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Welcome to CAZypedia! The Encyclopedia of Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes. Now containing 200 Curator-approved GH family pages and lexicon pages!

Purpose CAZypedia has been initiated as a community-driven resource to assemble a comprehensive encyclopedia of the "CAZymes," the carbohydrate-active enzymes and associated carbohydrate-binding modules involved in the synthesis and degradation of complex carbohydrates. CAZypedia is inspired by, and closely connected with, the actively curated CAZy Database. It's probably fair to say that CAZypedians are, like our friends at the CAZy DB, a group of "biocurators." If you are new to the CAZyme classification, "Sorting the Diverse" by Professors Gideon Davies and Michael Sinnott (The Biochemist, 2008, vol. 30, part 4, pp. 26-32) provides an excellent historical introduction. Content CAZypedia initially focussed on the Glycoside Hydrolase Families defined in the CAZy Database, and we continue to strive for complete coverage of this diverse class of enzymes. Other catabolic and anabolic CAZymes, as well as Auxiliary redox enzymes and non-catalytic Carbohydrate Binding Modules, continue to be incorporated as interest and engagement from the scientific community grows. In addition, there is a Lexicon of terms relevant to CAZymes and carbohydrate chemistry. These and other aspects of CAZypedia's content can be accessed through the menus on the left side of each page. How CAZypedia works CAZypedia is built on authoring and editing principles similar to those of other expert-based online encyclopedias (cf. Citizendium, Scholarpedia). All contributors to CAZypedia, from the Authors to the Board of Curators, are experts in the field. Transparency is achieved through the use of contributors' real names and published biographies in CAZypedia. Individual entries in CAZypedia are managed by Responsible Curators, who are responsible for selecting expert Authors and coordinating author contributions on individual pages. Selection of Responsible Curators, based on their specialist expertise and ability to participate in the active maintenance of entry content, is handled by the Senior Curators. More information on CAZypedia's content and editorial policies is available here. A short lecture and a set of slides presenting CAZypedia are freely available here. An article describing CAZypedia's genesis and evolution has been published in the journal Glycobiology. Contact If you would like to get involved with CAZypedia or suggest an improvement, please contact the Board of Curators.

Latest news 1 August 2019: Sweet Sixteen: The Carbohydrate Binding Module Family 16 page in CAZypedia has been flipped to Curator Approved today. The page features CBM16 members from two environmental bacteria with very different backgrounds: One bacterium was isolated from a red alga (red seaweed) and its GH16 kappa-carrageenase-appended CBM16 binds the red algal extracellular matrix polysaccharide carrageenan and influences the processive mechanism of the catalytic module. The other bacterium was isolated from organic waste leachate and deletion of both its CBM16s from a GH5 mannanase severely impairs binding ability of the catalytic module. The CBM16 page was Authored by Maria Matard-Mann with Elizabeth Ficko-Blean acting as Responsible Curator. Learn more about these "sweet sixteen" CBMs on the CBM16 page. 21 July 2019: Back to the future: Author James Stevenson and Responsible Curator Joel Weadge completed the Glycoside Hydrolase Family 105 page today, which is related to the recently completed (see below) GH88 page. Like GH88, GH105 comprises hexeuronic acid hydrolases that use a distinct mechanism of glycosidic bond cleavage. You can learn more about these enzymes on the GH105 and GH88 pages. We'd like to especially thank Joel and James for taking the initiative to reach out on their own to offer to produce the GH105 page; this is directly in the spirit of CAZypedia as a community-led, volunteer resource! 17 July 2019: A flashback on unsaturated glucuronyl hydrolases: Back in 2015, Author Seino Jongkees essentially completed the Glycoside Hydrolase Family 88 page, which was finally upgraded to Curator Approved status today. GH88 unsaturated glucuronyl hydrolases use an atypical glycoside hydrolase mechanism that involves the hydration of the double bond between carbons 4 and 5 of the non-reducing terminal sugar of their substrates and subsequent rearrangement. In this way, the activity of GH88 enzymes is dependent on the prior action of Polysaccharide Lyases to produce the required hexenuronic acid terminus. Learn more about these non-canonical enzymes, and their cousins in GH105, on the GH88 page. 15 July 2019: Of carbohydrates, esters, and lignin: Authors Jenny Arnling Bååth and Scott Mazurkewich, together with Responsible Curator Johan Larsbrink finalized CAZypedia's third Carbohydrate Esterase Family page today. Carbohydrate Esterase Family 15 comprises glucuronoyl esterases that utilize a classical serine hydrolase catalytic triad to cleave pendant non-carbohydrate groups from, for example, plant glucuronoxylan (i.e. de-esterification with the sugar as the acid). CE15 members have therefore be suggested to facilitate the breakdown of lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCC) and are of growing interest for biomass processing. Learn more about these enzymes, including the seminal work of Peter Biely and colleagues, on the CE15 page. 5 June 2019: New and cool beta(1,2)-glucanases of GH162: Today Author Nobukiyo Tanaka and Responsible Curator Masahiro Nakajima completed the Glycoside Hydrolase Family 162 page in CAZypedia. As its high number would imply, GH162 is one of the newest families in the CAZy classification, of which the first example has been elegantly characterized in 2019 by Drs. Tanaka and Nakajima and their colleagues. GH162 is a tiny family of mostly fungal members, which has structural and mechanistic commonality with GH144, and may be distantly related to GH8 (Clan GH-M) and GH15 (Clan GH-L). Learn more about all of these families on their respective pages. 14 May 2019: Starch... it's not over yet: Two new families of starch-binding CBMs, CBM82 and CBM83, have joined the CAZypedia ranks. These CBMs are both found in an enormous multi-modular cell-wall anchored enzyme from a gut bacterium. The pages were both authored by Darrell Cockburn with Nicole Koropatkin acting as responsible curator. Learn more about the new starch-binding CBM82 and CBM83 families on their respective pages. 28 February 2019: CE9 is CE page #2!: Graduate student Alex Anderson has completed CAZypedia's second Carbohydrate Esterase (CE) family page, Carbohydrate Esterase Family 9, which was Curator Approved by his supervisor Michael Suits today. CE9 enzymes are metal-dependent N-acetylglucosamine 6-phosphate deacetylases that function in peptidoglycan recycling in bacteria. CE9 is a huge family, currently comprising over 10,000 members (nearly all are from bacteria), which underscores their biological importance. Alex and Mike completed CAZypedia's first CE family page, CE4 earlier this month, and we thank them for these seminal expansions of of our resource. Learn more about the structure and mechanism of metal-dependent deamidases here: CE9, CE4. > older news

Dedication CAZypedia is dedicated to the late Prof. Bruce Stone, whose enthusiasm to create a comprehensive encyclopedia of carbohydrate-active enzymes was essential in the genesis of this project.