The human gut microbe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron encodes the founding member of a novel glycosaminoglycan-degrading polysaccharide lyase family PL29.

ABSTRACT: Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and GAG-degrading enzymes have wide-ranging applications in the medical and biotechnological industries. The former are also an important nutrient source for select species of the human gut microbiota (HGM), a key player in host-microbial interactions. How GAGs are metabolized by the HGM is therefore of interest and has been extensively investigated in the model human gut microbe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. The presence of as-yet uncharacterized GAG-inducible genes in its genome and of related species, however, is testament to our incomplete understanding of this process. Nevertheless, it presents a potential opportunity for the discovery of additional GAG-degrading enzymes. Here, we investigated a gene of unknown function (BT_3328) from the chondroitin s

SUBMITTER: Ndeh D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6240882 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature