Abstract
Feruloyl esterase (FAE; EC 3.1.1.73) cleaves the ester bond between ferulic acid (FA) and sugar, to assist the release of FAs and degradation of plant cell walls. In this study, two FAEs (Fae13961 and Fae16537) from the anaerobic fungus Pecoramyces sp. F1 were heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris). Compared with Fae16537, Fae13961 had higher catalytic efficiency. The optimum temperature and pH of both the FAEs were 45 ℃ and 7.0, respectively. They showed good stability—Fae16537 retained up to 80% activity after incubation at 37 ℃ for 24 h. The FAEs activity was enhanced by Ca2+ and reduced by Zn2+, Mn2+, Fe2+ and Fe3+. Additionally, the effect of FAEs on the hydrolytic efficiency of xylanase and cellulase was also determined. The FAE Fae13961 had synergistic effect with xylanase and it promoted the degradation of xylan substrates by xylanase, but it did not affect the degradation of cellulose substrates by cellulase. When Fae13961 was added in a mixture of xylanase and cellulase to degrade complex agricultural biomass, it significantly enhanced the mixture's ability to disintegrate complex substrates. These FAEs could serve as superior auxiliary enzymes for other lignocellulosic enzymes in the process of degradation of agricultural residues for industrial applications.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- SEM:
-
Standard error of mean
- FAE:
-
Feruloyl esterase
- FA:
-
Ferulic acid
- MFA:
-
Methyl ferulate
- CAZymes:
-
Carbohydrate active enzymes
- LB:
-
Luria–Bertani broth
- BMGY:
-
Buffered glycerol-complex medium
- BMMY:
-
Buffered methanol-complex medium
- MD:
-
Minimal dextrose solid medium
- CMC-Na:
-
Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose
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Acknowledgements
Thanks for Dr. Yuqi Li and Ms. Yuping Ma for their generous donation of cellulase and xylanase.
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This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 31772627 and 32061143034).
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The research was conceived and designed by JM, YM, YC, WZ. The experiments were conducted by JM and YM. New analytical tools were contributed by YL. Experimental data was analyzed by ZS and XS. The manuscript was prepared by JM. The revision of the manuscript was contributed by YL and VP. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ma, J., Ma, Y., Li, Y. et al. Characterization of feruloyl esterases from Pecoramyces sp. F1 and the synergistic effect in biomass degradation. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 17 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-022-03466-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-022-03466-3