Main Page

Welcome to CAZypedia! The Encyclopedia of Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes. Now containing 140 Curator-approved GH family pages and 24 Curator-approved 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 introduction and historical perspective. 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 November 2024: Is this a CAZypedia world record? 6 CAZypedia families in one fell swoop! The CBM47, CBM70, CBM96, CBM105, CBM106 and PL44 CAZypedia pages are now flipped to curator approved. What do these diverse families from diverse origins with diverse binding specificities have in common? Astonishingly, at least one characterized member from each family interacts with a charged glycan! Wenwen Tao authored the CBM47, CBM96 and CBM106 pages, Menghui Sun authored the CBM70 page, Guanchen Liu authored the CBM105 page and Jinhang Zhou authored the PL44 page. All this under the responsible curatorship of Yaoguang Chang. Dive into these diverse CBMs on their respective CAZypedia pages: CBM47, CBM70, CBM96, CBM105, CBM106 and PL44! 25 October 2024: Laminariawesome! Check out two new marine families of CBMs, CBM102 and CBM103, now on CAZypedia which have an ecological role in bacterial degradation of laminarin during phytoplankton blooms. Some function as surface glycan binding proteins but others have roles in targeting their appended catalytic modules to substrate. Both pages were authored by Marie-Katherin Zühlke. Read up on these environmentally important CBMs on their respective CBM102 and CBM103 pages! 19 July 2024: Chalk-up one more for the GTs! The Glycosyltransferase Family 47 page joined the small group of Curator Approved Glycosyltransferase Families pages in CAZypedia today. This entry was authored by Ph.D. students Daniel Tehrani and Charlie Corulli, and Curated by Breeanna Urbanowicz with input from Kelley Moremen. Widely represented in plants, GT47 members are anomer-inverting glycosyltransferases, which are involved in the biosynthesis of several cell wall matrix polysaccharides. Representatives from mammals are involved in heparin biosynthesis. Correspondingly, members of GH47 have diverse substrate specificities, including the transfer of both anionic and neutral monosaccharides to polysaccharides. This is a great example where two keen Ph.D. students worked with their supervisors to create a valuable page for the scientific community. We encourage others to follow their lead, on your favorite family! 9 July 2024: Yet another new family of beta-1,2-glucan-active enzymes! Today, Masahiro Nakajima Curator Approved the Glycoside Hydrolase Family 186 page by Sei Motouchi. GH186 is a family of anomer-inverting enzymes from bacteria, members of which are specific for beta-1,2-glucans. Intriguingly, although some GH186 members work as classic glycoside hydrolases, others perform transglycosylation by wrapping the sugar chain around in the active-site, to position the 6-OH group of a terminal glucosyl unit for direct attack. Also notable, GH186 members appear to use an extended chain of water molecules to relay acceptor deprotonation by the general base residue, i.e. a Grotthuss mechanism. Check out the GH186 page to learn more about these interesting enzymes, and make sure to see the GH189, GH144, and GH162 pages from this same group. 2 May 2024: CBDs I to X... A major milestone! CBM families 1 to 10 are now complete! These are the old CBD (cellulose-binding domain) families, which used to have roman numerals as part of their nomenclature. A special thank you to all the authors and responsible curators who have contributed to this major milestone. Go have a peek at each of these old school families on their respective CAZypedia pages: CBM1, CBM2, CBM3, CBM4, CBM5, CBM6, CBM7, CBM8, CBM9, and CBM10. > 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.