Cloning and characterization of a thermostable cellobiose dehydrogenase from Sporotrichum thermophile.

Cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) is an extracellular hemoflavoenzyme produced by several wood-degrading fungi. CDH contains one heme b and one FAD per molecule and oxidizes cellobiose to cellobionolactone in the presence of cytochrome c. In this report, a thermostable CDH from the thermophilic ascomycete Sporotrichum thermophile has been purified, cloned, and characterized. The temperature optimum for this CDH reaction was 60 degrees C, and the activation energy for the reaction was 26.3 kJ/mol. The Km and kcat were temperature-dependent and increased as reaction temperature increased. These kinetic properties prove that this CDH is truly thermophilic. A 2.8-kb cDNA was isolated by screening an expression library of S. thermophile with a polyclonal antisera raised against Phanerochaete chrysosporium CDH. The cDNA encoded an 807-amino-acid protein with a predicted mass of 86,332 Da. S. thermophile CDH is organized into three domains, an N-terminal flavin domain, a middle heme domain, and a C-terminal cellulose-binding domain, which shows sequence similarity with the cellulose-binding domains of endoglucanases and cellobiohydrolases from Trichoderma reesei. Comparison with the CDH sequences of P. chrysosporium and Trametes versicolor identified Met 95 and His 143 as potential heme coordinations. EFIG, LGGPM, and VNSTH motifs in the heme domain and the XRXPXTDXPSXDGXRY motif in the flavin domain were identified as CDH-specific motifs. With regard to the amino acid composition, S. thermophile CDH has more disulfide linkages and acidic and basic amino acids compared to CDHs from P. chrysosporium and T. versicolor.