A modified Family 11 xylanase enzyme comprising a sequence that introduces
a functional consensus glycosylation site is provided. Non-limiting
examples of introduced glycosylation sites include mutation of the amino
acid at position 34, 131, 180, 182, or a combination thereof, to an
asparagine. The indicated amino acid position in the Family 11 xylanase
is determined from sequence alignment of the xylanase of interest with
that of a Trichoderma reesei xylanase II amino acid sequence. The
introduced consensus glycosylation site facilitates increased expression
efficiency of the modified xylanase when compared to the expression
efficiency of a corresponding xylanase from which the modified xylanase
was derived, using similar host strains and growth conditions.