Xyloglucan degradation systems: dissection and exploitation

植物细胞壁中发现的复合糖(‘多糖’)对我们所有的日常生活都有影响。它们构成了我们衣服的棉花，是纸张的物理起源，也是从这些产品衍生出来的所有许多行业的核心。植物细胞壁糖很可能构成下一代生物燃料工业的基础；这是政府为我们提供21世纪绿色、可再生和安全能源的关键战略之一。此外，肠道微生物对顽固性糖(粗饲料)的利用是人类营养和肠道运输的重要组成部分。肠道菌群通过代谢复杂的植物多糖与人类健康有着千丝万缕的联系。这项BBSRC拨款申请的目的是研究自然界中的催化剂，也就是所谓的酶，是如何消化和分解植物多糖的。这些催化剂是以利用植物细胞壁为目标而兴起的行业的先锋。酶是人体肠道复杂舞台上的演员。应用主要集中在一类特别困难的糖：木葡聚糖上。我们的目标是展示这种多糖的分解需要多么复杂的酶系统，这些酶如何在三维水平上发挥作用，以及它们如何用作具有潜在工业应用的催化剂。我们将研究关键的、选定的具有有用特性的代表性酶，以及来自人类肠道细菌的整个酶系统。我们希望让社会人士深入了解这些催化剂的功能和作用，并为其开发利用提供基础，以帮助人类健康和技术发展。

The complex sugars ('polysaccharides') found in the cell-walls of plants impact on all our everyday lives. They form the cotton of our clothes, the physical origins of paper and are central to all the, many, industries that derive from these products. Plant cell wall sugars are likely to form the basis of the next generation biofuel industry; one of the key governmental strategies to provide us with green, renewable and secure energy for the twenty-first century. Furthermore, the harnessing of recalcitrant sugars ('roughage') by our gut microbes is an essential part of human nutrition and intestinal transit. The gut flora are inextricably linked to human health through their metabolism of complex plant polysaccharides. The aim of this BBSRC grant application is to study how nature's catalysts, termed 'enzymes', digest and breakdown plant polysaccharides. These catalysts are the vanguard of the industries that are springing-up with the goal of harnessing the plant cell wall. Enzymes are the actors on the complex stage of the human intestine. The application focuses mainly, on one particularly difficult class of sugars; the xyloglucans. We aim to show how complex enzyme systems are required for the breakdown of this polysaccharide, how these enzymes function both at the three dimensional level and how they can be used as catalysts with potential industrial applications. We will study both key, selected representative enzymes showing useful properties and whole enzyme systems from human gut bacteria. We hope to provide the community with insight into the function and action of these catalysts and provide a foundation or their exploitation to aid in human health and technology development.