Improvement of Cellulomonas fimi endoglucanase CenA by multienzymatic display on a decameric structural scaffold

The development of multifunctional particles using polymeric scaffolds is an emerging technology for many nanobiotechnological applications. Here we present a system for the production of multifunctional complexes, based on the high affinity non-covalent interaction of cohesin and dockerin modules complementary fused to decameric Brucella abortus lumazine synthase (BLS) subunits, and selected target proteins, respectively. The cohesin-BLS scaffold was solubly expressed in high yield in Escherichia coli, and revealed a high thermostability. The production of multienzymatic particles using this system was evaluated using the catalytic domain of Cellulomonas fimi endoglucanase CenA recombinantly fused to a dockerin module. Coupling of the enzyme to the scaffold was highly efficient and occurred with the expected stoichiometry. The decavalent enzymatic complexes obtained showed higher cellulolytic activity and association to the substrate compared to equivalent amounts of the free enzyme. This phenomenon was dependent on the multiplicity and proximity of the enzymes coupled to the scaffold, and was attributed to an avidity effect in the polyvalent enzyme interaction with the substrate. Our results highlight the usefulness of the scaffold presented in this work for the development of multifunctional particles, and the improvement of lignocellulose degradation among other applications. KEY POINTS: • New system for multifunctional particle production using the BLS scaffold • Higher cellulolytic activity of polyvalent endoglucanase compared to the free enzyme • Amount of enzyme associated to cellulose is higher for the polyvalent endoglucanase.