title: Molecular cloning and characterization of Bifidobacterium bifidum 1,2-alpha-L-fucosidase (AfcA), a novel inverting glycosidase (glycoside hydrolase family 95).
abstract: A genomic library of Bifidobacterium bifidum constructed in Escherichia coli was screened for the ability to hydrolyze the alpha-(1-->2) linkage of 2'-fucosyllactose, and a gene encoding 1,2-alpha-l-fucosidase (AfcA) was isolated. The afcA gene was found to comprise 1,959 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of 205 kDa and containing a signal peptide and a membrane anchor at the N and C termini, respectively. A domain responsible for fucosidase activity (the Fuc domain; amino acid residues 577 to 1474) was localized by deletion analysis and then purified as a hexahistidine-tagged protein. The recombinant Fuc domain specifically hydrolyzed the terminal alpha-(1-->2)-fucosidic linkages of various oligosaccharides and a sugar chain of a glycoprotein. The stereochemical course of the hydrolysis of 2'-fucosyllactose was determined to be inversion by using (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance. The primary structure of the Fuc domain exhibited no similarity to those of any glycoside hydrolases (GHs) but showed high similarity to those of several hypothetical proteins in a database. Thus, it was revealed that the AfcA protein constitutes a novel inverting GH family (GH family 95).
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrated Life Science, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan. takane@kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takane
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sakuma
authors.forename: Takatoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Makimura
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hiratake
authors.forename: Kanzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamanoi
authors.forename: Hidehiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumagai
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000145:classification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D005644:alpha-L-Fucosidase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; D005644:alpha-L-Fucosidase