharides up to xylopentaose. The enzyme was found to catalyze degradation of oligosaccharides also by other pathways than a simple hydrolytic cleavage. Bond-cleavage frequency of xylotriose, xylotetraose and xylopentaose were found to be concentration dependent. At high substrate concentration reactions such as xylosyl, xylobiosyl and xylotriosyl transfer occur and result in the formation of products larger than the starting substrate. Xylose and xylobiose to significant extent enter the reaction pathways as glycosyl acceptors. None of the transglycosylic reactions observed with reducing-end-labelled substrates or acceptors were accompanied by a significant label redistribution from the reducing-end unit, suggesting that the enzyme-glycosyl intermediates effective in the transfer reactions can be formed from the non-reducing-end units of oligosaccharides. Evidence for the formation of a termomolecular shifted complex of beta-xylanase with xylotriose has also been obtained. All features of the degradation of oligosaccharides by beta-xylanase are consistent with the lysozyme-type reaction mechanism.

Xylan-degrading activity in yeasts: growth on xylose, xylan and hemicelluloses.

The ability to grow in liquid media withD-xylose, xylan from deciduous trees, and hemicelluloses from conifers was tested in 95 strains of 35 genera of yeasts and yeast-like organisms. Of 54 strains thriving on xylose, only 13 (generaAureobasidium, Cryptococcus andTrichosporon) utilized xylan and hemicelluloses as growth substrates. The árowth media of these strains were found to contain xylandegrading enzymes splitting the substrate to xylose and a mixture of xylose oligosaccharides. The ability of these yeasts to utilize the wood components (hitherto unknown in the genusCryptococeus) makes them potential producers of microbial proteins from industrial wood wastes containing xylose oligosaccharides, xylan, and hemicelluloses as the major saccharide components without previous saccharification.

Metabolism of 2-deoxy-D glucose by Baker's yeast. IV. Incorporation of 2-deoxy-D-glucose into cell wall mannan.

Abstract 1. 1. Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown in the presence of 2-deoxy- d -glucose incorporate this glucose and mannose analogue into cell wall polysaccharides. Fractionation of cell walls to mannan- and glucan-containing fractions followed by analysis for glucose, mannose and deoxyglucose showed that deoxyglucose was incorported mainly, if not exclusively, into cell wall mannan. 2. 2. Mild acid hydrolysis of the mannan-containing fraction isolated from deoxyglucose-grown cells afforded besides free deoxyglucose two oligosaccharides containing both mannose and deoxyglucose. They were tentatively identified as 3-O-α, d -mannopyranosyl-2-deoxy- d -glucose and a trisaccharide containing the former disaccharide and an additional mannose residue at non reducing terminal. 3. 3. The results demonstrate direct interaction of deoxyglucose metabolites with the enzyme system of Saccharomyces cerevisiae responsible for the cell-wall mannan biosynthesis.

Reaction pathways of substrate degradation by an acidic endo-1,4-β-xylanase of Aspergillus niger

An acidic endo-1,4-beta-xylanase (1,4-beta-D-xylan xylanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.8) of Aspergillus niger catalyzes degradation of linear 1,4-beta-xylooligosaccharides by multiple reaction pathways analogous to those catalyzed by lysozyme and alpha-amylases. Quantitative product analysis of enzyme-substrate mixtures using 1-3H-reducing end-labeled xylooligosaccharides and [U-14C]xylotriose led to the following conclusions: (1) bond cleavage frequencies of xylotriose, xylotetraose and xylopentaose are strongly dependent on substrate concentration; (2) at relatively low concentration of the oligosaccharides the enzyme catalyzes transglycosylic reactions leading to products larger than the substrates; (3) xylobiose and to a low extent also xylose, are utilized as glycosyl acceptors in the transfer reactions; (4) the enzyme-glycosyl intermediates effective in the transfer reactions are formed only from the non-reducing part of oligosaccharides, since no evidence was obtained for condensation of two molecules of oligosaccharides; (5) the enzyme does not catalyze degradation of xylobiose and aryl beta-xylosides at an appreciable rate.

Enzymes of the yeast lytic system produced by Arthrobacter GJM-1 bacterium and their role in the lysis of yeast cell walls.

Yeast lytic system produced by Arthrobacter GJM-1 bacterium during growth on bakers yeast cell walls contains a complete set of enzymes which can hydrolyze all structural components of cell walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Chromatographic fractionation of the lytic system showed the presence of two types of endo-beta-1,3-glucanase. Rapid lysis of isolated cell walls of yeast was induced only by endo-beta-1,3-glucanase exhibiting high affinity to insoluble beta-1,3-glucans and releasing laminaripentaose as the main product of hydrolysis of beta-1,3-glucans. This enzyme was able to lyse intact cells of S. cerevisiae only in the presence of an additional factor present in the Arthrobacter GJM-1 lytic system, which was identified as an alkaline protease. This enzyme possesses the lowest molecular weight among other identified enzyme components present in the lytic system. Its role in the solubilization of yeast cell walls from the outer surface by endo-beta-1,3-glucanase could be substituted by preincubation of cells with Pronase or by allowing the glucanase to act on cells in the presence of thiol reagents. The mechanism of lysis of intact cells and isolated cell walls by the enzymes of Arthrobacter GJM-1 is discussed in the light of the present conception of yeast cell wall structure.

Metabolism of 2-deoxy-d-glucose by baker's yeast. VI. A study on cell wall mannan

Abstract The incorporation of 2-deoxy- d -glucose into cell wall mannan of growing Saccharomyces cerevisiae proceeded continuously during culture growth and followed the cell multiplication. About 10% of mannan labelled with deoxyglucose was concurrently released into the medium. The distribution of deoxyglucose between the side-chains and the main chain of mannan has been established. Approximately 90% of deoxyglucose present in the polysaccharide was bound in the side-chains and only 10% was located in the (1 a 6)-linked main chain. This result suggested that deoxyglucose metabolites serving as glycosyl donors in mannan biosynthesis were much worse substrates for the enzyme(s) responsible for the formation of the main chain of the polysaccharide than for the mannosyl transferases involved in the formation of the mannan side-chains. Degradation of deoxyglucose-containing mannan by α-mannosidase of Arthrobacter GJM-1 stopped at the deoxyglucosyl residues.

Growth ofAureobasidium pullulans on waste water hemicelluloses

StrainAureobasidium pullulans capable of utilizing hemicelluloses and xylan was cultivated on processed waste dialysis liquor from the production of viscose fibres, containing about 1.5 % hemicelluloses. Basic conditions of biomass production were tested on a laboratory scale. The dialysis waste liquor adjusted with mineral acids to pH 4 — 5 and supplemented with 0.05 % yeast autolyzate and 0.2 % ammonium sulphate affords protein yields of about 0.8 g/1, corresponding to 4.0 — 4.5 g dry biomass. Biomass is isolated together with residual water-insoluble hemicelluloses which are not utilized by the microorganism. The total utilization of hemicelluloses attains about 70 %.

Wall mannan of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Metabolic stability and release into growth medium

Selective labelling of cell wall mannan with radioactive precursors in growing Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed that this polysaccharide is metabolically stable during exponential growth. Mannan once inserted into the wall is not subject to turnover or release into the growth medium. However, about 10% of the amount of mannan incorporated into the cell wall fraction can be recovered in the non-dialyzable material isolated from the growth medium. Therefore, the mannan escaping from the cell must be either a mannan de novo synthesized, not trapped in the growing wall structure, or a mannan with a non-structural role. Radioactivity was also retained in the wall fraction of cells pre-labelled with [14C] glucose which pointed to metabolic stability of all cell wall polysaccharides in growing S. cerevisiae.