Alternative feed ingredients and innovation of feed technology are progressively being investigated and incorporated into processing pipelines toward enhanced digestibility and efficiency, decreased environmental impact and maximized economic opportunity (Behnke, 1996; der Poel et al., 2020).
Pulses (Fabaceae family) and their by-products are examples of advantageous sources of animal feed that could be further optimized to increase their value and applicability (Sherasia, Garg, & Bhanderi, 2018; Singh, 2017). Currently, pulses play an important role in sustainable development based on their ability to fix nitrogen, reducing the need for costly nitrogen fertilizers when used in crop rotations, and sequestering greenhouse gas from the environment (Irisarri et al., 2021). However pulse nutrient and protein-rich profiles significantly furthers their potential. For example, pulse meal, a by-product of the industry, is approximately 40–45% protein on a dry mass basis and thus holds great potential to serve as animal feed, contributing to food security and reducing competition with human food (Sherasia et al., 2018). Such applications of by-products also reduces costs related to disposal and allows for the conversion of low value products into higher value feed/food (Ominski et al., 2021).
Tannins and other non-tannic (poly)phenols are intrinsic to pulses, and in the context of animal nutrition, are considered anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) based on observed negative effects on digestion and the bioavailability of nutrients (Kardum & Glibetic, 2018; Kumar et al., 2021). These effects are due to (poly)phenols forming complexes with storage proteins, interfering with peptide bond proteolysis, and serving as direct inhibitors of digestive enzyme, together decreasing protein and carbohydrate availability (Punia, Siroha, & Kumar, 2021). Chelation of metal ions by polyphenolics has also been shown to reduce absorption and decrease uptake of vitamins and minerals (Singh, 2017). Finally, the palatability of pulse meal is reduced by tannins in particular, due to undesirable astringency, which lowers food intake and animal performance (Singh, 2017). Thus, reducing phenol content (tannic and non-tannic) in pulse products remains an important goal for increased nutritional and economic value.
Currently, microbial fermentation is used as a strategy to lower ANFs, including tannins, in feeds (der Poel et al., 2020; Olukomaiya, Fernando, Mereddy, Li, & Sultanbawa, 2019). For example, Lactobacillus plantarum, a Gram-positive lactic acid bacterium commonly used in the food industry, specifically possesses genes encoding tannin acyl hydrolase (commonly known as tannase) and gallate decarboxylase, yielding the monophenol pyrogallol (Jimenez, Esteban-Torres, Mancheno, de Las Rivas, & Munoz, 2014). However, the observed accumulation of such monophenols in L. plantarum fermented feeds is also undesirable (Kardum & Glibetic, 2018; Kumar et al., 2021). The next step in degradation of monophenols involves breaking the phenolic ring. In nature, this activity relies on a family of microbial catechol dioxygenases that carry out the oxidative cleavage of hydroxylated aromatic rings, to yield linear compounds that feed into the citric acid cycle (Kamimura et al., 2017). Phenolic ring cleavage can be intradiol (between two consecutive hydroxyl groups on the ring (positions 1 and 2)), proximal extradiol (next to the hydroxyls; position 2 and 3) or distal extradiol (removed from the hydroxyls; position 4 and 5) (Hou, Patel, & Lillard, 1977). A brief review of the current literature and a search of the NCBI database suggests L. plantarum does not encode any members of this family of enzymes, consistent with the high accumulation of phenolics in such fermentations.
Thus, as an alternative or complement to microbial fermentation, cell-free biocatalysis has been proposed for reduction of phenolic content. A biocatalytic strategy would decouple tannin and phenolic degradation from cellular physiology, reducing any downregulation imposed by the carbohydrate rich environment and feedback inhibition, as well as allowing absolute control of enzyme types and concentrations applied (Claassens, Burgener, Vogeli, Erb, & Bar-Even, 2019).
One example of a potential candidate for cell-free phenolic degradation of pulse meal is a Bacillus ligniniphilus L1 catechol 2,3-dioxygenase (BLC23O; (Adewale et al., 2021)). B. ligniniphilus L1 is a halotolerant and alkaliphilic bacterium isolated from sediments from the South China Sea, known to use polyphenolic lignin as its sole carbon source. Catechol 2,3-dioxygenases elicit proximal extradiol cleavage. Three catechol 2,3-dioxygenases encoded by B. ligniniphilus L1 have been identified and the shortest one, a protein of 283 amino acids (BLC23O, NCBI accession WP_017726464.1) with a calculated molecular mass of approximately 32 kDa, was recently characterized (Adewale et al., 2021). This enzyme was found to have unusually broad substrate specificity and good thermostability, traits proposed to be associated with its atypical monomeric structure.
Here the application of BLC23O to cell-free reduction of phenolic content in pulse meal is assessed. Scaled-up recombinant production and purification of the enzyme is described, followed by evaluation of the enzyme’s potential to reduce phenolics in 3 different meal fractions from Vicia faba (faba bean).