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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2001, p. 4426-4431, Vol. 67, No. 10
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn,
Aberdeen AB21 9SB, United Kingdom
Received 7 May 2001/Accepted 16 July 2001
The mechanisms by which cellulolytic enzymes and enzyme complexes
in Ruminococcus spp. bind to cellulose are not fully
understood. The product of the newly isolated cellulase gene
endB from Ruminococcus flavefaciens 17 was purified as a His-tagged product after expression in
Escherichia coli and found to be able to bind directly
to crystalline cellulose. The ability to bind cellulose is shown to be
associated with a novel cellulose-binding module (CBM) located within a
region of 200 amino acids that is unrelated to known protein sequences. EndB (808 amino acids) also contains a catalytic domain belonging to
glycoside hydrolase family 44 and a C-terminal dockerin-like domain.
Purified EndB is also shown to bind specifically via its dockerin
domain to a polypeptide of ca. 130 kDa present among supernatant
proteins from Avicel-grown R. flavefaciens that attach to cellulose. The protein to which EndB attaches is a strong candidate for the scaffolding component of a cellulosome-like multienzyme complex
recently identified in this species (S.-Y. Ding et al., J. Bacteriol.
183:1945-1953, 2001). It is concluded that binding of EndB to
cellulose may occur both through its own CBM and potentially also
through its involvement in a cellulosome complex.
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.10.4426-4431.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
EndB, a Multidomain Family 44 Cellulase
from Ruminococcus flavefaciens 17, Binds to Cellulose
via a Novel Cellulose-Binding Module and to Another R.
flavefaciens Protein via a Dockerin Domain


*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Rowett Research
Institute, Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, United
Kingdom. Phone: 44-1224-716651. Fax: 44-1224-716687. E-mail:
h.flint{at}rri.sari.ac.uk.
Present address: Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
Present address: Department Plant and Microbial Biology,
University of California, Berkeley, California.
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