A fungal lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase is required for cell wall integrity, thermotolerance, and virulence of the fungal human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Fungi often adapt to environmental stress by altering their size, shape, or rate of cell division. These morphological changes require reorganization of the cell wall, a structural feature external to the cell membrane composed of highly interconnected polysaccharides and glycoproteins. Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are copper-dependent enzymes that are typically secreted into the extracellular space to catalyze initial oxidative steps in the degradation of complex biopolymers such as chitin and cellulose. However, their roles in modifying endogenous microbial carbohydrates are poorly characterized. The CEL1 gene in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans (Cn) is predicted by sequence homology to encode an LPMO of the AA9 enzyme family. The CEL1 gene is induced by host physiological pH and temperature, and it is primarily localized to the fungal cell wall. Targeted mutation of the CEL1 gene revealed that it is required for the expression of stress response phenotypes, including thermotolerance, cell wall integrity, and efficient cell cycle progression. Accordingly, a cel1Δ deletion mutant was avirulent in two models of C. neoformans infection. Therefore, in contrast to LPMO activity in other microorganisms that primarily targets exogenous polysaccharides, these data suggest that CnCel1 promotes intrinsic fungal cell wall remodeling events required for efficient adaptation to the host environment.

A fast, sensitive and fluorescent LPMO activity assay.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are industrially relevant enzymes that utilize a copper co-factor and an oxygen species to break down recalcitrant polysaccharides. These enzymes are secreted by microorganisms and are used in lignocellulosic refineries. As such, they are interesting from both the ecological/biological and industrial perspectives. Here we describe the development of a new fluorescence-based kinetic LPMO activity assay. The assay is based on the enzymatic production of fluorescein from its reduced counterpart. The assay can detect as little as 1 nM LPMO with optimized assay conditions. Furthermore, the reduced fluorescein substrate can also be used to identify peroxidase activity as seen by the formation of fluorescein by horseradish peroxidase. The assay was shown to work well at relatively low H2O2 and dehydroascorbate concentrations. The applicability of the assay was demonstrated.

Changes in active-site geometry on X-ray photoreduction of a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase active-site copper and saccharide binding.

The recently discovered lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are Cu-containing enzymes capable of degrading polysaccharide substrates oxidatively. The generally accepted first step in the LPMO reaction is the reduction of the active-site metal ion from Cu2+ to Cu+. Here we have used a systematic diffraction data collection method to monitor structural changes in two AA9 LPMOs, one from Lentinus similis (LsAA9_A) and one from Thermoascus auranti-acus (TaAA9_A), as the active-site Cu is photoreduced in the X-ray beam. For LsAA9_A, the protein produced in two different recombinant systems was crystallized to probe the effect of post-translational modifications and different crystallization conditions on the active site and metal photoreduction. We can recommend that crystallographic studies of AA9 LPMOs wishing to address the Cu2+ form use a total X-ray dose below 3 × 104 Gy, while the Cu+ form can be attained using 1 × 106 Gy. In all cases, we observe the transition from a hexa-coordinated Cu site with two solvent-facing ligands to a T-shaped geometry with no exogenous ligands, and a clear increase of the θ2 parameter and a decrease of the θ3 parameter by averages of 9.2° and 8.4°, respectively, but also a slight increase in θT. Thus, the θ2 and θ3 parameters are helpful diagnostics for the oxidation state of the metal in a His-brace protein. On binding of cello-oligosaccharides to LsAA9_A, regardless of the production source, the θT parameter increases, making the Cu site less planar, while the active-site Tyr-Cu distance decreases reproducibly for the Cu2+ form. Thus, the θT increase found on copper reduction may bring LsAA9_A closer to an oligosaccharide-bound state and contribute to the observed higher affinity of reduced LsAA9_A for cellulosic substrates.

Exploiting photosynthesis-driven P450 activity to produce indican in tobacco chloroplasts.

Photosynthetic organelles offer attractive features for engineering small molecule bioproduction by their ability to convert solar energy into chemical energy required for metabolism. The possibility to couple biochemical production directly to photosynthetic assimilation as a source of energy and substrates has intrigued metabolic engineers. Specifically, the chemical diversity found in plants often relies on cytochrome P450-mediated hydroxylations that depend on reductant supply for catalysis and which often lead to metabolic bottlenecks for heterologous production of complex molecules. By directing P450 enzymes to plant chloroplasts one can elegantly deal with such redox prerequisites. In this study, we explore the capacity of the plant photosynthetic machinery to drive P450-dependent formation of the indigo precursor indoxyl-ß-D-glucoside (indican) by targeting an engineered indican biosynthetic pathway to tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) chloroplasts. We show that both native and engineered variants belonging to the human CYP2 family are catalytically active in chloroplasts when driven by photosynthetic reducing power and optimize construct designs to improve productivity. However, while increasing supply of tryptophan leads to an increase in indole accumulation, it does not improve indican productivity, suggesting that P450 activity limits overall productivity. Co-expression of different redox partners also does not improve productivity, indicating that supply of reducing power is not a bottleneck. Finally, in vitro kinetic measurements showed that the different redox partners were efficiently reduced by photosystem I but plant ferredoxin provided the highest light-dependent P450 activity. This study demonstrates the inherent ability of photosynthesis to support P450-dependent metabolic pathways. Plants and photosynthetic microbes are therefore uniquely suited for engineering P450-dependent metabolic pathways regardless of enzyme origin. Our findings have implications for metabolic engineering in photosynthetic hosts for production of high-value chemicals or drug metabolites for pharmacological studies.

LyGo: A Platform for Rapid Screening of Lytic Polysaccharide Monooxygenase Production.

Environmentally friendly sources of energy and chemicals are essential constituents of a sustainable society. An important step toward this goal is the utilization of biomass to supply building blocks for future biorefineries. Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are enzymes that play a critical role in breaking the chemical bonds in the most abundant polymers found in recalcitrant biomass, such as cellulose and chitin. To use them in industrial processes they need to be produced in high titers in cell factories. Predicting optimal strategies for producing LPMOs is often nontrivial, and methods allowing for screening several strategies simultaneously are therefore needed. Here, we present a standardized platform for cloning LPMOs. The platform allows users to combine gene fragments with 14 different expression vectors in a simple 15 min reaction, thus enabling rapid exploration of several gene contexts, hosts, and expression strategies in parallel. The open-source LyGo platform is accompanied by easy-to-follow online protocols for both cloning and expression. As a demonstration of its utility, we explore different strategies for expressing several different LPMOs in Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Komagataella phaffii.

Copper binding and reactivity at the histidine brace motif: insights from mutational analysis of the Pseudomonas fluorescens copper chaperone CopC.

The histidine brace (His-brace) is a copper-binding motif that is associated with both oxidative enzymes and proteinaceous copper chaperones. Here, we used biochemical and structural methods to characterize mutants of a His-brace-containing copper chaperone from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PfCopC). A total of 15 amino acid variants in primary and second-sphere residues were produced and characterized in terms of their copper binding and redox properties. PfCopC has a very high affinity for Cu(II) and also binds Cu(I). A high reorganization barrier likely prevents redox cycling and, thus, catalysis. In contrast, mutations in the conserved second-sphere Glu27 enable slow oxidation of ascorbate. The crystal structure of the variant E27A confirmed copper binding at the His-brace. Unexpectedly, Asp83 at the equatorial position was shown to be indispensable for Cu(II) binding in the His-brace of PfCopC. A PfCopC mutant that was designed to mimic the His-brace from lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase-like family X325 did not bind Cu(II), but was still able to bind Cu(I). These results highlight the importance of the proteinaceous environment around the copper His-brace for reactivity and, thus, the difference between enzyme and chaperone.

Colorimetric LPMO assay with direct implication for cellulolytic activity.

BACKGROUND: Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are important industrial enzymes known for their catalytic degradation of recalcitrant polymers such as cellulose or chitin. Their activity can be measured by lengthy HPLC methods, while high-throughput methods are less specific. A fast and specific LPMO assay would simplify screening for new or engineered LPMOs and accelerate biochemical characterization. RESULTS: A novel LPMO activity assay was developed based on the production of the dye phenolphthalein (PHP) from its reduced counterpart (rPHP). The colour response of rPHP oxidisation catalysed by the cellulose-specific LPMO from Thermoascus aurantiacus (TaAA9A), was found to increase tenfold by adding dehydroascorbate (DHA) as a co-substrate. The assay using a combination of rPHP and DHA was tested on 12 different metallo-enzymes, but only the LPMOs catalysed this reaction. The assay was optimized for characterization of TaAA9A and showed a sensitivity of 15 nM after 30 min incubation. It followed apparent Michaelis-Menten kinetics with kcat = 0.09 s-1 and KM = 244 µM, and the assay was used to confirm stoichiometric copper-enzyme binding and enzyme unfolding at a temperature of approximately 60 °C. DHA, glutathione and fructose were found to enhance LPMO oxidation of rPHP and in the optimized assay conditions these co-substrates also enabled cellulose degradation. CONCLUSIONS: This novel and specific LPMO assay can be carried out in a convenient microtiter plate format ready for high-throughput screening and enzyme characterization. DHA was the best co-substrate tested for oxidation of rPHP and this preference appears to be LPMO-specific. The identified co-substrates DHA and fructose are not normally considered as LPMO co-substrates but here they are shown to facilitate both oxidation of rPHP and degradation of cellulose. This is a rare example of a finding from a high-throughput assay that directly translate into enzyme activity on an insoluble substrate. The rPHP-based assay thus expands our understanding of LPMO catalysed reactions and has the potential to characterize LPMO activity in industrial settings, where usual co-substrates such as ascorbate and oxygen are depleted.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases and other histidine-brace copper proteins: structure, oxygen activation and biotechnological applications.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are mononuclear copper enzymes that catalyse the oxidative cleavage of glycosidic bonds. They are characterised by two histidine residues that coordinate copper in a configuration termed the Cu-histidine brace. Although first identified in bacteria and fungi, LPMOs have since been found in all biological kingdoms. LPMOs are now included in commercial enzyme cocktails used in industrial biorefineries. This has led to increased process yield due to the synergistic action of LPMOs with glycoside hydrolases. However, the introduction of LPMOs makes control of the enzymatic step in industrial stirred-tank reactors more challenging, and the operational stability of the enzymes is reduced. It is clear that much is still to be learned about the interaction between LPMOs and their complex natural and industrial environments, and fundamental scientific studies are required towards this end. Several atomic-resolution structures have been solved providing detailed information on the Cu-coordination sphere and the interaction with the polysaccharide substrate. However, the molecular mechanisms of LPMOs are still the subject of intense investigation; the key question being how the proteinaceous environment controls the copper cofactor towards the activation of the O-O bond in O2 and cleavage of the glycosidic bonds in polysaccharides. The need for biochemical characterisation of each putative LPMO is discussed based on recent reports showing that not all proteins with a Cu-histidine brace are enzymes.

Biochemical evidence of both copper chelation and oxygenase activity at the histidine brace.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase (LPMO) and copper binding protein CopC share a similar mononuclear copper site. This site is defined by an N-terminal histidine and a second internal histidine side chain in a configuration called the histidine brace. To understand better the determinants of reactivity, the biochemical and structural properties of a well-described cellulose-specific LPMO from Thermoascus aurantiacus (TaAA9A) is compared with that of CopC from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PfCopC) and with the LPMO-like protein Bim1 from Cryptococcus neoformans. PfCopC is not reduced by ascorbate but is a very strong Cu(II) chelator due to residues that interacts with the N-terminus. This first biochemical characterization of Bim1 shows that it is not redox active, but very sensitive to H2O2, which accelerates the release of Cu ions from the protein. TaAA9A oxidizes ascorbate at a rate similar to free copper but through a mechanism that produce fewer reactive oxygen species. These three biologically relevant examples emphasize the diversity in how the proteinaceous environment control reactivity of Cu with O2.

Tenuazonic acid from Stemphylium loti inhibits the plant plasma membrane H+ -ATPase by a mechanism involving the C-terminal regulatory domain.

Pathogenic fungi often target the plant plasma membrane (PM) H+ -ATPase during infection. To identify pathogenic compounds targeting plant H+ -ATPases, we screened extracts from 10 Stemphylium species for their effect on H+ -ATPase activity. We identified Stemphylium loti extracts as potential H+ -ATPase inhibitors, and through chemical separation and analysis, tenuazonic acid (TeA) as a potent H+ -ATPase inhibitor. By assaying ATP hydrolysis and H+ pumping, we confirmed TeA as a H+ -ATPase inhibitor both in vitro and in vivo. To visualize in planta inhibition of the H+ -ATPase, we treated pH-sensing Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings with TeA and quantified apoplastic alkalization. TeA affected both ATPase hydrolysis and H+ pumping, supporting a direct effect on the H+ -ATPase. We demonstrated apoplastic alkalization of A. thaliana seedlings after short-term TeA treatment, indicating that TeA effectively inhibits plant PM H+ -ATPase in planta. TeA-induced inhibition was highly dependent on the regulatory C-terminal domain of the plant H+ -ATPase. Stemphylium loti is a phytopathogenic fungus. Inhibiting the plant PM H+ -ATPase results in membrane potential depolarization and eventually necrosis. The corresponding fungal H+ -ATPase, PMA1, is less affected by TeA when comparing native preparations. Fungi are thus able to target an essential plant enzyme without causing self-toxicity.