Purification and Characterization of ${\beta}-Glucosidase$ from Penicillium verruculosum

Purification and Characterization of ${\beta}-Glucosidase$ from Penicillium verruculosum

The ${\beta}-glucosidase$ was purified to homogeneity from the culture filtrate of P. verruculosum by column chromatography. The enzyme was a glycoprotein with a relative size of approximately 220 kDa with an isoelectric point of 4.8, which was composed of dimeric protein of 105 kDa. The enzyme was stable up to $60^{\circ}C$ and the presence of glycerol significantly increased its thermostability. The enzyme was found to hydrolyze both ${\beta}-aryl$ and ${\beta}-alkyl-glucosides$ in addition to ${\beta}-glucosyl$ glucose and catalyzed glucosyl transfer to cellobiose. The enzyme attacked laminarin in an exotype-like fashion. The apparent Km's of the enzyme toward cellobiose, laminaribiose, laminarin were 0.53 mM, 0.35 mM and 1.11 mM, respectively. Glucose and glucono-${\delta}-lactone$ were competitive inhibitors for the enzyme. Copper ($Cu^{2+}$), mercury ($Hg^{2+}$) and p-chloromercuribenzoate were strong inhibitors of the enzyme. The immunoblotting result revealed that one form of ${\beta}-glucosidase$ was biosynthesized, irrespective of carbon sources used. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the in vitro translated product of total RNA from avicel grown mycelium established that the P. verruculosum ${\beta}-glucosidase$ precursor was approximately 95 kDa in size. The amino acid composition and N-terminal amino acid sequence are given.