A highly active beta-glucanase from a new strain of rumen fungus Orpinomyces sp.Y102 exhibits cellobiohydrolase and cellotriohydrolase activities

A new strain of rumen fungus was isolated from Bos taurus, identified and designated Orpinomyces sp.Y102. A clone, celC7, isolated from the cDNA library of Orpinomyces sp.Y102, was predicted to encode a protein containing a signal peptide (Residues 1–17), an N-terminal dockerin-containing domain, and a C-terminal cellobiohydrolase catalytic domain of glycoside hydrolase family 6. CelC7 was insoluble when expressed in Escherichia coli. Deletion of 17 or 105 residues from the N-terminus significantly improved its solubility. The resulting enzymes, CelC7(-17) and CelC7(-105), were highly active to β-glucan substrates and were stable between pH 5.0 and 11.0. CelC7(-105) worked as an exocellulase releasing cellobiose and cellotriose from acid-swollen Avicel and cellooligosaccharides, and displayed a Vmax of 6321.64 μmole/min/mg and a Km of 2.18 mg/ml to barley β-glucan. Further, the crude extract of CelC7(-105) facilitated ethanol fermentation from cellulose. Thus, CelC7(-105) is a good candidate for industrial applications such as biofuel production.