Outer membrane proteins related to SusC and SusD are not required for Cytophaga hutchinsonii cellulose utilization

Cytophaga hutchinsonii, a member of the phylum Bacteroidetes, employs a novel collection of cell-associated proteins to digest crystalline cellulose. Other Bacteroidetes rely on cell surface proteins related to the starch utilization system (Sus) proteins SusC and SusD to bind oligosaccharides and import them across the outer membrane for further digestion. These bacteria typically produce dozens of SusC-like porins and SusD-like oligosaccharide-binding proteins to facilitate utilization of diverse polysaccharides. C. hutchinsonii specializes in cellulose digestion and its genome has only two susC-like genes and two susD-like genes. Single and multiple gene deletions were constructed to determine if the susC-like and susD-like genes have roles in cellulose utilization. A mutant lacking all susC-like and all susD-like genes digested cellulose and grew on cellulose as well as wild-type cells. Further, recombinantly expressed SusD-like proteins CHU_0547 and CHU_0554 failed to bind cellulose or beta-glucan hemicellulosic polysaccharides. The results suggest that the Bacteroidetes Sus paradigm for polysaccharide utilization may not apply to the cellulolytic bacterium C. hutchinsonii.