Senior researcher CNRS

deputy director of LBI2M

Research focus : Structural Glycobiology

Although glycobiology is attracting the interest of many researchers since several decades, it remains an underexplored domain. One of the main reasons why the analyses of carbohydrates stay complex and time consuming, compared to the 3 other major families of biological macromolecules, is the fact that there exists no equivalent to methods such as gene or protein sequencing or gene synthesis, methods which allowed a tremendous acceleration in the domains of molecular biology and genomics these past thirty years. 

Within this context, I rapidly focused my research interest towards the complexity of carbohydrates, and especially towards the enzymes and proteins that interact with carbohydrates, called CAZymes. Since more than twenty years now, I investigate the structure and biochemistry of glycoside hydrolases to elucidate their structure-function relationship.  In particular, I am interested in determining the structural factors that govern enzymatic mechanisms and substrate specificities, because these enzymes, once their detailed biochemical characteristics are defined,  represent precious tools to enhance our knowledge about the nature, structure and role of carbohydrates in all biological processes of life.

Today, the focus of the research work I am developping is about the identification and characterization of enzymes and other proteins involved in marine polysaccharide metabolism, most often starting from  hypothetical proteins or proteins of unknown function.

 

 

Publications

(selection of publications)

Dorival J, Ruppert S, Gunnoo M, Orłowski A, Chapelais-Baron M, Dabin J, Labourel A, Thompson D, Michel G, Czjzek M, Genicot S. (2018) The laterally acquired GH5 ZgEngAGH5_4 from the marine bacterium Zobellia galactanivorans is dedicated to hemicellulose hydrolysis. Biochem J. 475(22):3609-3628.

Matard-Mann M, Bernard T, Leroux C, Barbeyron T, Larocque R, Préchoux A, Jeudy A, Jam M, Nyvall Collén P, Michel G, Czjzek M. (2017) Structural insights into marine carbohydrate degradation by family GH16 κ-carrageenases. J Biol Chem. 292(48):19919-19934

Smith SP, Bayer EA, Czjzek M. (2017) Continually emerging mechanistic complexity of the multi-enzyme cellulosome complex. Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 44:151-160.

Ropartz D, Giuliani A, Fanuel M, Hervé C, Czjzek M, Rogniaux H (2016) Online coupling of high-resolution chromatography with extreme UV photon activation tandem mass spectrometry: Application to the structural investigation of complex glycans by dissociative photoionization. Anal Chim Acta. 933:1-9.

Ropartz D, Giuliani A, Hervé C, Geairon A, Jam M, Czjzek M, Rogniaux H. (2015) High-energy photon activation tandem mass spectrometry provides unprecedented insights into the structure of highly sulfated oligosaccharides extracted from macroalgal cell walls. Anal Chem. 87(2):1042-9.

Hehemann JH, Boraston AB, Czjzek M. (2014) A sweet new wave: structures and mechanisms of enzymes that digest polysaccharides from marine algae. Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 28C:77-86.

Thomas F, Lundqvist LC, Jam M, Jeudy A, Barbeyron T, Sandström C, Michel G, Czjzek M. (2013) Comparative Characterization of Two Marine Alginate Lyases from Zobellia galactanivorans Reveals Distinct Modes of Action and Exquisite Adaptation to Their Natural Substrate J Biol Chem. 288(32):23021-23037.

Hehemann J.H., Correc G., Barbeyron T., Helbert W., Czjzek M, Michel G. (2010) Transfer of carbohydrate-active enzymes from marine bacteria to Japanese gut microbiota. Nature, 464, 908-912.