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Characterization of the l-arabinofuranose-specific GafABCD ABC transporter essential for l-arabinose-dependent growth of the lignocellulose-degrading bacterium Shewanella sp. ANA-3

DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.001308 DOI Help

Authors: Konstantinos Drousiotis (University of York) , Reyme Herman (University of York) , Judith Hawkhead (University of York) , Andrew Leech (University of York) , Anthony Wilkinson (University of York) , Gavin H. Thomas (University of York)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Microbiology , VOL 169

State: Published (Approved)
Published: March 2023

Open Access Open Access

Abstract: Microbes that have evolved to live on lignocellulosic biomass face unique challenges in the effective and efficient use of this material as food. The bacterium Shewanella sp. ANA-3 has the potential to utilize arabinan and arabinoxylan, and uptake of the monosaccharide, l-arabinose, derived from these polymers, is known to be mediated by a single ABC transporter. We demonstrate that the substrate binding protein of this system, GafASw, binds specifically to l-arabinofuranose, which is the rare furanose form of l-arabinose found in lignocellulosic biomass. The structure of GafASw was resolved to 1.7 Å and comparison to Escherichia coli YtfQ (GafAEc) revealed binding site adaptations that confer specificity for furanose over pyranose forms of monosaccharides, while selecting arabinose over another related monosaccharide, galactose. The discovery of a bacterium with a natural predilection for a sugar found abundantly in certain lignocellulosic materials suggests an intimate connection in the enzymatic release and uptake of the sugar, perhaps to prevent other microbes scavenging this nutrient before it mutarotates to l-arabinopyranose. This biological discovery also provides a clear route to engineer more efficient utilization of plant biomass components in industrial biotechnology.

Journal Keywords: arabinose; solute transporter; sugars; Shewanella; ABC transporter

Diamond Keywords: Bacteria

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials


Instruments: I03-Macromolecular Crystallography

Added On: 19/03/2023 17:14

Documents:
mic001308.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Biotechnology Structural biology Engineering & Technology Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Macromolecular Crystallography (MX)