Cloning, nucleotide sequence and module structure of the gene encoding the cellulose-binding protein B (CBPB) of Eubacterium cellulosolvens 5

The nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding the cellulose-binding protein B (CBPB) of Eubacterium cellulosolvens 5 was determined. The gene consists of an open reading frame of 3,429 nucleotides. The deduced amino acid sequence of CBPB contained one module highly similar to a catalytic module of glycosyl hydrolase family 9 (GHF9), one module partially similar to a family 3 carbohydrate-binding module (CBM3), two linkers, one module similar to a CBM of cellulose-binding protein A (CBPA) from E. cellulosolvens 5, and one module almost identical to a cell wall-binding module (CWBM) of CBPA. The module similar to GHF9 showed CMCase activity, and the modules similar to CBM3 and CBM of CBPA bound to cellulose. Moreover, the module highly similar to CWBM of CBPA bound to the cell walls prepared from E. cellulosolvens 5. The amino acid sequence of CBPB had a significant homology (64.15% sequence identity) with that of CBPA. These results suggest that cbpA and cbpB genes descended from the same ancestral cellulase gene.