β-Mannans and xylans are important components of the plant cell wall and they are acetylated to be protected from degradation by glycoside hydrolases. β-Mannans are widely present in human and animal diets as fiber from leguminous plants and as thickeners and stabilizers in processed foods. There are many fully characterized acetylxylan esterases (AcXEs), however, the enzymes deacetylating mannans are less understood. Here we present two carbohydrate esterases, RiCE2 and RiCEX, from the Firmicute Roseburia intestinalis, which together deacetylate complex galactoglucomannan (GGM). The 3D-structure of RiCEX with a mannopentaose in the active site shows that the CBM35 domain of RiCEX forms a confined complex, where the axially oriented C2-hydroxyl of a mannose residue points towards the Ser41 of the catalytic triad. Cavities on the RiCEX surface may accept galactosylations at the C6 positions of mannose adjacent to the mannose residue being deacetylated (subsite -1 and +1). In depth characterization of the two enzymes using time-resolved NMR, HPLC and mass spectrometry demonstrates that they work in a complementary manner. RiCEX exclusively removes the axially oriented 2-O-acetylations on any mannose residue in an oligosaccharide, including double acetylated mannoses, while the RiCE2 is active on 3-O-, 4-O- and 6-O-acetylations. Activity of RiCE2 is dependent on RiCEX removing 2-O-acetylations from double acetylated mannose. Furthermore, transacetylation of oligosaccharides with the 2-O specific RiCEX provided new insight to how temperature and pH affects acetyl migration on mannooligosaccharides.

A pair of esterases from a commensal gut bacterium remove acetylations from all positions on complex β-mannans