Modularity Facilitates Classification Performance of Spiking Neural Networks for Decoding Cortical Spike Trains.

After the introduction of recurrence, an important property of the biological brain, spiking neural networks (SNNs) have achieved unprecedented classification performance. But they still cannot outperform many artificial neural networks. Modularity is another crucial feature of the biological brain. It remains unclear if modularity can also improve the performance of SNNs. To investigate this idea, we proposed the modular SNN, and compared its performance with a uniform SNN without modularity by employing them to classify cortical spike trains. For the first time, a significant improvement was found in our modular SNN. Further, we probed into the factors influencing the performance of the modular SNN and found: (a). The modular SNN outperformed the uniform SNN more significantly when the number of neurons in the networks increased; (b). The performance of the modular SNNs increased as the number of modules dropped. These preliminary but novel findings suggest that modularity may help develop better artificial intelligence and brain-machine interfaces. Also, the modular SNN may serve as a model for the study of neuronal spike synchrony.

MpADC, an L-aspartate-α-decarboxylase, from Myzus persicae, that enables production of ß-alanine with high yield by whole-cell enzymatic catalysis.

BACKGROUND: ß-Alanine is a precursor of many important pharmaceutical products and food additives, its market demand is continuously increasing nowadays. Whole-cell catalysis relying on the recombinant expression of key ß-alanine synthesizing enzymes is an important method to produce ß-alanine. Nevertheless, ß-alanine synthesizing enzymes found so far have problems including easy inactivation, low expression or poor catalytic activity, and it remains necessary to develop new enzymes. RESULTS: Herein, we characterized an L-aspartate-α-decarboxylase, MpADC, from an aphid, Myzus persicae. It showed excellent catalytic activity at pH 6.0-7.5 and 37 °C. With the help of chaperone co-expression and N-terminal engineering guided by AlphaFold2 structure prediction, the expression and catalytic ability of MpADC in Escherichia coli were significantly improved. Using 50 g/L of E. coli cells expressing the MpADC-∆39 variant cultured in a 15-L fermenter, 232.36 g/L of ß-alanine was synthesized in 13.5 h, with the average ß-alanine yield of 17.22 g/L/h, which is best known so far. CONCLUSIONS: Our research should facilitate the production of ß-alanine in an environment-friendly manner.

Highly efficient production of ectoine via an optimized combination of precursor metabolic modules in Escherichia coli BL21.

Ectoine is an osmotic pressure protectant observed in various microorganisms and is widely used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The market value of ectoine has increased considerably with social progress, resulting in high demand for ectoine production technology. Herein, a microbial cell factory in Escherichia coli that produces ectoine at high titers is described as developing efficient and environmentally friendly bio-based ectoine production technology. The ectoine biosynthetic pathway of Halomonas hydrothermalis was introduced into E. coli BL21 (DE3). Subsequent overexpression of precursor metabolic modules, including aspartate branching, pyruvate-oxoacetate, and glutamate biosynthesis pathways, resulted in the final strain, E. coli BCT08, which produced ectoine at a titer of 36.58 g/L during 30 h of fermentation. Sugar feeding speed optimization improved the ectoine titer to 131.8 g/L after 96 h of cultivation. This represents a remarkable achievement in ectoine production from glucose under low-salt conditions and has vast potential for industrial applications.

The influence of non-stationarity of spike signals on decoding performance in intracortical brain-computer interface: a simulation study.

Introduction: Intracortical Brain-Computer Interfaces (iBCI) establish a new pathway to restore motor functions in individuals with paralysis by interfacing directly with the brain to translate movement intention into action. However, the development of iBCI applications is hindered by the non-stationarity of neural signals induced by the recording degradation and neuronal property variance. Many iBCI decoders were developed to overcome this non-stationarity, but its effect on decoding performance remains largely unknown, posing a critical challenge for the practical application of iBCI. Methods: To improve our understanding on the effect of non-stationarity, we conducted a 2D-cursor simulation study to examine the influence of various types of non-stationarities. Concentrating on spike signal changes in chronic intracortical recording, we used the following three metrics to simulate the non-stationarity: mean firing rate (MFR), number of isolated units (NIU), and neural preferred directions (PDs). MFR and NIU were decreased to simulate the recording degradation while PDs were changed to simulate the neuronal property variance. Performance evaluation based on simulation data was then conducted on three decoders and two different training schemes. Optimal Linear Estimation (OLE), Kalman Filter (KF), and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) were implemented as decoders and trained using static and retrained schemes. Results: In our evaluation, RNN decoder and retrained scheme showed consistent better performance under small recording degradation. However, the serious signal degradation would cause significant performance to drop eventually. On the other hand, RNN performs significantly better than the other two decoders in decoding simulated non-stationary spike signals, and the retrained scheme maintains the decoders' high performance when changes are limited to PDs. Discussion: Our simulation work demonstrates the effects of neural signal non-stationarity on decoding performance and serves as a reference for selecting decoders and training schemes in chronic iBCI. Our result suggests that comparing to KF and OLE, RNN has better or equivalent performance using both training schemes. Performance of decoders under static scheme is influenced by recording degradation and neuronal property variation while decoders under retrained scheme are only influenced by the former one.

Modular reconstruction and optimization of the trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline synthesis pathway in Escherichia coli.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, there has been a growing demand for microbial production of trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline (t4Hyp), which is a value-added amino acid and has been widely used in the fields of medicine, food, and cosmetics. In this study, a multivariate modular metabolic engineering approach was used to remove the bottleneck in the synthesis pathway of t4Hyp. RESULTS: Escherichia coli t4Hyp synthesis was performed using two modules: a α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) synthesis module (K module) and L-proline synthesis with hydroxylation module (H module). First, α-KG attrition was reduced, and then, L-proline consumption was inhibited. Subsequently, to improve the contribution to proline synthesis with hydroxylation, optimization of gene overexpression, promotor, copy number, and the fusion system was performed. Finally, optimization of the H and K modules was performed in combination to balance metabolic flow. Using the final module H1K4 in a shaking flask culture, 8.80 g/L t4Hyp was produced, which was threefold higher than that produced by the W0 strain. CONCLUSIONS: These strategies demonstrate that a microbial cell factory can be systematically optimized by modular engineering for efficient production of t4Hyp.

N-acylhomoserine lactonase-based hybrid nanoflowers: a novel and practical strategy to control plant bacterial diseases.

BACKGROUND: The disease caused by plant pathogenic bacteria in the production, transportation, and storage of many crops has brought huge losses to agricultural production. N-acylhomoserine lactonases (AHLases) can quench quorum-sensing (QS) by hydrolyzing acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs), which makes them the promising candidates for controlling infections of QS-dependent pathogenic bacteria. Although many AHLases have been isolated and considered as a potentially effective preventive and therapeutic agents for bacterial diseases, the intrinsically poor ambient stability has seriously restricted its application. RESULTS: Herein, we showed that a spheroid enzyme-based hybrid nanoflower (EHNF), AhlX@Ni3(PO4)2, can be easily synthesized, and it exhibited 10 times AHL (3OC8-HSL) degradation activity than that with free AhlX (a thermostable AHL lactonase). In addition, it showed intriguing stability even at the working concentration, and retained ~ 100% activity after incubation at room temperature (25 °C) for 40 days and approximately 80% activity after incubation at 60 °C for 48 h. Furthermore, it exhibited better organic solvent tolerance and long-term stability in a complicated ecological environment than that of AhlX. To reduce the cost and streamline production processes, CSA@Ni3(PO4)2, which was assembled from the crude supernatants of AhlX and Ni3(PO4)2, was synthesized. Both AhlX@Ni3(PO4)2 and CSA@Ni3(PO4)2 efficiently attenuated pathogenic bacterial infection. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we have developed N-acylhomoserine lactonase-based hybrid nanoflowers as a novel and efficient biocontrol reagent with significant control effect, outstanding environmental adaptability and tolerance. It was expected to overcome the bottlenecks of poor stability and limited environmental tolerance that have existed for over two decades and pioneered the practical application of EHNFs in the field of biological control.

Metabolic engineering strategy for synthetizing trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline in microorganisms.

Trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline is an important amino acid that is widely used in medicinal and industrial applications, particularly as a valuable chiral building block for the organic synthesis of pharmaceuticals. Traditionally, trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline is produced by the acidic hydrolysis of collagen, but this process has serious drawbacks, such as low productivity, a complex process and heavy environmental pollution. Presently, trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline is mainly produced via fermentative production by microorganisms. Some recently published advances in metabolic engineering have been used to effectively construct microbial cell factories that have improved the trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline biosynthetic pathway. To probe the potential of microorganisms for trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline production, new strategies and tools must be proposed. In this review, we provide a comprehensive understanding of trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline, including its biosynthetic pathway, proline hydroxylases and production by metabolic engineering, with a focus on improving its production.

Metabolic Pathway Construction and Optimization of Escherichia coli for High-Level Ectoine Production.

Ectoine is widely produced by various bacteria as a natural cell protectant against environment stress, e.g., osmotic and temperature stress. Its protective properties therefore exhibit high commercial value, especially in agriculture, medicine, cosmetics, and biotechnology. Here, we successfully constructed an engineered Escherichia coli for the heterologous production of ectoine. Firstly, the ectABC genes from Halomonas elongata were introduced into E. coli MG1655 to produce ectoine without high osmolarity. Subsequently, lysA gene was deleted to weaken the competitive L-lysine biosynthesis pathway and ectoine bioconversion was further optimized, leading to an increase of ectoine titer by 16.85-fold. Finally, at the low cell density of 5 OD600/mL in Erlenmeyer flask, the concentration of extracellular ectoine was increased to 3.05 mg/mL. At the high cell density of 15 OD600/mL, 12.7 g/L of ectoine was achieved in 24 h and the overall yield is 1.27 g/g glycerol and sodium aspartate. Our study herein provides a feasible and valuable biosynthesis pathway of ectoine with a potential for large-scale industrial production using simple and cheap feedstocks.

Efficient enzymatic synthesis of α-keto acids by redesigned substrate-binding pocket of the l-amino acid deaminase (PmiLAAD).

In our previous study, we produced α-keto acids by using an L-amino acid deaminase PmiLAAD (wide-type) from Proteus mirabilis, however, the catalytic efficiency was low due to its low substrate affinity. In this study, protein engineering of PmiLAAD was performed to improve the α-keto acid production. PmiLAAD was engineered by iterative CASTing to improve its catalytic performance. The four mutant PmiLAAD-SAVS (PmiLAAD-Phe93Ser-Pro186Ala- Met394Val-Phe184Ser) with 6.6 -fold higher specific activity compared with that of wild-type PmiLAAD has been obtained by high-throughput screening. Comparative kinetics analysis showed that the four mutant PmiLAAD-SAVS had a higher substrate-binding affinity and catalytic efficiency than that of PmiLAAD wild-type. The Km, kcat, and kcat/Km values of the PmiLAAD(SAVS) variant was better (-42.7%, 75.11%, and 85.79%, respectively) than the corresponding values of PmiLAAD wild type. Finally, the whole cell biocatalyst E. coli-pETDuet-1-PmiLAAD(SAVS) has been applied to α-keto acids production. The conversion rate of L-phenylalanine reached 99% by whole-cell biocatalyst E. coli-pETDuet-1-PmiLAAD(SAVS). The conversion of (D/L)-4-phenylalanine was reached 49.5% after 7 h by whole-cell biocatalyst E. coli-pETDuet-1-PmiLAAD(SAVS), while the conversion of E. coli-pETDuet-1-PmiLAAD (wild type) was only 18% after an extension of the reaction time (24 h). This study has developed a robust whole-cell E. coli biocatalyst for α-keto acids production by protein engineering, and this strategy may be useful for the construction of other biotransformation biocatalysts.

AhlX, an N-acylhomoserine Lactonase with Unique Properties.

N-Acylhomoserine lactonase degrades the lactone ring of N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) and has been widely suggested as a promising candidate for use in bacterial disease control. While a number of AHL lactonases have been characterized, none of them has been developed as a commercially available enzymatic product for in vitro AHL quenching due to their low stability. In this study, a highly stable AHL lactonase (AhlX) was identified and isolated from the marine bacterium Salinicola salaria MCCC1A01339. AhlX is encoded by a 768-bp gene and has a predicted molecular mass of 29 kDa. The enzyme retained approximately 97% activity after incubating at 25 °C for 12 days and ~100% activity after incubating at 60 °C for 2 h. Furthermore, AhlX exhibited a high salt tolerance, retaining approximately 60% of its activity observed in the presence of 25% NaCl. In addition, an AhlX powder made by an industrial spray-drying process attenuated Erwinia carotovora infection. These results suggest that AhlX has great potential for use as an in vitro preventive and therapeutic agent for bacterial diseases.

Efficient production of α-keto acids by immobilized E. coli-pETduet-1-PmiLAAO in a jacketed packed-bed reactor.

α-keto acids are compounds of primary interest for the fine chemical, pharmaceutical and agrochemical sectors. l-amino acid oxidases as an efficient tool are used for α-keto acids preparation in this study. Firstly, an l-amino acid oxidase (PmiLAAO) from Proteus mirabilis was discovered by data mining. Secondly, by gene expression vector screening, pETDuet-1-PmiLAAO activity improved by 130%, as compared to the pET20b-PmiLAAO. PmiLAAO production was increased to 9.8 U ml-1 by optimized expression condition (OD600 = 0.65, 0.45 mmol l-1 IPTG, 20 h of induction). Furthermore, The PmiLAAO was stabile in the pH range of 4.0-9.0 and in the temperature range of 10-40°C; the optimal pH and temperature of recombinant PmiLAAO were 6.5 and 37°C, respectively. Afterwards, in order to simplify product separation process, E. coli-pETduet-1-PmiLAAO was immobilized in Ca-alginate beads. Continuous production of 2-oxo-3-phenylpropanoic acid was conducted in a packed-bed reactor via immobilized E. coli-pETduet-1-PmiLAAO. Significantly, 29.66 g l-1 2-oxo-3-phenylpropanoic acid with a substrate conversion rate of 99.5% was achieved by correspondingly increasing the residence time (25 h). This method holds the potential to be used for efficiently producing pure α-keto acids.

[Determination of aminobutanol by high performance liquid chromatography based on charge transfer reaction].

A method was developed for the determination of the content of aminobutanol by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based on charge transfer reaction. Under the condition of a borax-boric acid buffer solution of pH 8.4, aminobutanol and tetra-chloro-benzoquinone reacted at 60℃ for 60 min, and were analyzed by an HPLC-ultraviolet detector. The charge-transfer complex was separated on an Agilent Extend C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm) with 0.001% (v/v) triethylamine and methanol as the mobile phases for gradient elution at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The limit of quantification of aminobutanol was 0.01 g/L, the linear range was 0.1-0.6 g/L, and the correlation coefficient (R2) was 0.9994. The spiked recoveries of the method were 98.3%-103.6% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.9%-1.6%. The method is simple and quick, and suitable for the rapid detection of aminobutanol.

Inhibition of RecBCD in Klebsiella pneumoniae by Gam and its effect on the efficiency of gene replacement.

Gam protein is an inhibitor of the host RecBCD exonuclease, and this inhibition is essential to the proficiency of Red recombinase-mediated gene replacement. In Klebsiella pneumoniae, the efficiency of this gene replacement was lower than that in Escherichia coli, and the minimum length of homologous extensions required was longer. Thus, it was supposed that the inhibitory effect of Gam against RecBCD was weak in K. pneumoniae. To test this hypothesis, a Gam-deficient Red recombinase expression plasmid and a ΔrecB K. pneumoniae mutant were constructed. The Gam-deficient Red recombinase showed a reduced capacity for gene replacement compared with that of the complete Red recombinase. The efficiency of gene replacement in the ΔrecB mutant was 6-8 times higher than the wild-type strain, and the minimum length for the homologous extensions was reduced to 100 bp. These results indicate that Gam does inhibit the RecBCD exonuclease in K. pneumoniae, but that this inhibition is not stringent. Furthermore, mutation of recB presents a convenient and efficient method to enhance the Red recombinase assisted gene replacement in K. pneumoniae.

R-acetoin accumulation and dissimilation in Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a 2,3-butanediol producer, and R-acetoin is an intermediate of 2,3-butanediol production. R-acetoin accumulation and dissimilation in K. pneumoniae was studied here. A budC mutant, which has lost 2,3-butanediol dehydrogenase activity, accumulated high levels of R-acetoin in culture broth. However, after glucose was exhausted, the accumulated R-acetoin could be reused by the cells as a carbon source. Acetoin dehydrogenase enzyme system, encoded by acoABCD, was responsible for R-acetoin dissimilation. acoABCD mutants lost the ability to grow on acetoin as the sole carbon source, and the acetoin accumulated could not be dissimilated. However, in the presence of another carbon source, the acetoin accumulated in broth of acoABCD mutants was converted to 2,3-butanediol. Parameters of R-acetoin production by budC mutants were optimized in batch culture. Aerobic culture and mildly acidic conditions (pH 6-6.5) favored R-acetoin accumulation. At the optimized conditions, in fed-batch fermentation, 62.3 g/L R-acetoin was produced by budC and acoABCD double mutant in 57 h culture, with an optical purity of 98.0 %, and a substrate conversion ratio of 28.7 %.

New strategy to improve efficiency for gene replacement in Klebsiella pneumoniae.

We previously reported the method for introducing gene replacement into Klebsiella pneumoniae through Red-assisted homologous recombination; and it demonstrated that a higher transformation efficiency required long flanking arms at both ends of the linear DNA. The assembly job of the linear DNA is usually time-consuming and laborious. We report here an innovative method for DNA exchange in K. pneumoniae based on PCR-mediated Red recombination. The novel procedure enables rapid gene replacement in K. pneumoniae without prior cloning of the gene of interest; the key modification is to perform PCR reaction to generate linear DNA with extra non-homologous fragments on both ends as mercenary sequences which come from a TA-cloning plasmid. We give a demonstration by deleting the gene dhak1 in K. pneumoniae with high efficiency of about 20 CFU/µg DNA using the new technique.

QsdH, a novel AHL lactonase in the RND-type inner membrane of marine Pseudoalteromonas byunsanensis strain 1A01261.

N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) are the main quorum-sensing (QS) signals in gram-negative bacteria. AHLs trigger the expression of genes for particular biological functions when their density reaches a threshold. In this study, we identified and cloned the qsdH gene by screening a genomic library of Pseudoalteromonas byunsanensis strain 1A01261, which has AHL-degrading activity. The qsdH gene encoded a GDSL hydrolase found to be located in the N-terminus of a multidrug efflux transporter protein of the resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) family. We further confirmed that the GDSL hydrolase, QsdH, exhibited similar AHL-degrading activity to the full-length ORF protein. QsdH was expressed and purified to process the N-terminal signal peptide yielding a 27-kDa mature protein. QsdH was capable of inactivating AHLs with an acyl chain ranging from C(4) to C(14) with or without 3-oxo substitution. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analyses showed that QsdH functioned as an AHL lactonase to hydrolyze the ester bond of the homoserine lactone ring of AHLs. In addition, site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that QsdH contained oxyanion holes (Ser-Gly-Asn) in conserved blocks (I, II, and III), which had important roles in its AHL-degrading activity. Furthermore, the lactonase activity of QsdH was slightly promoted by several divalent ions. Using in silico prediction, we concluded that QsdH was located at the first periplasmic loop of the multidrug efflux transporter protein, which is essential to substrate selectivity for these efflux pumps. These findings led us to assume that the QsdH lactonase and C-terminal efflux pump might be effective in quenching QS of the P. byunsanensis strain 1A01261. Moreover, it was observed that recombinant Escherichia coli producing QsdH proteins attenuated the plant pathogenicity of Erwinia carotovora, which might have potential to control of gram-negative pathogenic bacteria.

A novel bioassay for high-throughput screening microorganisms with N-acyl homoserine lactone degrading activity.

A novel biosensor strain (Escherichia coli ALM403) that responded to N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) was constructed using a luxR-Plux cassette as a regulatory sequence and ß-mannanase as a reporter gene. Dinitrosalicylic acid method was used to detect the response of the sensor strain to N-acyl homoserine lactone. By investigating the response to a range of concentrations of N-ß-oxooctanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (OOHL), it was demonstrated that the expression of mannanase in E. coli ALM403 could be greatly enhanced by OOHL and resulted in an assayable phenotype. A high-throughput screening approach was developed to isolate AHL-degrading microorganisms, and a marine Halomonas sp. S66-4 showing a marked AHL-degrading ability was successfully isolated. In conclusion, the bioassay system provided a simple and efficient approach to isolate AHL-degrading bacteria.

Cloning and characterization of a novel mannanase from Paenibacillus sp. BME-14.

A mannanase gene (man26B) was obtained from a sea bacterium, Paenibacillus sp. BME-14, through the constructed genomic library and inverse PCR. The gene of man26B had an open reading frame of 1,428 bp that encoded a peptide of 475- amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 53 kDa. Man26B possessed two domains, a carbohydrate binding module (CBM) belonging to family 6 and a family 26 catalytic domain (CD) of glycosyl hydrolases, which showed the highest homology to Cel44C of P. polymyxa (60% identity). The optimum pH and temperature for enzymatic activity of Man26B were 4.5 and 60 degrees C, respectively. The activity of Man26B was not affected by Mg(2+) and Co(2+), but was inhibited by Hg(2+), Ca(2+), Cu(2+), Mn(2+), K(+), Na(+), and beta-mercaptoethanol, and slightly enhanced by Pb(2+) and Zn(2+). EDTA did not affect the activity of Man26B, which indicates that it does not require divalent ions to function. Man26B showed a high specific activity for LBG and konjac glucomannan, with K(m), V(max), and k(cat) values of 3.80 mg/ml, 91.70 micromol/min/mg protein, and 77.08/s, respectively, being observed when LBG was the substrate. Furthermore, deletion of the CBM6 domain increased the enzyme stability while enabling it to retain 80% and 60% of its initial activity after treatment at 80 degrees C and 90 degrees C for 30 min, respectively. This finding will be useful in industrial applications of Man26B, because of the harsh circumstances associated with such processes.

A novel endoglucanase (Cel9P) from a marine bacterium Paenibacillus sp. BME-14.

By constructing a genomic library, an endoglucanase gene (cel9P) was cloned from Paenibacillus sp. BME-14 which was isolated from the sea. It had an open-reading frame of 1,629 bp, encoding a peptide of 542-amino acid residue with a calculated molecular mass of 60 kDa. The enzyme showed the highest amino acid identity of 52% with other known endoglucanases and had a C-terminal catalytic domain belonging to the glycosyl hydrolases family 9. The optimum pH and temperature for enzymatic activity was pH 6.5 and 35 degrees C. The metal ions of Ca(2+), Mg(2+), and Mn(2+) had a positive effect on the activity while Hg(2+), Cu(2+), and EDTA had a negative effect. Notably, Cel9P had 65% of the maximal activity at 5 degrees C. Based on the special characteristic of Cel9P, it had a potential significance for study of cold-active mechanism and industry applications.

Novel alkali-stable, cellulase-free xylanase from deep-sea Kocuria sp. Mn22.

A novel xylanase gene, Kxyn, was cloned from Kocuria sp. Mn22, a bacteria isolated from the deep sea of the east Pacific. Kxyn consists of 1,170 bp and encodes a protein of 390 amino acids that shows the highest identity (63%) with a xylanase from Thermobifida fusca YX. The mature protein with a molecular mass of approximately 40 kDa was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant Kxyn displayed its maximum activity at 55 degrees and at pH 8.5. The Km, Vmax, and kcat values of Kxyn for birchwood xylan were 5.4 mg/ml, 272 micromol/min.mg, and 185.1/s, respectively. Kxyn hydrolyzed birchwood xylan to produce xylobiose and xylotriose as the predominant products. The activity of Kxyn was not affected by Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, beta- mercaptoethanol, DTT, or SDS, but was strongly inhibited by Hg2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and Pb2+. It was stable over a wide pH range, retaining more than 80% activity after overnight incubation at pH 7.5-12. Kxyn is a cellulase-free xylanase. Therefore, these properties make it a candidate for various industrial applications.