Abstract
Within the midgut gland of the Christmas Island red crab, Gecarcoidea natalis, a single transcript for a GH5_10 endo-β-1,4-mannase had the highest expression out of all of the carbohydrase enzymes (Gan et al. in Mar Biotechnol 20:654–665, 2018). The activity, and potential digestive importance of this hemicellulase, compared with other carbohydrases, has yet to be established. The digestive fluid of G. natalis contained substantial endo-β-1,4-mannase activities (630 ± 55 (6) nmol reducing sugars. min−1. mg−1 protein). It was present as a single isozyme of 66.3 ± 0.7 kDa (n = 6). Endo-β-1,4-mannase activities were higher than that for lichenase and endo-β-1,4-glucanase but lower than that for β-1,3-glucanase and amylase. The digestive fluid was able to hydrolyse, galactomannan, into its component monosaccharides. Hence, this confirms expression data that this enzyme is one of the most important digestive cellulases/ hemicellulases. Expression of GH5_10 endo-β-1,4-mannase mRNA was consistent with that of a digestive enzyme, as it was expressed in the digestive midgut gland but not in muscle and gill. Endo-β-1,4-mannase activities were also present within the digestive fluid of the terrestrial hermit crabs, Coenobita perlatus and Coenobita brevimanus. Endo-β-1,4-mannase activities (1351 ± 136 (n=3) nmol reducing sugars. min−1 mg−1 protein for C. perlatus. 665 ± 32 n=(5) nmol reducing sugars. min−1 mg−1 protein for C. brevimanus) were higher than that for endo-β-1,4-glucanase and amylase but were lower than β-1,3-glucanase activities. Animals within the terrestrial hermit crab family, Coenobitidae consume legume and palm seeds which contain substantial amounts of mannan. Hence, high endo-β-1,4-mannase activities suggest that digestion of mannan within these species may represent an important source of carbohydrate.
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Funding for this study was gratefully provided by the School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University. There are no known conflicts of interest associated with this work.
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Funding was provided by Deakin University, School of Life and Environmental Sciences. The author has no known conflicts of interest (financial or otherwise) associated with this manuscript. Data associated with this manuscript will be deposited and will be available via the server of the Journal of Comparative Physiology B. This work was approved by the Deakin University Animal Ethics committee as per the law of the State of Victoria, Australia (AEC project: B07-2016). The author performed the experiments, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript.
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Linton, S.M. Presence and activity of endo-β-1,4-mannase, an important digestive carbohydrase within the digestive fluid of terrestrial crustaceans. J Comp Physiol B 191, 243–253 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-021-01342-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-021-01342-4