Research Information System
5th International Eurasian Conference on Biological and Chemical Sciences (EurasianBioChem), 2022, 23 November 2022, pp.293, (Summary Text)
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract harbors several microorganisms, which contribute considerably to the maintenance of
health and the progression of diseases. The survival of microorganisms that live in the GI tract is mainly dependent on
their ability to utilize complex carbohydrates (glycans and polysaccharides) that are not digestible by the host organism.
Human milk is the primary source of nutrition for a newborn before they can digest any other food. Glycosylated milk
components such as lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, etc., are indigestible to the infant, and only certain gut microbes have
the enzymes to release glycans from glycoproteins and utilize these compounds as the only carbon source. Glycosidases
are the type of enzymes that are used for N-glycan release from glycoproteins. Commercially available glycosidases are
inefficient at cleaving these glycans from proteins in their native state. To overcome this deficiency, efficient
deglycosylation approaches are required to better understand the biological roles of N-glycans and their large-scale
production. A novel enzyme, endo-ß-N-acetylglucosaminidase 2 (EndoBI-2) was isolated from Bifidobacterium longum
subsp. infantis is a unique and effective enzyme for this process, but this enzyme isn’t commercially available.
Within this study, the novel enzyme was produced and characterized recombinantly to understand the unique features of
N-glycans. Comparative modeling approaches were used to investigate the structural properties and substrate selectivity
of EndoBI-2. Furthermore, the optimum reaction/kinetic parameters of EndoBI-2 were investigated using glycoproteins
and released bioactive glycans were characterized.
The kinetic and structural characterization parameters of EndoBI-2 suggest that this novel enzyme can facilitate the largescale release of bioactive glycans from glycoprotein sources. Successful application of this novel enzyme and released
bioactive glycans in the food industry will enable to development of functional foods for health and wellbeing.