Abstract:In nature some anaerobic cellulolytic bacteria can produce cellobiose phosphorylase (CBP) and cellodextrin phosphorylase (CDP) in order to phosphorolyze cellobiose and cellodextrins, respectively. Both CBPs and CDPs belong to glycoside hydrolase family 94 (GH94), which have a high specificity for β-1,4-linked glycosidic bonds. At present, the properties and catalytic mechanism of CBPs and CDPs from different strains of bacteria have been extensively studied, and analysis of the protein crystal structures have revealed the structure basis of the two phosphorylases for catalyzing different substrates regarding their degree of polymerization. Because of the unique phosphorolytic reactions and reverse synthetic reactions CBPs and CDPs can catalyze, there have been many reports showing their applications which mainly include three aspects: construction of engineered yeasts that directly use cellodextrins, construction of enzymatic conversion pathway of cellulose to starch, and enzymatic synthesis of special sugars. Due to the rising interest in CBPs and CDPs, here we have reviewed the related studies and provided some perspectives about the future research areas.
