Common and distant structural characteristics of feruloyl esterase families from Aspergillus oryzae.

Udatha DB, Mapelli V, Panagiotou G, Olsson L (2012) Common and distant structural characteristics of feruloyl esterase families from Aspergillus oryzae. PLOS One 7(6), e39473.

Abstract

Feruloyl esterases (FAEs) are important biomass degrading accessory enzymes due to their capability of cleaving the ester links between hemicellulose and pectin to aromatic compounds of lignin, thus enhancing the accessibility of plant tissues to cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes. FAEs have gained increased attention in the area of biocatalytic transformations for the synthesis of value added compounds with medicinal and nutritional applications. Following the increasing attention on these enzymes, a novel descriptor based classification system has been proposed for FAEs resulting into 12 distinct families and pharmacophore models for three FAE sub-families have been developed.

Identifier

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039473

PMID: 22745763