Effects of different carbohydrate-binding modules on the enzymatic properties of pullulanase

Some specific properties of pullulanases usually have a great deal to do with their specific N-terminal CBMs. This paper focusses on characters of the novel carbohydrate-binding module CBM68 from a thermostable pullulanase PulA. As to reveal its different properties with the common module CBM41/CBM41-X45 (from an acid pullulanase PulB), twelve recombinant pullulanases were constructed and named as Pul-1~Pul-12 respectively. Through comparative analysis of their thermostabilities, pH profiles, and kinetic parameters, some rules have been concluded. Compared with CBM41, CBM68 on the N-terminal of molecules could make pullulanases more thermostable, have higher substrate affinity, and have higher catalytic efficiency. While CBM41 had the advantage on improving the acidic stability of pullulanase comparing with CBM68. X45 could help pullulanases fold properly and has impact to the catalytic domains of pullulanase. The catalytic domain of PulA or PulB played important roles in the optimum pH and catalytic efficiency of pullulanases. Moreover, the optimal combination of CBM41-X45 and the catalytic domain of PulA made Pul-7 have the highest catalytic efficiency (1284.68 mL/mg·s) which was 1.74 times higher than that (737.78 mL/mg·s) of PulA. The characteristics of CBM68, CBM41 and CBM41-X45 revealed in this study would serve as a basis for rational design of pullulanases.