Using the Amino Acid Network to Modulate the Hydrolytic Activity of β-Glycosidases

The active site residues in GH1 β-glycosidases are compartmentalized into 3 functional regions, involved in catalysis or binding of glycone and aglycone motifs from substrate. However, it still remains unclear how residues outside the active site modulate the enzymatic activity. To tackle this question, we solved the crystal structure of the GH1 β-glycosidase from Spodoptera frugiperda (Sfβgly) to systematically map its residue contact network and correlate effects of mutations within and outside the active site. External mutations neighbouring the functional residues involved in catalysis and glycone-binding are deleterious, whereas mutations neighbouring the aglycone-binding site are less detrimental or even beneficial. The large dataset of new and previously characterized Sfβgly mutants supports that external perturbations are coherently transmitted to active site residues possibly through contacts and specifically disturb functional regions they interact to, reproducing the effects observed for direct mutations of functional residues. This allowed us to suggest that positions related to the aglycone-binding site are preferential targets for introduction of mutations aiming to further improve the hydrolytic activity of β–glycosidases.