Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Structural Biology and Analytical Chemistry Approaches for Characterizing C-Glycoside Metabolic Enzymes in Human Gut Microbiota
Published on: May 23, 2025
Analysis of functional divergence within two structurally related glycoside hydrolase families
Blake Mertz1, Xun Gu, Peter J Reilly
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, IA State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA.
Abstract:
Two glycoside hydrolase (GH) families were analyzed to detect the presence of functional divergence using the program DIVERGE. These two families, GH7 and GH16, each contain members related by amino acid sequence similarity, retaining hydrolytic mechanisms, and catalytic residue identity. GH7 and GH16 comprise GH Clan B, with a shared beta-jelly roll topology and mechanism. GH7 contains fungal cellobiohydrolases and endoglucanases and is divided into five main subfamilies, four of the former and one of the latter. Cluster comparisons between three of the cellobiohydrolase subfamilies and the endoglucanase subfamily identified specific amino acid residues that play a role in the functional divergence between the two enzyme types. GH16 contains subfamilies of bacterial agarases, xyloglucosyl transferases, 1,3-beta-D-glucanases, lichenases, and other enzymes with various substrate specificities and product profiles. Four cluster comparisons between these four main subfamilies again have identified amino acid residues involved in functional divergence between the subfamilies. (c) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 91: 478-495, 2009.
Related Concept Videos
Protein Families
Gene Families
Occasionally these regions can be adapted to take on new roles within the organism, becoming novel genes...
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Oligosaccharide Assembly
Multiple sugar molecules that may or may...
Hydrolysis
Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction in which the addition of water breaks down a polymer into its simpler monomer units. For example, peptides break into amino acids, carbohydrates into simple sugars, and DNA into nucleotides. Enzymes often facilitate these processes.
Hydrolysis Reverses Dehydration Synthesis
Complex carbohydrates can be broken down by breaking the bonds between individual sugar units. The reaction breaks a glycosidic bond as water is added to the compound. The...
Lysosomal Hydrolases
