Crystal structures of chitin binding domains of chitinase from Thermococcus kodakarensis KOD1

July 28, 2017

Title

Crystal structures of chitin binding domains of chitinase from Thermococcus kodakarensis KOD1

Author

Yuya Hanazono, Kazuki Takeda, Satomi Niwa, Masahito Hibi, Naoya Takahashi, Tamotsu Kanai, Haruyuki Atomi, Kunio Miki

Year

2016

Journal

FEBS Letters

Abstract

Chitinase from T. kodakarensis (TkChiA) catalyzes the hydrolysis of chitin. The enzyme consists of two catalytic and three binding domains (ChBD1, ChBD2 and ChBD3). ChBD2 and ChBD3 can bind to not only chitin but also cellulose. In both domains, the intervals of the side chains of the three tryptophan residues, which are located on the molecular surface, correspond to twice the length of the lattice of the chitin. A binding model with crystalline chitin implies that the tryptophan residues and a glutamate residue interact with the hexose ring by CH-π interactions and the amide group by a hydrogen bond, respectively.

Instrument

J-805

Keywords

Circular dichroism, Biochemistry