Aims: To investigate the functional role of surface layer proteins (S-layer) in probiotic strain Lactobacillus acidophilus M92, especially its influence on adhesiveness to mouse ileal epithelial cells. Methods and Results: Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of cell surface proteins revealed the presence of potential surface layer (S-layer) proteins, ca at 45 kDa in L. acidophilus M92. Southern blot with pBK1 plasmid, containing slpA gene, gave a positive signal, suggesting that L. acidophilus M92 has a slpA gene coding for the S-layer proteins. S-layer proteins of this strain are present during all phases of growth. The S-layer proteins appeared when cells treated with 5 mol l⁻¹ LiCl were allowed to grow again. Removal of the S-layer proteins reduced adhesion of L. acidophilus M92 to mouse ileal epithelial cells. Furthermore, the viability of cells without S-layer were reduced in simulated gastric juice at low pH range (2, 2·5, 3) and simulated pancreatic juice with bile salts (1·5 and 3 g l⁻¹). S-layer proteins of L. acidophilus M92 were resistant to pepsin and pancreatin, in contrast, the treatment with proteinase K led to a significant proteolysis of the S-layer proteins. Conclusions: These results demonstrated functional role of S-layer; it is responsible for adhesiveness of Lactobacillus acidophilus M92 to mouse ileal epithelial cells and has a protective role for this strain. Significance and Impact of the Study: S-layer proteins have an important role in the establishment of probiotic strain Lactobacillus acidophilus M92 in the gastrointestinal tract.

A family of covalently linked cell wall proteins of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, called Pir proteins, are characterized by up to 10 conserved repeating units. Ccw5/Pir4p contains only one complete repeating sequence and its deletion caused a release of the protein into the medium. The exchange of each of three glutamines (Gln⁶⁹, Gln⁷⁴, Gln⁷⁶) as well as one aspartic acid (Asp⁷²) within the repeating unit leads to a loss of the protein from the cell wall. Amino acid sequencing revealed that only Gln⁷⁴ is modified. Release of the protein with mild alkali, changed Gln⁷⁴ to to glutamic acid, suggesting that Gln⁷⁴ is involved in the linkage. Analysis by mass spectrometry showed that 5 hexoses are attached to Gln/Glu⁷⁴. Sugar analysis revealed glucose as the only constituent. It is suggested that Pir proteins form novel, alkali labile ester linkages between the γ-carboxyl group of glutamic acids, arising from specific glutamines, with hydroxyl groups of glucoses of β-1,3-glucan chains. This transglutaminase-type reaction could take place extracellularly and would energetically proceed on the account of amido group elimination.

One of the major proteins of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall, a beta-glucanase (BGL2 gene product), has been isolated and purified to homogeneity under conditions for preserving enzyme activity. The study of enzyme properties of the protein revealed that it is an endo-beta-1,3-glucanase and not an exoglucanase as reported previously (F. Klebl and W. Tanner, J. Bacteriol. 171:6259-6264, 1989). The examination of the glucanase structure showed that the lower apparent molecular mass of the protein (29 kDa) compared with what was calculated from the amino acid sequence of the enzyme (33.5 kDa) is due to anomalous migration in sodium dodecyl sulfate gels and not to posttranslational processing of the polypeptide chain. Of two potential N glycosylation sites at Asn-202 and Asn-284, only the latter site is glycosylated. The overproduction of the beta-glucanase from the high-copy-number plasmid brought about a significant decrease in the growth rate of transformed yeast cells.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall contains more than 20 identified mannoproteins. Some of them can be released from the wall by hot SDS/mercaptoethanol treatment and are, therefore, considered as disulphide‐linked or non‐covalently attached to wall structural components. A number of covalently linked cell wall proteins are released after SDS extraction. They can be divided into these extractable by glucanases and those which can be released with 30 mM NaOH. The SDS‐extractable proteins either possess enzymatic activities or are homologues of enzymes, mainly glucanases. Nothing is known, however, about the function of co‐valently linked proteins. In order to investigate the role of NaOH‐extractable cell wall proteins, genes encoding all four identified members of this family of Pir proteins, CCW5, CCW6, CCW7 and CCW8, were disrupted and the phenotype of the mutants obtained was examined. They grew somewhat more slowly, were larger and irregularly shaped, and showed pronounced susceptibility to cell wall synthesis inhibitors like Calcofluor white and Congo red. In addition, the triple and the quadruple deletants had a decreased mating ability. All these properties were more obvious the more of these genes were disrupted, indicating that probably all members of this protein family are at least functionally equivalent in the cell wall. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Secretory proteins in yeast are N ‐ and O ‐glycosylated while they enter the endoplasmic reticulum. N ‐glycosylation is initiated by the oligosaccharyl transferase complex and O ‐mannosylation is initiated by distinct O ‐mannosyltransferase complexes of the protein mannosyl transferase Pmt1/Pmt2 and Pmt4 families. Using covalently linked cell‐wall protein 5 (Ccw5) as a model, we show that the Pmt4 and Pmt1/Pmt2 mannosyltransferases glycosylate different domains of the Ccw5 protein, thereby mannosylating several consecutive serine and threonine residues. In addition, it is shown that O ‐mannosylation by Pmt4 prevents N ‐glycosylation by blocking the hydroxy amino acid of the single N ‐glycosylation site present in Ccw5. These data prove that the O ‐ and N ‐glycosylation machineries compete for Ccw5; therefore O ‐mannosylation by Pmt4 precedes N ‐glycosylation.

Enzyme immobilization to solid matrices often presents a challenge due to protein conformation sensitivity, desired enzyme purity, and requirements for the particular carrier properties and immobilization technique. Surface display of enzymes at the cell walls of microorganisms presents an alternative that has been the focus of many research groups worldwide in different fields, such as biotechnology, energetics, pharmacology, medicine, and food technology. The range of systems by which a heterologous protein can be displayed at the cell surface allows the appropriate one to be found for almost every case. However, the efficiency of display systems is still quite low. The most frequently used yeast for the surface display of proteins is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, apart from its many advantages, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has some disadvantages, such as low robustness in industrial applications, hyperglycosylation of some heterologous proteins, and relatively low efficiency of surface display. Thus, in the recent years the display systems for alternative yeast hosts with better performances including Pichia pastoris, Hansenula polymorpha, Blastobotrys adeninivorans, Yarrowia lipolytica, Kluyveromyces marxianus, and others have been developed. Different strategies of surface display aimed to increase the amount of displayed protein, including new anchoring systems and new yeast hosts are reviewed in this paper.