Glycoside hydrolase family 22
Encyclopedia
In molecular biology, glycoside hydrolase family 22 is a family
Protein family
A protein family is a group of evolutionarily-related proteins, and is often nearly synonymous with gene family. The term protein family should not be confused with family as it is used in taxonomy....

 of glycoside hydrolases
Glycoside hydrolase
Glycoside hydrolases catalyze the hydrolysis of the glycosidic linkage to release smaller sugars...

.
Glycoside hydrolases  are a widespread group of enzymes that hydrolyse the glycosidic bond
Glycosidic bond
In chemistry, a glycosidic bond is a type of covalent bond that joins a carbohydrate molecule to another group, which may or may not be another carbohydrate....

 between two or more carbohydrates, or between a carbohydrate and a non-carbohydrate moiety. A classification system for glycoside hydrolases, based on sequence similarity, has led to the definition of >100 different families. This classification is available on the CAZy(http://www.cazy.org/GH1.html) web site, and also discussed at CAZypedia, an online encyclopedia of carbohydrate active enzymes.

Glycoside hydrolase family 22 CAZY GH_22 comprises lysozyme
Lysozyme
Lysozyme, also known as muramidase or N-acetylmuramide glycanhydrolase, are glycoside hydrolases, enzymes that damage bacterial cell walls by catalyzing hydrolysis of 1,4-beta-linkages between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues in a peptidoglycan and between...

 type C lysozyme type i and alpha-lactalbumins
Alpha-lactalbumin
Lactalbumin, alpha-, also known as LALBA, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LALBA gene.- Function :α-Lactalbumin is an important whey protein in cow's milk , and is also present in the milk of many other mammalian species...

. Asp
Asp
Asp may refer to:Snakes:* Asp , an archaic term for a venomous snake.* Vipera aspis, a venomous viper found in Europe.* Cerastes cerastes, a venomous viper found in the Sahara desert....

 and/or the carbonyl oxygen of the C-2 acetamido group of the substrate
Substrate
Substrate may mean:*Substrate , Natural stone, masonry surface, ceramic and porcelain tiles*Substrate , the material used in the bottom of an aquarium*Substrate , the material used in the bottom of a vivarium or terrarium...

 acts as the catalytic nucleophile
Nucleophile
A nucleophile is a species that donates an electron-pair to an electrophile to form a chemical bond in a reaction. All molecules or ions with a free pair of electrons can act as nucleophiles. Because nucleophiles donate electrons, they are by definition Lewis bases.Nucleophilic describes the...

/base.

Alpha-lactalbumin, is a milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

 protein that acts as the regulatory subunit of lactose synthetase, acting to promote the conversion of galactosyltransferase
Galactosyltransferase
Galactosyltransferase is a type of glycosyltransferase which catalyzes the transfer of galactose. An example is B-N-acetylglucosaminyl-glycopeptide b-1,4-galactosyltransferase....

 to lactose synthase
Lactose synthase
Lactose synthase is an enzyme that generates lactose from glucose and UDP-galactose.It is classified under .It consists of N-acetyllactosamine synthase and alpha-lactalbumin...

, which is essential for milk production. In the mammary gland
Mammary gland
A mammary gland is an organ in mammals that produces milk to feed young offspring. Mammals get their name from the word "mammary". In ruminants such as cows, goats, and deer, the mammary glands are contained in their udders...

, alpha-lactalbumin changes the substrate
Substrate (biochemistry)
In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

 specificity of galactosyltransferase from N-acetylglucosamine
N-Acetylglucosamine
N-Acetylglucosamine is a monosaccharide derivative of glucose. It is an amide between glucosamine and acetic acid...

 to glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...

.

Lysozymes act as bacteriolytic enzymes by hydrolyzing the beta(1->4) bonds between N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid
N-Acetylmuramic acid
N-Acetylmuramic acid, or MurNAc, is the ether of lactic acid and N-acetylglucosamine with a chemical formula of C11H19NO8. It is part of a biopolymer in the bacterial cell wall, built from alternating units of N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid , cross-linked with oligopeptides at the...

 in the peptidoglycan
Peptidoglycan
Peptidoglycan, also known as murein, is a polymer consisting of sugars and amino acids that forms a mesh-like layer outside the plasma membrane of bacteria , forming the cell wall. The sugar component consists of alternating residues of β- linked N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid...

 of prokaryotic cell wall
Cell wall
The cell wall is the tough, usually flexible but sometimes fairly rigid layer that surrounds some types of cells. It is located outside the cell membrane and provides these cells with structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mechanism. A major function of the cell wall is to...

s. It has also been recruited for a digestive role in certain ruminants and colobine monkeys. There are at least five different classes of lysozymes : C (chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

 type), G (goose
Goose
The word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....

 type), phage-type (T4), fungi
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...

 (Chalaropsis), and bacterial
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

 (Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus subtilis, known also as the hay bacillus or grass bacillus, is a Gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium commonly found in soil. A member of the genus Bacillus, B. subtilis is rod-shaped, and has the ability to form a tough, protective endospore, allowing the organism to tolerate...

). There are few similarities in the sequence
Sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an ordered list of objects . Like a set, it contains members , and the number of terms is called the length of the sequence. Unlike a set, order matters, and exactly the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in the sequence...

s of the different types of lysozymes.

Lysozyme type C and alpha-lactalbumin are similar both in terms of primary sequence and structure, and probably evolved
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

 from a common ancestral protein. Around 35 to 40% of the residues are conserved
Conserved sequence
In biology, conserved sequences are similar or identical sequences that occur within nucleic acid sequences , protein sequences, protein structures or polymeric carbohydrates across species or within different molecules produced by the same organism...

 in both proteins
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 as well as the positions of the four disulphide bonds. There is, however, no similarity in function. Another significant difference between the two enzymes is that all lactalbumins have the ability to bind calcium
Calcium in biology
Calcium plays a pivotal role in the physiology and biochemistry of organisms and the cell. It plays an important role in signal transduction pathways, where it acts as a second messenger, in neurotransmitter release from neurons, contraction of all muscle cell types, and fertilization...

, while this property is restricted to only a few lysozymes.

The binding site
Binding site
In biochemistry, a binding site is a region on a protein, DNA, or RNA to which specific other molecules and ions—in this context collectively called ligands—form a chemical bond...

 was deduced using high resolution X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

 structure
Secondary structure
In biochemistry and structural biology, secondary structure is the general three-dimensional form of local segments of biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids...

 analysis and was shown to consist of three aspartic acid
Aspartic acid
Aspartic acid is an α-amino acid with the chemical formula HOOCCHCH2COOH. The carboxylate anion, salt, or ester of aspartic acid is known as aspartate. The L-isomer of aspartate is one of the 20 proteinogenic amino acids, i.e., the building blocks of proteins...

 residues. It was first suggested that calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...

 bound to lactalbumin stabilised the structure, but recently it has been claimed that calcium controls the release of lactalbumin from the golgi
Golgi
Golgi may refer to:*Camillo Golgi , Italian physician and scientist after which the following terms are named:**Golgi apparatus , an organelle in the eukaryotic cell...

 membrane and that the pattern of ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...

 binding may also affect the catalytic properties of the lactose synthetase complex
Protein complex
A multiprotein complex is a group of two or more associated polypeptide chains. If the different polypeptide chains contain different protein domain, the resulting multiprotein complex can have multiple catalytic functions...

.
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