Dual 6Pβ-Galactosidase/6Pβ-Glucosidase GH1 Family for Lactose Metabolism in the Probiotic Bacterium WCFS1.

Intestinal lactic acid bacteria can help alleviate lactose maldigestion by promoting lactose hydrolysis in the small intestine. This study shows that protein extracts from probiotic bacterium WCFS1 possess two metabolic pathways for lactose metabolism, involving β-galactosidase (β-gal) and 6Pβ-galactosidase (6Pβ-gal) activities. As WCFS1 genome lacks a putative 6Pβ-gal gene, the 11 GH1 family proteins, in which their 6Pβ-glucosidase (6Pβ-glc) activity was experimentally demonstrated,, were assayed for 6Pβ-gal activity. Among them, only Lp_3525 (Pbg9) also exhibited a high 6Pβ-gal activity. The sequence comparison of this dual 6Pβ-gal/6Pβ-glc GH1 protein to previously described dual GH1 proteins revealed that WCFS1 Lp_3525 belonged to a new group of dual 6Pβ-gal/6Pβ-glc GH1 proteins, as it possessed conserved residues and structural motifs mainly present in 6Pβ-glc GH1 proteins. Finally, Lp_3525 exhibited, under intestinal conditions, an adequate 6Pβ-gal activity with possible relevance for lactose maldigestion management.