BMC Biotechnology最新文献

{"title":"Computer-guided enzyme engineering of PET hydrolase mutants towards improved PET affinity.","authors":"Alexandra Balola, Sofia Ferreira, Caio Silva Souza, Diana Lousa, João Correia, Cláudio M Soares, Isabel Rocha","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01173-7","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01173-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is an extensively used plastic whose durability and resistance to degradation contribute to growing environmental pollution and concerns. Enzymatic PET degradation, particularly via PETase from Ideonella sakaiensis, has emerged as a sustainable approach due to its ability to depolymerize PET under mild conditions. While research has largely focused on enhancing the enzyme's thermal stability through distal mutations, less attention has been given to active-site engineering aimed at directly improving catalytic efficiency. Here, we used an automated in silico protein engineering platform called Gene Discovery and Enzyme Engineering (GDEE), designed to exhaustively explore mutations at the active site in a hight-throughput manner. By leveraging the highly active FAST-PETase (FP) as scaffold, we perform a high throughput generation of thousands of variants, evaluated them via docking studies with a PET substrate analogue, and ranked candidates based on binding affinity and catalytic geometry. We identified S238Y as a key mutation that further enhanced PET film degrading performance at 40 °C when inserted in two of the most active PETase variants reported to date: 2.2-fold increase in the FP scaffold and 3.4-fold increase in the ThermoStable-PETase (TSP) background. Compared to wild type PETase, FP S238Y showed a 14.8-fold increase in bulk activity, translating into 9.4-fold more TPA and 20-fold more MHET by UPLC, while TSP S238Y reached a 25.8-fold increase (14.4-fold more TPA and 42.6-fold more MHET). This mutation also enhanced catalytic efficiency and resistance to enzyme concentration inhibition, especially in the TSP scaffold. Molecular dynamics highlight position 238 as a relevant modulator of ligand stabilisation. These findings underscore the potential of targeted active-site engineering, combined with structure-guided prediction, to accelerate the development of efficient mesophilic biocatalysts for plastic waste remediation. Additionally, the GDEE platform provides an automation-ready workflow for active site engineering that is applicable beyond PETase.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13576216/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148350493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Read-mapping signatures for molecular characterization of transgenic DNA insertions in paired-end Illumina data.","authors":"Colton R Kessenich, Nicole Catherall, Elisa Hughes, Kyle Skottke, Jason Vest, Kristen E Wendt","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01185-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01185-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transgenic crops undergo rigorous safety assessments prior to commercialization, with molecular characterization serving as a critical component of regulatory review. This process establishes the identity, copy number, sequence integrity, absence of unintended foreign DNA, and insert stability across breeding generations. While whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has emerged as a powerful alternative to Southern blotting, the lack of accessible interpretation frameworks can be an entry barrier to those who wish to understand this modernized experimental setup. We developed an analytical workflow based on mapped-read signatures to characterize T-DNA (transfer DNA) insertions using short-read WGS data. Simulated Illumina paired-end datasets representing diverse transformation outcomes were generated and analyzed to define five informative read classes, which when observed mapped to a reference transformation construct provide distinct signatures indicating transformation outcomes. These signatures were applied to identify insertion boundaries, copy number, structural anomalies, and potential contamination. Mapped-read signatures can reliably distinguish single-copy inserts, multiple insertions, backbone co-integrations, and structural rearrangements, aided by coverage profiles and mate-pair orientations. We present representative examples and a practical interpretation to guide practitioners new to WGS-based molecular characterization and regulators assessing these data. This framework standardizes interpretation of short-read paired-end WGS data for molecular characterization without prescribing specific software. The platform-agnostic approach ensures broad applicability while enhancing transparency in regulatory assessments.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13651185/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148337632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synthesis and application of exopolysaccharide-selenium nanocomposite produced by Pseudoduganella armeniaca ZMN-3.","authors":"Xintong Duan, Xiuwei Hou, Ying Zhai, Ming Ying, Meitong Li, Lei Huang","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01194-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01194-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigated the antioxidant and anticancer activities of selenium nanoparticles stabilized by exopolysaccharides from Pseudoduganella armeniaca ZMN-3 (EPS‑SeNPs). The synthesized EPS‑SeNPs had an average size of 145 nm and were thoroughly characterized. In vitro antioxidant assays revealed that at 4 mg/mL, EPS‑SeNPs scavenged 86.49 ± 0.53% of DPPH radicals, 82.96 ± 0.32% of ABTS radicals, and 36.41 ± 0.77% of hydroxyl radicals. The reducing power assay showed that, at the same concentration, EPS‑SeNPs exhibited an absorbance value of 1.28 ± 0.029, which was higher than that of the other groups. The EPS‑SeNPs composite exhibited pronounced time- and concentration-dependent antiproliferative effects against the two selected cancer cell lines, MCF‑7 and SMMC. After 48 h of treatment at the highest concentration (250 µg/mL), the inhibition rates reached 52.88% for SMMC cells and 54.41% for MCF-7 cells. This effect was significantly stronger than that of EPS or SeNPs alone, indicating a marked enhancement. Cytokine analysis further revealed that even at a low concentration (31.25 µg/mL), a measurable effect was observed. The levels of TNF‑α released by SMMC and MCF‑7 cells reached their highest values at the high concentration of 250 µg/mL, namely 344.79 pg/mL and 132.6 pg/mL, respectively. This promoting effect exceeded that of the positive control (LPS group) and was notably stronger than the effects of SeNPs or EPS alone, with the enhancement being particularly prominent in SMMC cells. Collectively, EPS-SeNPs exhibit both antioxidant and in vitro anti-tumor activity, warranting further investigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13563843/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148337623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative analysis of MinION and MiSeq using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in human gut microbiome.","authors":"Chong Zhu, Tao Wang, Wenbo Zhang, Anjie Guo, Shushen Ji, Chunyu Liu, Rongyu Ma, Li Song, Yue Wang, Peng Yao, Ling Lin, Lejun Li","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01182-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01182-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The genetic classification of microbial populations at high taxonomic resolution is crucial for clinical diagnosis and treatment. The classification of complex bacterial communities in the human gut was examined in this study by utilizing amplicon sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. The influence of different sequencing platforms and amplicon regions on this classification was investigated. Nineteen human fecal samples were analyzed using both Nanopore MinION and Illumina MiSeq platforms.The main objective of the analysis was to assess how effectively these platforms can characterize gut microbiota at the Amplicon Sequence Variant (ASV), genus, and species levels, taking into account various amplicon regions within the 16S rRNA gene. The findings reveal significant disparities between the two platforms. In particular, the MinION platform demonstrates higher values in terms of ASV and species richness, as well as diversity (both alpha and beta diversity) compared to the MiSeq platform. These variations are dependent on the specific targeted amplicon region of the 16S rRNA gene. However, despite these differences in richness and diversity, there is a notable level of consistency observed in detecting the presence of dominant microbial taxa across both platforms, although their relative abundances varied significantly. Notably, the study emphasizes that the choice of primers used for amplification exerts the most significant impact on the classification results at the genus level, surpassing the influence of the sequencing platform itself. This research provides valuable insights into the strengths and limitations of long-read and short-read sequencing in the context of classifying complex gut microbiota, particularly in clinical microbiology.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560268/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148326207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated structure-based and systems-level identification of PDE9A inhibitors for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.","authors":"Xiaoyan Lei, Rujie Wang, Yongmei Li","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01190-6","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01190-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a complex and increasingly prevalent cardiovascular disorder with limited effective therapeutic options. Dysregulation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling has been implicated in its pathophysiology. Phosphodiesterase 9A (PDE9A), a cGMP-specific enzyme, has emerged as a potential therapeutic target due to its role in nitric oxide-independent signaling pathways associated with myocardial dysfunction.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study employed an integrated computational framework combining multi-conformational docking, pharmacophore modeling, pharmacophore validation using active-decoy screening, molecular dynamics simulations, and systems-level analyses to identify potential PDE9A inhibitors. Three crystal structures of PDE9A (4GH6, 4Y87, and 6LZZ) were analyzed for physicochemical properties, structural validation, and binding site prediction. Pharmacophore-guided virtual screening of PubChem-derived compounds was followed by active-decoy validation, ADMET evaluation, molecular docking, redocking validation, protein-ligand interaction analysis, and 500 ns molecular dynamics simulations.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Several compounds demonstrated favorable binding affinities and pharmacokinetic profiles. Among them, EVPMO-PurHD exhibited the strongest binding affinity (- 10.1 kcal/mol) and suggested stable interaction behavior during the equilibrated phase of the simulation, following an initial conformational adjustment period, as indicated by RMSD stabilization and sustained intermolecular interaction.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The findings indicate that the identified compounds represent promising computationally predicted candidates for PDE9A inhibition, supported by favorable binding affinity, stability, and pharmacokinetic profiles. However, further experimental validation through biochemical and in vitro/in vivo studies is required to confirm their therapeutic potential.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13670585/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148315645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Production and partial characterization of fructose-rich exopolysaccharide from a newly isolated halophilic strain Vreelandella sp. DT-Z4.","authors":"Fengqian Yang, Fangyan Wang, Chengyang Wang, Longzhan Gan, Chunbo Dong, Zhongshun Xu, Xiao Zou","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01189-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01189-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Exopolysaccharide (EPS) synthesis of halophilic microorganisms is often reported as an adaptation to high-salt environments, and the unique structural and functional characteristics of these EPSs make them valuable biomaterials with promising application potential. A moderately halophilic strain, Vreelandella sp. DT-Z4, was isolated from Qinghai saline soil, and its EPS yield reached 3.09 g/L after fermentation optimization. The polysaccharide fraction (designated EPS-Z4) was partially purified using ethanol precipitation, deproteinization, and dialysis processes, and subsequently characterized for monosaccharide composition, spectroscopic features, and morphological properties. Analytical results revealed that EPS-Z4 was a fructose-rich polysaccharide composed of 97.6% fructose, 1.4% glucose, and 0.5% uronic acid. Functional group analysis confirmed the presence of absorption peaks characteristic of polysaccharides. The polysaccharide showed a degradation temperature (Td = 275.9 °C), water solubility (85.8%), and oil-holding capacity (321%). Morphological observations revealed a dense, layered network structure. Based on these physicochemical properties, the fructose-rich polysaccharide fraction EPS-Z4 may merit further investigation as a stabilizer in high-temperature food processing or as a biological agent for the remediation of saline-alkali soils.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13579873/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148306682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-omic characterization of a soil microbial consortium reveals critical role of succinate and glutamate metabolism during calcium carbonate precipitation.","authors":"Winston E Anthony, Tesia T Lin, Marci Garcia, Izabel Stohel, Sharon Zhao, Natalie Sadler, Yulia Farris, Josie Eder, Sneha Couvillion, Ryan McClure","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01136-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01136-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) holds potential for soil stabilization and carbon sequestration efforts, with the overall efficiency of the process being a major determinant for its use in many environmental and civil engineering applications. While the biogeochemical pathways and enzymes driving MICP are known, the microbial metabolic networks and community dynamics underlying such processes remain poorly characterized. To address this gap, we interrogated a MICP-capable four-member consortium of soil bacteria (Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens, Rhodococcus qingshengii, Bacillus toyonensis and a Microbacterium species), termed carbon storing consortium - A (CSC-A). Prior work shows that CSC-A yields carbonate at a higher quantity compared to the sum of carbonate individually produced by each member, suggesting MICP is driven by community dynamics. To that end we applied a multi-omic integration approach of genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics to investigate potential inter-species interactions that may influence the MICP phenotype. Genomic life history characterizations identified evidence of specialization by B. toyonensis and Microbacterium, while metatranscriptomic perturbation was almost ten times greater in the absence of R. qinshengii than C.flaccumfaciens, suggesting that R. qingshengii is a keystone species when grown in urea, a molecule key to the MICP process. By comparing individual species' metabolomes to the metabolic profile of a shared well, we identified over 200 metabolites predicted to be produced or consumed by CSC-A members. Integrating both data types and mapping them to the KEGG reactome highlighted over 20 different enriched pathways with reactions related to glutamate metabolism, succinate metabolism, and branched chain amino acid biosynthesis. As succinate metabolism was a major node in this network we applied laboratory assays to confirm that additional added succinate led to increased carbonate precipitation by CSC-A, a critical validation of our modeling approach. By isolating and identifying the interconnected metabolic components underlying MICP in CSC-A, we identified keystone taxa, metabolites, and pathways important for future optimization of the application of this consortium to carbonate precipitation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13292334/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148306722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrative analysis identifies the intratumoral Fusobacterium nucleatum as a driver of cervical cancer malignancy.","authors":"Mei Feng, Yaojie Yu, Jiayuan Du, He Wang","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01193-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01193-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) is an oral commensal bacterium that acts as a pathobiont with pro-tumorigenic activity in various gastrointestinal cancers. However, its functional role, invasive capacity, and mechanistic contributions in cervical cancer remain largely unexplored.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We identified F. nucleatum in cervical cancer tissues using bioinformatics and clinical 16S rRNA sequencing. Its spatial localization and intracellular presence were confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. Functional validation included in vitro assays for proliferation, migration, and apoptosis in cervical cancer cell lines, with bacterial invasion visualized by confocal microscopy, and in vivo tumor growth assessment in a xenograft model. The underlying mechanism involving high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and the NF-κB pathway was analyzed by western blot, qPCR, immunofluorescence, and ELISA.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>F. nucleatum was enriched in cervical cancer and correlated with poor patient survival. It invaded cervical cancer cells, promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion, suppressed apoptosis in vitro, and accelerated tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, infection triggered HMGB1 upregulation and specific activation of the canonical NF-κB pathway (via IκBα degradation, p65 phosphorylation/nuclear translocation), leading to selective secretion of IL-6/IL-8.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study suggests that F. nucleatum is associated with cervical cancer malignancy, potentially acting through upregulation of HMGB1 and activation of the canonical NF-κB signaling pathway, thereby contributing to an altered tumor microenvironment. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized microbial-driven oncogenic mechanism in cervical cancer and highlight its potential as a prognostic marker and a therapeutic target.</p><p><strong>Clinical trial number: </strong>Not applicable in our manuscript.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13548710/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148306795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improving xylitol production by semi-rational engineering of xylitol dehydrogenase and optimizing cofactor regeneration in Gluconobacter oxydans.","authors":"Jun-Hao Su, Jin-Cheng Guo, Lu Liu, Hai-Ling Zhang, Dong Liu","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01188-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01188-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Xylitol, a widely used sugar substitute in food and medicine, can be produced through microbial bioconversion using glucose as the primary substrate. In this process, a critical factor limiting xylitol production is the relatively low activity of xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) during the biotransformation of D-arabitol to xylitol by resting cells of Gluconobacter oxydans.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>To improve the catalytic performance, GoXDH was engineered by site-saturation mutagenesis combined with a high-throughput screening method, and a variant GoXDH_M3 (S77C/S106N/A110N) with high activity was obtained, showing a 2.49-fold increase in catalytic activity. The structural analysis revealed that the ‌S77C/S106N/A110N‌ mutations enhanced proton and electron transfer rates while stabilizing the hydrophilic substrate-binding pocket and the tetrameric structure. Additionally, by optimizing the coenzyme regeneration system and enhancing the oxygen transfer efficiency, we developed an efficient biotransformation of D-arabitol to xylitol in G. oxydans. Using resting cells of G. oxydans/XDH_M3-GDH-VHb, a xylitol titer of 29.02 g/L were achieved from 40 g/L D-arabitol within 30 h.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The findings suggest that boosting XDH activity through semi-rational engineering markedly improves xylitol productivity in G. oxydans.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13540936/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148300827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterization of an alkali- and glucose-tolerant β-glucosidase from Karamay saline-alkali soil and its structural basis for glucose tolerance.","authors":"Qian Zhu, Qin Duan, Fei Wang, Zong-Jin Shao, Wei Hu, Yu-Kun Bi, Xiang Wang, Jian-Lan Li, Dan Zhu, Zhi-Hua Lv, Zheng-Feng Yang, Yi-Rui Yin","doi":"10.1186/s12896-026-01191-5","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s12896-026-01191-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Industrial applications of β-glucosidases are often constrained by high salinity, alkaline conditions, and glucose inhibition.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A glycoside hydrolase family 1 β-glucosidase, B0-BG40, was mined from the metagenome of saline-alkali soil in Karamay, Xinjiang, China. When heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, B0-BG40 exhibited optimal activity at 45 °C and pH 8.6, retaining > 60% of its maximal activity over 20-55 °C and pH 5.6-9.6. The enzyme was highly stable at 25 °C, 40 °C and 45 °C and under alkaline conditions, maintaining > 85% residual activity after prolonged incubation and showing activity enhancement following incubation at pH 8.0-10.0. B0-BG40 also tolerated up to 2.0 M NaCl and 4.0 M glucose, and displayed weak glucose inhibition (K_i = 1033.5 mM). Combined with the results of protein homology modeling and molecular docking, a reasonable mechanistic hypothesis was proposed: the excellent glucose tolerance of the enzyme may be related to its narrow and deeply recessed catalytic channel, and this special channel structure could hinder glucose molecules from entering the active site.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>B0-BG40 is a salt-, alkali-, and glucose-tolerant β-glucosidase with strong potential for applications in food and feed processing and cellulosic ethanol production.</p>","PeriodicalId":8905,"journal":{"name":"BMC Biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13540834/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148300835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}