The purpose of this project is to determine the structure to function relationships in plant exo- -glycanases by achieving the following objectives:
1. Structural determination of barley -II -mannosidase/ -glucosidase and comparison to rice BGlu1 -glucosidase.
2. Investigation of the basis for catalytic properties and differential sugar binding and hydrolysis by BGlu1 and closely related -glycosidases, which form a phylogenetic cluster with both -glucosidases and -mannosidases by site-directed mutagenesis.
3. Recombinant expression of barley Exo-I exo- -glucanase and characterization of its properties. Site directed mutations can then be made in collaboration with Dr. Maria Hrmova and Prof. Geoffrey Fincher.
4. Characterization of rice Glycosyl Hydrolase family 3 exoglucanases by recombinant expression and testing their activities for oligosaccharide hydrolysis in biomass conversion.
