Rice chitinases: sugar recognition specificities of the individual subsites.

Sugar recognition specificities of class III (OsChib1a) and class I (OsChia1cDeltaChBD) chitinases from rice, Oryza sativa L., were investigated by analyzing (1)H- and (13)C-nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of the enzymatic products from partially N-acetylated chitosans. The reducing end residue of the enzymatic products obtained by the class III enzyme was found to be exclusively acetylated, whereas both acetylated and deacetylated units were found at the nearest neighbor to the reducing end residue.

Biospecific fractionation of chitosan.

We have previously reported that, although a fully de-N-acetylated chitosan does not bind to hen egg white lysozyme, chitosans with a low fraction of N-acetylated units (FA) bind biospecifically to lysozyme with an affinity strongly dependent upon pH and ionic strength and without concomitant cleavage of glycosidic linkages. In this study, we report on the fractionation of a low FA chitosan with low molecular weight by biospecific adsorption of the chitosan molecules containing N-acetyl groups to immobilized lysozyme. Hen egg white lysozyme was immobilized to CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B, and a chitosan with a fraction of N-acetylated units of 0.

Family 19 chitinase from rice (Oryza sativa L.): substrate-binding subsites demonstrated by kinetic and molecular modeling studies.

A family 19 chitinase (OsChia1c, class I) from rice, Oryza sativa L., and its chitin-binding domain-truncated mutant (OsChia1c deltaCBD, class II) were produced by the Pichia expression system, and the hydrolytic mechanism toward N-acetylglucosamine hexasaccharide [(GlcNAc)6] was investigated by HPLC analysis of the reaction products. The profile of the time-course of (GlcNAc)6 degradation obtained by OsChia1c was identical to that obtained by OsChia1c deltaCBD, indicating that the chitin-binding domain does not significantly participate in oligosaccharide hydrolysis.

Kinetic studies on the hydrolysis of N-acetylated and N-deacetylated derivatives of 4-methylumbelliferyl chitobioside by the family 18 chitinases ChiA and ChiB from Serratia marcescens.

Kinetic analyses of the hydrolysis reactions of N-acetylated and N-deacetylated derivatives of 4-methylumbelliferyl chitobioside [(GlcNAc)(2)-UMB (1), GlcN-GlcNAc-UMB (2), GlcNAc-GlcN-UMB (3), and (GlcN)(2)-UMB (4)] by ChiA and ChiB from Serratia marcescens were performed. Both enzymes released UMB from all compounds apart from 4. The S-v curves of the hydrolyses of 1 by ChiA and ChiB both exhibited atypical kinetic patterns, and the shapes of the two S-v curves were different from one another.

Comparative study of the reaction mechanism of family 18 chitinases from plants and microbes.

Hydrolytic mechanisms of family 18 chitinases from rice (Oryza sativa L.) and Bacillus circulans WL-12 were comparatively studied by a combination of HPLC analysis of the reaction products and theoretical calculation of reaction time-courses. All of the enzymes tested produced beta-anomers from chitin hexasaccharide [(GlcNAc)(6)], indicating that they catalyze the hydrolysis through a retaining mechanism.