Deciphering Ligand Specificity of a Clostridium thermocellum Family 35 Carbohydrate Binding Module (CtCBM35) for Gluco- and Galacto- Substituted Mannans and Its Calcium Induced Stability

This study investigated the role of CBM35 from Clostridium thermocellum (CtCBM35) in polysaccharide recognition. CtCBM35 was cloned into pET28a (+) vector with an engineered His6 tag and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells. A homogenous 15 kDa protein was purified by immobilized metal ion chromatography (IMAC). Ligand binding analysis of CtCBM35 was carried out by affinity electrophoresis using various soluble ligands. CtCBM35 showed a manno-configured ligand specific binding displaying significant association with konjac glucomannan (Ka = 14.3610 4 M21), carob galactomannan (Ka = 12.4610 4 M21) and negligible association (Ka = 12 mM 21) with insoluble mannan. Binding of CtCBM35 with polysaccharides which was calcium dependent exhibited two fold higher association in presence of 10 mM Ca2+ ion with konjac glucomannan (Ka = 41610 4 M21) and carob galactomannan (Ka = 30610 4 M21). The polysaccharide binding was further investigated by fluorescence spectrophotometric studies. On binding with carob galactomannan and konja