Structural insights into the substrate-binding cleft of AlyF reveal the first long-chain alginate-binding mode.
Zhang, K., Liu, T., Liu, W., Lyu, Q.(2021) Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 77: 336-346
- PubMed: 33645537 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1107/S205979832100005X
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
7BZ0 - PubMed Abstract: 
The products of alginate degradation, alginate oligosaccharides (AOS), have potential applications in many areas, including functional foods and marine drugs. Enzyme-based approaches using alginate lyases have advantages in the preparation of well defined AOS and have attracted much attention in recent years. However, a lack of structural insight into the whole substrate-binding cleft for most known alginate lyases severely hampers their application in the industrial generation of well defined AOS. To solve this issue, AlyF was co-crystallized with the long alginate oligosaccharide G6 (L-hexaguluronic acid hexasodium salt), which is the longest bound substrate in all solved alginate lyase complex structures. AlyF formed interactions with G6 from subsites -3 to +3 without additional substrate-binding site interactions, suggesting that the substrate-binding cleft of AlyF was fully occupied by six sugars, which was further confirmed by isothermal titration calorimetry and differential scanning calorimetry analyses. More importantly, a combination of structural comparisons and mutagenetic analyses determined that three key loops (loop 1, Lys215-Glu236; loop 2, Gln402-Ile416; loop 3, Arg334-Gly348) mainly function in binding long substrates (degree of polymerization of >4). The potential flexibility of loop 1 and loop 2 might enable the substrate to continue to enter the cleft after binding to subsites +1 to +3; loop 3 stabilizes and orients the substrate at subsites -2 and -3. Taken together, these results provide the first possible alginate lyase-substrate binding profile for long-chain alginates, facilitating the rational design of new enzymes for industrial purposes.
Organizational Affiliation: 
MOE Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, People's Republic of China.