Abstract
Background: α-Amylases specifically catalyse the hydrolysis of the internal α-1, 4-glucosidic linkages of starch. Glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 13 is the main α-amylase family in the carbohydrate-active database. Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 possesses eleven proteins included in GH13 family. Among these, proteins annotated as maltose-forming α-amylase (Lp_0179) and maltogenic α-amylase (Lp_2757) were included. Results: In this study, Lp_0179 and Lp_2757 L. plantarum α-amylases were structurally and biochemically characterized. Lp_2757 displayed structural features typical of GH13_20 subfamily which were absent in Lp_0179. Genes encoding Lp_0179 (Amy2) and Lp_2757 were cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). Purified proteins showed high hydrolytic activity on pNP-α-D-maltopyranoside, being the catalytic efficiency of Lp_0179 remarkably higher. In relation to the hydrolysis of starch-related carbohydrates, Lp_0179 only hydrolysed maltopentaose and dextrin, demonstrating that is an exotype glucan hydrolase. However, Lp_2757 was also able to hydrolyze cyclodextrins and other non-cyclic oligo- and polysaccharides, revealing a great preference towards α-1,4-linkages typical of maltogenic amylases. Conclusions: The substrate range as well as the biochemical properties exhibited by Lp_2757 maltogenic α-amylase suggest that this enzyme could be a very promising enzyme for the hydrolysis of α-1,4 glycosidic linkages present in a broad number of starch-carbohydrates, as well as for the investigation of an hypothetical transglucosylation activity under appropriate reaction conditions.