Enzymatic deconstruction of microbial polysaccharide networks

Polysaccharide networks have an enormous impact on human life and nature as a whole.

The cell walls of fungi and biofilms represent such complex networks that are tightly linked to diseases and other major issues in society.

A majority of bacterial infections in humans are related to bacteria residing in protective biofilms, and invasive fungal infections have a very high mortality rate, especially for immune-compromised individuals. Both types of infections are also very difficult to treat.

In the biofilm referred to as dental plaque, which affects over a third of the world’s population, as well as in fungal cell walls, insoluble and sticky α-1,3-glucans are key structural components.

These polysaccharides are not made by human cells, and thus represent a perfect target for specific enzymatic treatments to disrupt both plaques and fungal cell walls.The knowledge α-1,3-glucan-degrading enzymes is very limited today – neither mechanistic understanding nor protein 3D structures exist.

In this project, the goal is to greatly deepen the knowledge of such enzymes through biochemical and structural studies, and to understand how they interact with these complex networks we will employ cutting-edge analytical tools.

We will also use novel biochemical tools to combine the enzymes with other enzyme types targeting other parts of the biofilms/cell walls, to probe intramolecular synergies similar to what has been demonstrated in degradation of complex plant cell walls.