Biosynth‘ Scientists Help Pave the Way Towards Better Understanding of LPMOs

Scientists from EUCODIS Bioscience, now acquired by and operating under the Biosynth brand, have contributed to new findings on structural and functional variations on chitin-binding domains of a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase (LPMO).

Catalytic performance of LPMO’s

A team around Vincent G. H. Eijsink from the Norwegian University of Life Science together with scientists from the research department of EUCODIS revealed structural and functional variation between two chitin-binding domains and their significant effects on the catalytic performance of LPMOs. This research is paving the way towards a better understanding of LPMOs and their application in the industry to make crystalline chitin more accessible for green chitosan production.

Chitosan production

Chitin is one of the most common structure giving polysaccharides and can be naturally found in e.g. fungi and arthropods. It is used to produce the commercially interesting chitosan, which has increasing applications in the pharmaceutical industry including drug delivery, tissue engineering and cell encapsulation. It is also used in the agriculture, food, textile and cosmetics industries. The degradation of chitin to chitosan is carried out by deacetylation, either using alkaline or in a more environmentally friendly manner via biocatalysts.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) enzymes

Among others, the lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are key enzymes in the degradation of crystalline polysaccharides like chitin by catalyzing oxidative cleavage of glycoside bonds. This reaction is only inefficiently performed by chitinases, as these enzymes mainly act on degrading amorphous chitin. LPMOs could perform as precursors for chitinases by oxidizing the crystalline surface of chitin and by that introducing new access points for chitinases. The efficiency of LPMOs is promoted by various carbohydrate-binding modules, however, structural and functional properties of these modules are unknown.

Read the full article here: Structural and functional variation of chitin-binding domains of a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase from Cellvibrio japonicus – Journal of Biological Chemistry (jbc.org)

If you are interested in partnertnership regarding this project, please contact the Biosynth business development team.