Deacetylation of Arabinofuranosylated Xylopyranosyl Residues Related to Plant Xylan: Significant Differences Between Xylan Deacetylases Classified into Various Carbohydrate Esterase Families

A chemical synthesis of two novel phenyl glycosides of trisaccharides related to acetylarabinoxylan is described. The trisaccharides bear acetyl and arabinofuranosyl moieties at the non-reducing-end xylopyranosyl residue, which is substituted at positions 2 and 3. Both compounds were treated with various xylan deacetylases classified in different carbohydrate esterase (CE) families and significant differences between the families were found. While the arabinosylation hampers deacetylation by CE2-CE5 and CE12 family members, both epitopes are deesterified by CE1 and in particular CE6 enzymes. The 3-O-acetylated 2-O-arabinosylated compound is also processed by CE7 and majority of CE16 esterases, but not by a hitherto non-classified Flavobacterium johnsoniae acetylxylan esterase. The data suggests that a slow deesterification of the 2-O-acetylated 3-O-arabinosylated compound may be due to the acetyl group migration followed by deacetylation of this migration product.