A possible role of cellulose-binding protein A (CBPA) in the adhesion of Eubacterium cellulosolvens 5 to cellulose

The cellulose-binding protein A (CBPA) of Eubacterium cellulosolvens 5 is a modular enzyme comprised of a catalytic domain, a cellulose-binding domain and a cell wall-binding domain. Cellobiose-grown cells changed their adhesion ability to cellulose depending on the growth phase. On the other hand, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-grown cells bound to cellulose regardless of their growth phase. The distribution of CBPA in the culture supernatant and cell fractions changed depending on the carbon source contained in the medium and growth phase. The cellobiose-grown cells harvested from the culture of the late stationary growth phase did not bind to cellulose, but their adhesion ability was recovered by treatment with recombinant CBPA. Moreover, cellobiose-grown cells harvested from the culture of an early exponential growth phase bound to cellulose, but their adhesion ability was inhibited by treatment with anti-CBPA antiserum. CBPA rapidly decreased the viscosity of CMC, indicating that CBPA was endoglucanase. The results obtained in this study indicate that CBPA plays an important role in the adhesion of E. cellulosolvens 5 cells to cellulose.