Molecular docking and site-directed mutagenesis of a Bacillus thuringiensis chitinase to improve chitinolytic, synergistic lepidopteran-larvicidal and nematicidal activities.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial chitinases are useful in the biocontrol of agriculturally important pests and fungal pathogens. However, the utility of naturally occurring bacterial chitinases is often limited by their low enzyme activity. In this study, we constructed mutants of a Bacillus thuringiensis chitinase with enhanced activity based on homology modeling, molecular docking, and the site-directed mutagenesis of target residues to modify spatial positions, steric hindrances, or hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity. We first identified a gene from B. thuringiensis YBT-9602 that encodes a chitinase (Chi9602) belonging to glycosyl hydrolase family 18 with conserved substrate-binding and substrate-catalytic motifs. We constructed a structural model of a truncated version of Chi9602 (Chi9602(35-459)) containing the

SUBMITTER: Ni H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4323370 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature