Abundance and diversity of dockerin-containing proteins in the fiber-degrading rumen bacterium, Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The cellulosome is a multi-enzyme machine, which plays a key role in the breakdown of plant cell walls in many anaerobic cellulose-degrading microorganisms. Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1, a major fiber-degrading bacterium present in the gut of herbivores, has the most intricate cellulosomal organization thus far described. Cellulosome complexes are assembled through high-affinity cohesin-dockerin interactions. More than two-hundred dockerin-containing proteins have been identified in the R. flavefaciens genome, yet the reason for the expansion of these crucial cellulosomal components is yet unknown.

Methodology/principal findings

We have explored the full spectrum of 222 dockerin-containing proteins potentially involved in the assembly of cellulosome-like complex

SUBMITTER: Rincon MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2930009 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature