Hydrophobic amino acid residues in the acceptor binding site are main determinants for reaction mechanism and specificity of cyclodextrin-glycosyltransferase.

Cyclodextrin-glycosyltransferases (CGTases) (EC ) preferably catalyze transglycosylation reactions with glucosyl residues as acceptor, whereas the homologous alpha-amylases catalyze hydrolysis reactions using water as acceptor. This difference in reaction specificity is most likely caused by the acceptor binding site. To investigate this in detail we altered the acceptor site residues Lys-232, Phe-183, Phe-259, and Glu-264 of Bacillus circulans strain 251 CGTase using site-directed mutagenesis. Lys-232 is of general importance for catalysis, which appears to result mainly from stabilization of the conformation of the loop containing the catalytic nucleophile Asp-229 and His-233, a residue that has been implied in transition state stabilization. Glu-264 contributes to the disproportionation reaction only, where it is involved in initial binding of the (maltose) acceptor. Phe-183 and Phe-259 play important and distinct roles in the transglycosylation reactions catalyzed by CGTase. Mutation of Phe-183 affects especially the cyclization and coupling reactions, whereas Phe-259 is most important for the cyclization and disproportionation reactions. Moreover, the hydrophobisity of Phe-183 and Phe-259 limits the hydrolyzing activity of the enzyme. Hydrolysis can be enhanced by making these residues more polar, which concomitantly results in a lower transglycosylation activity. A double mutant was constructed that yielded an enzyme preferring hydrolysis over cyclization (15:1), whereas the wild type favors cyclization over hydrolysis (90:1).