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Beatrice Cobucci-Ponzano obtained her degree in Biology from the University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy, in 1997, working on the beta-glycosidase (GH1) from the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus, under the supervision of Mosè Rossi at the Institute of Protein Biochemistry (IBP) of the italian National Research Council (CNR).

She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysic at the University of Padua, working on the characterization of CAZymes form hyperthermophiles (GH1 and GH31) under the supervision of Marco Moracci at IBP.

From 2001 she is staff scientist at IBP in the group of Marco Moracci. The work focuses on the characterization and the understanding of the reaction mechanism of glycoside hydrolases, on their modification for the synthesis of glycosides (glycosynthases), and on glycosyltransferases.

She determined the reaction mechanism and the catalytic residues of alpha-L-fucosidases (GH29) [1, 2, 3], and developed a new method for the modification of this class of enzymes in efficient alpha-L-fucosynthases [4]. This method could be of general applicability to all alpha-glycosidases.

Recently, she characterized a novel archaeal beta-glycosidase that allowed the creation of the CAZy family GH116 [5].

Reference list

1. Cobucci-Ponzano B, Trincone A, Giordano A, Rossi M, and Moracci M. Identification of an archaeal alpha-L-fucosidase encoded by an interrupted gene. Production of a functional enzyme by mutations mimicking programmed -1 frameshifting. J Biol Chem 2003 Apr 25; 278(17) 14622-31. doi:10.1074/jbc.M211834200 pmid:12569098. PubMed HubMed [PMID12569098]
2. Cobucci-Ponzano B, Trincone A, Giordano A, Rossi M, and Moracci M. Identification of the catalytic nucleophile of the family 29 alpha-L-fucosidase from Sulfolobus solfataricus via chemical rescue of an inactive mutant. Biochemistry 2003 Aug 19; 42(32) 9525-31. doi:10.1021/bi035036t pmid:12911294. PubMed HubMed [PMID12911294]
3. Cobucci-Ponzano B, Mazzone M, Rossi M, and Moracci M. Probing the catalytically essential residues of the alpha-L-fucosidase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus. Biochemistry 2005 Apr 26; 44(16) 6331-42. doi:10.1021/bi047495f pmid:15835922. PubMed HubMed [PMID15835922]
4. Cobucci-Ponzano B, Conte F, Bedini E, Corsaro MM, Parrilli M, Sulzenbacher G, Lipski A, Dal Piaz F, Lepore L, Rossi M, and Moracci M. beta-Glycosyl azides as substrates for alpha-glycosynthases: preparation of efficient alpha-L-fucosynthases. Chem Biol 2009 Oct 30; 16(10) 1097-108. doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2009.09.013 pmid:19875083. PubMed HubMed [PMID19875083]
5. Cobucci-Ponzano B, Aurilia V, Riccio G, Henrissat B, Coutinho PM, Strazzulli A, Padula A, Corsaro MM, Pieretti G, Pocsfalvi G, Fiume I, Cannio R, Rossi M, and Moracci M. A new archaeal beta-glycosidase from Sulfolobus solfataricus: seeding a novel retaining beta-glycan-specific glycoside hydrolase family along with the human non-lysosomal glucosylceramidase GBA2. J Biol Chem 2010 Jul 2; 285(27) 20691-703. doi:10.1074/jbc.M109.086470 pmid:20427274. PubMed HubMed [PMID20427274]