The extracellular wall-bound β-N-acetylglucosaminidase from Lactobacillus casei is involved in the metabolism of the human milk oligosaccharide lacto-N-triose

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are considered to play a key role in establishing and maintaining the infant gut microbiota. Lacto-N-triose forms part of both type 1 and type 2 HMOs and also of the glycan moieties of glycoproteins. Upstream of the previously characterized gene cluster involved in lacto-N-biose and galacto-N-biose metabolism from Lactobacillus casei BL23, there are two genes, bnaG and manA, encoding a β-N-acetylglucosaminidase precursor and a mannose-6-phosphate isomerase, respectively. In this work, we show that L. casei is able to grow in the presence of lacto-N-triose as a carbon source. Inactivation of bnaG abolished the growth of L. casei on this oligosaccharide, demonstrating that BnaG is involved in its metabolism. Interestingly, whole cells of a bnaG mutant were totally devoid of β-N-acetylglucosaminidase activity, suggesting that BnaG is an extracellular wall-attached enzyme. In addition to hydrolyzing lacto-N-triose into N-acetylglucosamine and lactose, the purified BnaG enzyme also catalyzed the hydrolysis of 3′-N-acetylglucosaminyl-mannose and 3′-N-acetylgalactosaminyl-galactose. L. casei can be cultured in the presence of 3′-N-acetylglucosaminyl-mannose as a carbon source, but, curiously, the bnaG mutant strain was not impaired in its utilization. These results indicate that the assimilation of 3′-N-acetylglucosaminyl-mannose is independent of BnaG. Enzyme activity and growth analysis with a manA-knockout mutant showed that ManA is involved in the utilization of the mannose moiety of 3′-N-acetylglucosaminyl-mannose. Here we describe the physiological role of a β-N-acetylglucosaminidase in lactobacilli, and it supports the metabolic adaptation of L. casei to the N-acetylglucosaminide-rich gut niche.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bidart, Gonzalo N., Rodríguez Díaz, Jesús, Yebra, María Jesús
Other Authors: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
Format: artículo biblioteca
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 2015-11-06
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/131528
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003329
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003359
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