Monday, April 29, 2013
Exhibit Hall
The cellobiose hydrolases (CBHs) with high processivity are prevalent in wood-decaying fungi but are rare in cellulose-degrading bacteria. CBHs are industrially important since they predominantly produce soluble sugars such as cellobiose by attacking the end of cellulose chain. Cel5H from Saccharophagus degradans (SdCel5H) is one of a few endoglucanase showing high processivity, which can be used to substitute a fungal CBH. In this study, we have identified an endoglucanase with high processivity from a marine bacterium Hahella chejuensis (HcCel5H) on the basis of motif analysis using SdCel5H as a template. In comparison with SdCel5H, the recombinant HcCel5H showed similar characteristics and activity in degrading carboxymethyl cellulose, but HcCel5H exhibited 2-4 fold higher activity of producing glucose and cellobiose from Avicel than SdCel5H. Due to its high expression levels in Escherichia coli and the high processivity, HcCel5H could be used as an alternative to the fungal CBHs in cellulose hydrolysis.