Abstract
A sporeforming gram-positive aerobic bacterium was isolated from soil and shown to secrete an endoglycanase that cleaves the tetrasaccharide backbone structure of specific members within the gellan family of related bacterial exopolysaccharides. We refer to these polysaccharides as sphingans. The structures of the sphingans differ by the type and position of side groups that are attached to the backbone. The new enzyme named sphinganase degrades welan, gellan, deacylated gellan, and polysaccharides S-88, S-7, and S-198. However, the enzyme does not attack rhamsan or polysaccharide NW11. Methods for growing the bacteria, isolating the enzyme, and assaying sphinganase activity are presented, and uses for the enzyme are proposed.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cadmus M. C., Rogovin S. P., Burton K. A., Pittsley J. E., Knutson C. A., Jeanes A. Colonial variation in Xanthomonas campestris NRRL B-1459 and characterization of the polysaccharide from a variant strain. Can J Microbiol. 1976 Jul;22(7):942–948. doi: 10.1139/m76-136. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Campana S., Andrade C., Milas M., Rinaudo M. Polyelectrolyte and rheological studies on the polysaccharide welan. Int J Biol Macromol. 1990 Dec;12(6):379–384. doi: 10.1016/0141-8130(90)90047-e. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jansson P. E., Kenne L., Lindberg B. Structure of extracellular polysaccharide from Xanthomonas campestris. Carbohydr Res. 1975 Dec;45:275–282. doi: 10.1016/s0008-6215(00)85885-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jansson P. E., Kumar N. S., Lindberg B. Structural studies of a polysaccharide (S-88) elaborated by Pseudomonas ATCC 31554. Carbohydr Res. 1986 Nov 15;156:165–172. doi: 10.1016/s0008-6215(00)90108-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kang K. S., Veeder G. T., Mirrasoul P. J., Kaneko T., Cottrell I. W. Agar-like polysaccharide produced by a pseudomonas species: production and basic properties. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1982 May;43(5):1086–1091. doi: 10.1128/aem.43.5.1086-1091.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- O'Neill M. A., Darvill A. G., Albersheim P., Chou K. J. Structural analysis of an acidic polysaccharide secreted by Xanthobacter sp. (ATCC 53272). Carbohydr Res. 1990 Oct 10;206(2):289–296. doi: 10.1016/0008-6215(90)80068-e. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]