title: Bioprospecting metagenomics of a microbial community on cotton degradation: Mining for new glycoside hydrolases.
abstract: Glycoside hydrolases (GHases) of higher performance are immediately needed for efficient degradation of plant biomass into fermentable sugars in industrial processes. The current study represents functional characterization of the enzymatic repertoire involved in crude cotton biomass degradation. Physical contact between cells and substrate is necessary for efficient hydrolysis of cellulose. Cytophagales, which plays a major role in cotton biomass decomposition, was identified as a prevalent community member by 16S rRNA analysis. From the metagenome data, 2058 GHase homologs were identified, of which sixteen were successfully expressed in E. coli. Four enzymes showed activities on p-nitrophenyl-β-d-xylopyranoside, four showed activities on p-nitrophenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside, two had activities against p-nitrophenyl-β-d-glucuronide, one showed activity on laminarin, three had activities against p-nitrophenyl-N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminide, one had activity towards carboxymethyl cellulose, and one towards p-nitrophenyl-β-d-mannopyranoside. Metagenomics provides a good resource for mining novel biomass degrading enzymes. The sixteen GHases that were cloned may have potential application for biomass conversion and bioproduct production. Functional characterization of the enzymatic repertoire in cotton biomass degradation and analysis of the GHases provide insight into the composition and interaction of enzymes and pathways of plant biomass degradation.
authors.affiliation: State key Lab of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Guoxiu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State key Lab of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State key Lab of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State key Lab of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State key Lab of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Xuedong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State key Lab of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Dongzhi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State key Lab of Bioreactor Engineering, New World Institute of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China. Electronic address: wadexp@ecust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D065132:Bioprospecting; D002482:Cellulose / Q000378:metabolism; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003368:Gossypium / Q000378:metabolism*; D056186:Metagenomics; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D002482:Cellulose; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases
keywords: Crude cotton; Expression; Glycoside hydrolase; Metagenomics; Microbial community