Purification and characterization of a β-glucosidase from solid-state cultures ofHumicola griseavar.thermoidea

Abstract

The thermophilic fungus Humicola grisea var. thermoidea produced β-glucosidase activity when grown in a solid-state culture on wheat bran as carbon source. A β-glucosidase was purified to apparent homogeneity by ultrafiltration, gel filtration chromatography on Sephacryl S-100, and ion-exchange chromatography on S-Sepharose, as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate – polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) on a 12.5% (w/v) slab gel. The enzyme had a molecular mass of 82 and 156 kDa, as estimated by SDS–PAGE and gel filtration on a high performance liquid chromatographic column, respectively, suggesting that the native enzyme may consist of two identical subunits. The purified enzyme was thermostable at 60 °C for 1 h with a half-life of 15 min at 65 °C, and displayed optimum activity at 60 °C and a pH range of 4.0–4.5. The Kmand Vmaxvalues for p-nitrophenyl β-D-glucopyranoside were determined to be 0.316 mM and 0.459 IU∙mL−1, respectively. D-Glucose, D-gluconic acid lactone, Hg2+, Cu2+, and Mn2+inhibited β-glucosidase activity. The enzyme activity was competitively inhibited by D-glucose (Ki = 0.6 mM). The purified enzyme was very active against cellobiose and p-nitrophenyl β-D-glucopyranoside.Key words: Humicola, β-glucosidase, purification, characterization.