Comparative functional analysis of two alpha-glucosidases, Family 31 Glycoside Hydrolases from the human gut symbiont Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron

Abstract

The human gut is home to a significant number of microorganisms including the dominant symbiont Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. This microbe is predicted to possess an array of glycoside hydrolases, majority of which are involved in starch utilization. Presented here is a comparative functional analysis of two alpha-glucosidases, Family 31 Glycoside Hydrolases from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Enzymatic kinetics revealed these enzymes both preferentially cleave alpha-(1,6) linkage in comparison to the predicted alpha-(1,4) and favour maltose derived substrates of longer length.