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Mycologia, 94(6), 2002, pp. 903-911.
© 2002 by The Mycological Society of America

Isolation and characterization of an endo-(1,4)-ß-glucanase secreted by Achlya ambisexualis


Darlene M. Loprete

     Department of Chemistry, Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, Tennessee 38112

Terry W. Hill 1

     Department of Biology, Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, Tennessee 38112

    ABSTRACT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 LITERATURE CITED
 

Models of wall loosening in fungi and other walled eukaryotes require the action of proteins able to reduce the degree of linkage between components of the wall. In the oomycete Achlya ambisexualis, such a role has been proposed for a suite of endoglucanases that are secreted during branching and during the measurable wall softening associated with osmotic stress. We report here the isolation and characterization of one of these isoenzymes. The enzyme has a molecular weight of 32 kDa, a pH optimum of 6.75, a pI of 4.5, and a temperature optimum of 35 C. It is partially inhibited by sulfhydryl-binding reagents and completely inhibited by the tryptophan-binding reagent NBS. The enzyme has an endohydrolytic mode of action with substrate specificity towards glucans that contain ß-(1,4) linkages, either alone (carboxymethyl cellulose) or as mixed linkage (1,4–1,3)-ß-glucans (e.g., Avena glucan). It does not, however, degrade amorphous insoluble (phosphoric acid swollen) cellulose. Most significantly, the enzyme can also hydrolyze linkages in an Achlya cell wall fraction previously shown to consist of a mixed-linkage (1,4–1,3)-ß-glucan. This property is consistent with the long-standing hypothesis that the branching-related endoglucanases of oomycetes play a role in cell wall loosening.

Key words: cell walls, hyphal growth, oomycetes, proteases, wall loosening


    INTRODUCTION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 LITERATURE CITED
 
The shape and growth pattern of a fungal or oomycete hypha depend upon the physical properties of its surrounding cell wall (Gooday 1995Citation, Harold 1990Citation), a semi-rigid extracellular matrix composed of cross-linked polysaccharides and proteins (Sentandreu et al 1994Citation). The mature wall also helps to contain the margin of the cell in the face of outwardly directed cytoplasmic forces, and it is an essential component of the mechanism by which a hypha brings invasive force to bear upon its environment (Money 2001Citation, Money and Hill 1997Citation).

At the same time, the wall is itself a product of the protoplast that it surrounds, and it is subject to precise modifications that reflect developmental programs of the cell (Harold 1995Citation). Among these regulated wall properties is plasticity, the irreversible component of compliance (Cosgrove 1998Citation). Sufficient plasticity, appropriately distributed within the fabric of the wall, is required in order for the cell to increase in size or develop in shape. Different growth patterns like spore swelling and hyphal tip extension depend, respectively, upon whether wall plasticity is globally or locally distributed (Wessels 1990Citation). Experimental displacement of the determinants of apical wall plasticity can also alter the direction of a hypha's growth (Bracker et al 1997Citation).

Debate continues about the mechanisms that regulate plasticity at an already-expanding site like a hyphal tip (Johnson et al 1996Citation, Wessels 1990Citation, Bartnicki-Garcia 1999Citation). However, it is agreed that the introduction of de novo plasticity into a mature and noncompliant wall ("wall loosening"), as in the formation of branches or germ tubes, must involve agents that reduce the degree of linkage within or between the load-bearing components of the wall (Gow 1995Citation, Cosgrove 1999Citation). One category of agents that, in theory at least, could have such an effect consists of hydrolytic enzymes acting upon cell wall polymers (Brummell et al 1994Citation, Fry 1995Citation), and evidence exists to tie several such enzymes to wall remodeling events in higher plants (reviewed by Cosgrove 1999Citation), as well as in fungi and oomycetes (reviewed by Gow 1995Citation). Although the role of hydrolases in wall-loosening in higher plants is thought to be secondary to that of the nonhydrolytic expansin proteins (Cosgrove 2001Citation), no counterpart for expansins has yet been discovered outside the plant kingdom, leaving hydrolases as the most likely wall-loosening agents in fungi and oomycetes.

Among oomycetes, the most-studied candidates for wall-loosening enzymes are the secreted endo-(1,4)-ß-glucanases (EC 3.2.1.4.) of Achlya ambisexualis (Thomas and Mullins 1967Citation). The secretion of at least five electrophoretically distinct isoenzymes has been correlated with both local and isotropic wall-loosening events in this organism (Hill 1996Citation, Money and Hill 1997Citation). However, the basic biochemical properties of these enzymes, including the important question of their capacity to degrade polymers of a type actually found in Achlya cell walls, have not yet been investigated.

This report describes the isolation and basic biochemical characterization of one of the major secreted glucanase isoenzymes of A. ambisexualis. The choice of this specific enzyme was dictated principally by the fact that it is the only one among the five for which activity (seen in activity-stained electrophoretic gels) could be matched with an observable silver-stained polypeptide band (Hill 1996Citation), which suggested that this particular isoenzyme is the one most likely to yield sequenceable amounts of pure protein. Another reason for initial focus on this isoenzyme is that it can be generated from a membrane-bound precursor by selective proteolysis (Hill et al 2002Citation), suggesting a mechanism of developmental regulation of its activity.

Evidence will be presented that this enzyme has an endohydrolytic mode of action and a strong substrate specificity for noncrystalline glucans containing ß-(1,4) linkages. It will also be shown that the enzyme can independently hydrolyze components of a mixed-linkage glucan fraction of the Achlya cell wall, previously identified as containing ß-(1,4) linkages. These properties are consistent with hypotheses that attribute a morphogenetic role to this and related oomycete glucanases.


    MATERIALS AND METHODS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 LITERATURE CITED
 
Culture methods – The isolate used was Achlya ambisexualis Raper strain E87-male (ATCC 11399). Methods of routine culture and production of zoospore cysts followed Hill (1996)Citation. In order to maximize the production of endoglucanases, cultures were grown under osmotic stress (Money and Hill 1997Citation) in a defined liquid medium (Hill 1996Citation) modified to contain 400 mM sorbitol. Cultures (400 mL, inoculated with 1000 spore cysts/mL) were incubated at 25 C with reciprocal shaking (100 rpm, 3.5 cm excursion) for seven days, and the glucanase-containing medium was clarified by vacuum filtration through GF-A glass fiber filters (Whatman Intl. Ltd., Maidstone, England) and stored at -80 C.

Enzyme purification – The culture filtrate (normally about 6 L) was concentrated at room temperature in an Amicon TCF-10 thin-channel ultrafiltration system (Amicon Inc., Beverly, Massachusetts) using about 0.4 MPa of nitrogen gas pressure and a PM-10 ultrafiltration membrane. The concentrated volume was about 50 mL, with a protein concentration between 0.5 and 1.0 mg per mL, using the method of Bradford (1976)Citation with bovine serum albumin as a standard. Proteins were precipitated by dissolving solid ammonium sulfate at 5 C to bring the concentration to 90% saturation, followed by centrifugation at 10 000 x g for 20 min at 5 C.

The precipitate was resuspended in 1 mM HCl-histidine buffer, pH 6.3 ("column buffer"), containing 5% glycerol, and then applied to a Sephadex G-150 gel exclusion chromatography column (1.5 cm x 95 cm). Fractions of 2 mL were eluted at a 7-mL/h flow rate, and samples were assayed for endoglucanase activity viscometrically using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a substrate (Hill 1996Citation). The viscometric assay was used throughout the isolation procedure.

The pooled E-III activity peak (Hill 1996Citation) from the gel exclusion column was loaded in the 18-mL focusing chamber of a Rotofor® preparative isoelectric focusing apparatus (BioRad Laboratories, Hercules, California) and separated according to the manufacturer's recommendations using an Ampholyte mixture consisting of 90% "4/6" and 10% "3/10" Ampholytes. The peak fractions of endoglucanase activity from isoelectric focusing were desalted using a 1.5 cm x 10 cm column of Bio-Gel P-6DG (BioRad Laboratories, Hercules, California) at a flow rate of 38 mL/h. The resulting eluent was applied directly to an ion exchange column (1.5 cm x 8 cm) of QAE Sephadex A-25 resin. Retained proteins were eluted with a 100-mL linear gradient of 0 to 45 mM NaCl in column buffer at a flow rate of 18 mL/h. Salt concentration was monitored with a conductivity electrode.

Enzyme characterization – SDS-PAGE was performed in 1-mm thick 10% w/v gels according to the method of Laemmli (1970)Citation. Silver staining followed Merril et al (1981)Citation. Endoglucanases in gels were visualized by activity staining after renaturation in situ, as described in Hill (1996)Citation. Analytical isoelectric focusing was performed in 0.5-cm x 10-cm tube gels according to BioRad Technical Bulletin 1030 (1975). Gel cylinders were cut into 0.5-cm slices and eluted overnight in 2 mL of 10 mM KCl, after which pH and endoglucanase activity (viscometric) were determined for each eluate.

The pH optimum of the isolated enzyme was determined viscometrically using isoionic (50 mM) buffers in order to avoid changes in viscometric flow rate due to differences in buffer ionic strength. The buffers and their pH ranges were: HCl-glutamic acid, pH 4–5; HCl-histidine, pH 5–6; NaOH-PIPES, pH 6–7.5; HCl-Tris, pH 7.5–9; NaOH-glycine, pH 9–10. The reaction temperature optimum was determined by incubating the enzyme in the reaction mixture used for viscometric assays for 30 min at the temperatures shown in Fig. 7, followed by boiling for 10 min to stop the reaction. Samples were then brought to 30 C, and the differences in the viscometric flow rates of parallel treated and control samples (without enzyme) for each temperature were used to calculate enzyme activity. Temperature stability of the enzyme was determined viscometrically after incubation of replicate enzyme samples in column buffer at the temperatures and for the times indicated in Fig. 8.



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 FIG. 7. Effect of reaction temperature on activity of purified 32-kDa endoglucanase. Error bars are ± one standard deviation

 


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 FIG. 8. Thermostability of 32-kDa endoglucanase. Activity is measured after preincubation at the temperatures and for the times indicated. Error bars are ± one standard deviation

 
Enzyme activity against a range of potential substrates, including Achlya cell walls and cell wall fractions (listed in Tables I and II), was determined reductimetrically. For polymeric substrates, reaction mixtures (25 µL of enzyme, 50 µL of water, and 425 µL of 20 mM PIPES buffer, pH 6.75, containing 1% substrate) were incubated for 1 h at 35 C, and the release of reducing sugars was measured with the neocuproine reagent (Dygert et al 1965Citation) using glucose as a standard. Activity against the ß-glucosidase substrate p-phenyl-ß-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG) was assayed in a total volume of 125 µL, containing 13-mM pNPG and 16-mM pH 6.75 PIPES buffer for 2 h at 35 C. The reaction was stopped by adding 200 µL of 200-mM Na2CO3, and absorbance was read at 410 nm. A molar extinction coefficient of 18 000 was employed.


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TABLE I. Subtrate specificity of purified 32-kDa endoglucanase

 

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TABLE II. Activity of purified 32-kDa endoglucanase against fractions of Achlya hyphal cell walls

 
The response of the isolated glucanase to potential inhibitors (listed in Table III) was determined reductimetrically using CMC as the substrate. Inhibitor stocks (10x) were added to the reaction mixture in place of an equal volume of water. When measuring the effect of D-gluconic acid lactone, a stronger buffer (100 mM PIPES) and a shortened incubation time (30 min) were used in order to compensate for the rapid acid-generating decomposition of the reagent in aqueous solution. The enzyme's endohydrolytic vs. exohydrolytic mode of action was determined by comparing the rate of decrease in relative viscosity to the rate of production of reducing equivalents using CMC or Avena glucan as the substrate.


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TABLE III. Effects of metal ions and chemical reagents on activity of purified endoglucanase

 
For N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis, the purified endoglucanase was concentrated using a 5000 MWCO Ultrafree®-4 centrifugal filter unit (Millipore Corp, Bedford, Massachusetts), electrophoresed, and electroblotted onto 0.45-µm pore-size PVDF membranes (Pall Gelman Sciences Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan) in a Hoefer TE-22 electrotransfer apparatus (Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, New Jersey). N-terminal sequence analysis was performed with a Procise-cLC automated sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, California) through contract with the Center for BioTechnology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis, Tennessee). The resulting sequence information was used to conduct a similarity analysis to sequences in on-line databases, using the BLAST protein database search program (Altschul et al 1997Citation).

Reagents – Achlya cell walls were isolated and fractionated into HCl-soluble (ß-[1,3–1,6]-glucan), NaOH-soluble (ß-[1,3–1,4]-glucan with occasional [1,6] side branches), and residual fractions (principally cellulose) by the methods of Reiskind and Mullins (1981a)Citation. In addition, we used wall fractions kindly provided by Drs. J. B. Reiskind and J. T. Mullins. Phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose (PASC) was prepared from cellulose powder type CF 11 (Whatman Intl. Ltd., Maidstone, England) by the method of Walseth (1952)Citation. Chitosan and pustulan were purchased from Calbiochem (San Diego, California). CMC (type 7-MF) was a gift of Aqualon Co. (Wilmington, Delaware). Ampholytes were from BioRad Laboratories (Hercules, California). Avena glucan was purchased from the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota (St. Paul, Minnesota). All other reagents were from Sigma Chemical Company (St. Louis, Missouri).


    RESULTS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 LITERATURE CITED
 
The glucanase activity of concentrated 7-d culture supernatants separated into two peaks in Sephadex G-150 gel exclusion chromatography (Fig. 1), which are numbered E-II and E-III in accordance with Hill (1996)Citation. At this culture age, activity of the target isoenzyme is found in peak E-III (Fig. 2A, lane 2). In preparative isoelectric focusing (Fig. 3), the pooled E-III activity resolved as a single broad peak, with highest activity in fractions having pH's close to 4.8. The only glucanase activity in the fractions between pH 4.5 and 5.0 was that of the target enzyme (Fig. 2A, lane 3). Activity from these desalted fractions bound to the ion exchange resin and was eluted at a gradient concentration of approximately 20 mM NaCl (Fig. 4). The final sample contained a single band in SDS-PAGE having an estimated molecular mass under reducing conditions (silver stain) of approximately 32 kDa and under nonreducing conditions (silver stain or activity stain) of approximately 25 kDa (Fig. 2A, lanes 4 and 5). A partial amino acid sequence of the 45 N-terminal residues was determined to be: DIXTG IAPSS YSTAV QTNSQ FQPAI DELKK HSVAT TYVXN NGNSI.



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 FIG. 1. Gel chromatographic separation of endoglucanase activity from culture filtrates of 7-d cultures of A. ambisexualis grown under osmotic stress. Peaks E-II and E-III are labeled after Hill (1996)Citation. The E-III fraction (Mr ca 25 kDa) was selected for further isolation

 


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 FIG. 2. SDS-PAGE of fractions from representative purification steps. (A) Silver-stained proteins denatured without (lanes 1–4) and with (lane 5) boiling and reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. Numbers on the right mark the positions of molecular weight standards (kDa). (B) Activity-stained proteins, denatured without boiling and reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. Lane 1, whole medium concentrate; lane 2, gel chromatographic peak E-III; lane 3, isoelectric focusing peak; lanes 4 and 5, final fractions after ion exchange chromatography. Numbers on the right indicate the apparent molecular mass (kDa) of the major activity bands

 


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 FIG. 3. Separation of endoglucanase activity by preparative isoelectric focusing. Glucanase activity ({blacksquare}) and pH ({square}). Activity in fractions with pH's between 4.5 and 5.0 (delimited by dotted lines) was selected for further isolation

 


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 FIG. 4. Separation of endoglucanase activity by ion exchange chromatography. Glucanase activity ({blacksquare}) and NaCl gradient concentration ({square})

 
Although this investigation began with the expectation that the strong silver-stained band that co-migrates with the target endoglucanase activity (compare Lane 1 in Fig. 2A and B) represents the very same protein, in fact the great majority of the protein in the silver-stained band consists of a protease with a pI of about 6.7 (data not shown), which separates from the target endoglucanase during preparative isoelectric focusing. The protease's N-terminal sequence (IVGGT EVPVG QFKYI SGLRR GGGAT NXNGX GDGVH NGAK) shows similarity to various serine proteases of arthropods. This is probably the same "26-kDa protease" reported in a separate study by Hill and Pott (1997)Citation.

The isoelectric point of the purified endoglucanase was determined by analytical isoelectric focusing to be approximately 4.5 (Fig. 5). The reaction pH optimum is approximately 6.75 (Fig. 6) and the reaction temperature optimum is about 35 C (Fig. 7). The enzyme is reasonably stable during incubation at temperatures up to 25 C, while activity is rapidly lost at temperatures exceeding 45 C (Fig. 8). Upon extended storage at -20 C, activity declined with a half-life of approximately 75 d, even in the presence of 20% glycerol (data not shown). This decay could be avoided by storage at -80 C.



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 FIG. 5. Analytical isoelectric focusing of purified 32-kDa endoglucanase. Glucanase activity ({blacksquare}) and pH ({square})

 


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 FIG. 6. Effect of reaction pH on activity of purified 32-kDa endoglucanase. Error bars are ± one standard deviation

 
Of the potential substrates tested, significant activity was seen only against polymers containing ß-(1,4)-glucosyl linkages, either exclusively (CMC) or in combination with ß-(1,3) linkages (Avena glucan and lichenan) (Table I). No reducing equivalents were released from acid-swollen cellulose, however, despite its consisting entirely of ß-(1,4)-glucosyl residues. Among the Achlya cell wall fractions used as potential substrates (Table II), only the KOH-soluble component, containing principally stretches of ß-(1,4)- and ß-(1,3)-linked glucose residues (Reiskind and Mullins 1981aCitation), was hydrolyzed. Results using the wall fractions generated in this study were comparable to those using extracts provided by Reiskind and Mullins.

The enzyme caused a rapid reduction in the viscosity of soluble substrates, while causing only a small increase in the number of reducing groups (Fig. 9). Under the conditions employed, the relative viscosity of CMC decreased by approximately 85%, while less than 1% of the estimated number of glucose equivalents in the substrate were released. The result for Avena glucan was similar.



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 FIG. 9. Time course of degradation of carboxymethylcellulose followed viscometrically ({square}) and reductimetrically ({blacksquare}). The data points obscure error bars

 
Potential enzyme inhibitors were employed at concentrations that have been reported to be effective against various known glucanases (Table III). Of those tested only the tryptophan-binding agent NBS was strongly inhibitory, resulting in complete suppression of activity. The thiol-binding agents Hg2+, HMBA, and NEM also achieved partial but noteworthy inhibition. The ions Mn2+ and Ca2+ also showed partial inhibition. None of the treatments caused significant stimulation.


    DISCUSSION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 LITERATURE CITED
 
Older (7-d) cultures were used in this study only in order to accumulate high enough levels of the target enzyme to support its isolation. The glucanolytic polypeptides present in filtrates of older cultures are of the same electrophoretic types as those that are released during active growth (Hill 1996Citation). Glucanase activity is not released from cultures that are no longer growing (Hill and Mullins 1979Citation).

Hill (1996)Citation originally reported the molecular mass of the glucanase isolated in this study to be 24 kDa, based upon its mobility in electrophoretic activity stains (under nonreducing conditions) and gel filtration. As shown in lane 5 of Fig. 2A, however, the molecule migrates as a 32-kDa protein under reducing conditions, and this is taken as the polypeptide's true molecular mass. Such a discrepancy is often observed with proteins whose tertiary structures are very compact and are stabilized by one or more disulfide bonds (Owen et al 1980Citation).

Although a considerable amount of N-terminal sequence information was obtained (43 of the first 45 residues), no significant sequence similarity was found to any already-characterized protein in the databases. This may reflect the unique phylogeny of the oomycetes, which are little studied and evolutionarily distinct from plants, animals, and fungi (Cavalier-Smith 1986Citation). We are unaware of any other published sequence information for oomycete glucanases, against which to compare. Overall, the basic physical properties of the Achlya 32-kDa glucanase (molecular weight, pI, pH optimum, and temperature optimum) lie easily within the range of values shown by other glucanases from plants and microbes, including those thought to play morphogenetic roles. However these data do not suggest affinities to any specific physiological class of glucanases, since, with the possible exception of a tendency for plant abscission cellulases to have a highly alkaline pI (e.g., Sexton et al 1990Citation), no consistent set of physical characters unites glucanases playing common metabolic roles. Physical characteristics reported for the Phytophthora endo-(1,4)-ß-glucanase (Bodenmann et al 1985Citation) are: MW = 21 kDa, pHopt = 6.0, pI = 3.2, and Topt = undetermined. These data fail to indicate any obvious similarity between the two proteins.

The 32-kDa glucanase's pH optimum of 6.75 is in excellent agreement with the optimum observed for assimilative growth in aquatic oomycetes (Powell et al 1972Citation). The narrowness of the curve suggests the possibility that activity in vivo could be regulated by local pH changes in the manner observed for auxin-induced wall loosening in higher plants (Rayle and Cleland 1992Citation). However in Achlya only minimal differences in extracellular pH have been measured between growing and non-growing regions of a hypha (Gow et al 1984Citation), and there is no evidence to suggest that wall loosening in oomycetes or fungi may be regulated in such a way.

The enzyme's endohydrolytic mode of action (i.e., more or less random cleavage at interior sites in the polymer, rather than release of disaccharides from the nonreducing end) is indicated by its considerably greater effect upon substrate viscosity than upon the release of reducing equivalents (Brummel et al 1994) and by its insensitivity to the inhibitors deoxynojirimycin and gluconolactone, which principally inhibit exoglucanases and ß-glucosidases, respectively, at the concentrations employed (Reese et al 1971Citation). The complete inhibition of activity by NBS suggests the presence of at least one essential tryptophan residue, most likely located at the active site in a substrate-binding or catalytic role (Macarrón et al 1995Citation). Although the effect of NBS has been reported for only a minority of plant and microbial glucanases, to our knowledge all that have been tested have proven to be highly sensitive to this reagent, possibly indicating a conserved mode of action among at least some types of endoglucanases.

The partial sensitivity to the inhibitors NEM, Hg2+, and HMBA suggests the existence of at least one important sulfhydryl group (Ozaki and Ito 1991Citation), though not one essential to activity under the reaction conditions employed. The absence of inhibition by either EDTA or EGTA indicates that no divalent cations are required. Aside from the thiol-inhibitor Hg2+, the only other tested ions that had significant effects upon activity were Mn2+ and Ca2+, both of which were mildly inhibitory. Patterns of ion inhibition and of sensitivity to sulfhydryl-binding agents vary greatly among plant and microbial glucanases, and their significance, if any, is not understood.

Of more likely significance is the enzyme's strong substrate specificity towards soluble glucans containing ß-(1,4) linkages (Table II). The complete absence of activity against the insoluble homopolymer PASC is surprising since enzymes active against CMC normally also hydrolyze amorphous swollen cellulose (Goyal et al 1991Citation). However, precedents for inactivity of CMCases against PASC do exist (e.g., Hatfield and Nevins 1986Citation, Ozaki and Ito 1991Citation). Activity against the KOH-soluble, but not the HCl-soluble, fraction of Achlya walls (Table III) is consistent with the presence of ß-(1,4) linkages in the former and their absence in the latter (Reiskind and Mullins 1981aCitation). Lack of action against the residual wall fraction most likely reflects the insoluble crystalline nature of its cellulose component. The enzyme's failure to show measurable activity against whole wall fragments, despite their content of KOH-soluble glucan, suggests that these polymers are less accessible when associated with other wall components. It is possible then, that effective hydrolysis of this wall fraction in situ requires either the cooperation of still further kinds of enzymes (the 32 kDa glucanase is, after all, but one of several associated with wall softening in Achlya) or conditions not replicated in our experiments.

The KOH-soluble mixed-linkage glucan of Achlya walls is thought to participate in cross-linking of the wall's crystalline cellulose microfibrils (Reiskind and Mullins 1981bCitation), thus functioning in the same manner as the matrix components of the higher plant cell wall. Wall matrix components, rather than cellulose microfibrils, are assumed to be the sites of action of the plasticizing agents envisioned in models of wall loosening in higher plants (e.g., Carpita and Gibeaut 1993Citation, Rose and Bennett 1999Citation), both because the loose structure of matrix components should make them more accessible to enzyme action and because experimental observations have shown growth-related degradation of matrix molecules (reviewed in Cosgrove 1999Citation). By its ability to hydrolyze linkages in the KOH-soluble matrix component of the Achlya cell wall, the 32-kDa endoglucanase described in this study seems well suited to participate in the wall-modifying role that has been proposed for the suite of glucanases secreted during branching and accommodation to osmotic stress.


    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
We thank Drs. J. B. Reiskind and J. T. Mullins (University of Florida) for the gift of Achlya wall fractions and for helpful advice regarding replication of their methods. This work was supported by funds provided by Research Corporation award CC3985, Buckman Laboratories International, Inc. (Memphis, Tennessee), and Rhodes College.


    FOOTNOTES
 
1 Corresponding author, hill{at}rhodes.edu Back

Accepted for publication May 31, 2002.


    LITERATURE CITED
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 LITERATURE CITED
 
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