RESUMO
An extracellular ß-glucosidase from Fusaruim solani cultivated on wheat bran was purified by only two chromatographic steps. The purified enzyme exhibited optimal temperature and pH at 60 °C and pH 5, respectively. The purified ß-glucosidase behaves as a very large protein due to its high degree of glycosylation. More interestingly, the endoglycosidase H (Endo H) treatment led to 97.55% loss of its initial activity after 24 h of treatment. Besides, the addition of Tunicamycin (nucleoside antibiotic blocking the N-glycosylation first step) during the culture of the fungus affected seriously the glycosylation of the enzyme. Both treatments (endo H and Tunicamycin) strengthened the idea that the hyperglycosylation is involved in the ß-glucosidase activity and thermostability. This enzyme was also shown to belong to class III of ß-glucosidases (multi-specific) since it was able to act on either cellobiose, gentiobiose or sophorose which are disaccharide composed of two units of D-glucose connected by ß1-4, ß1-6 and ß1-2 linkage, respectively. The ß-glucosidase activity was strongly enhanced by ferrous ion (Fe2+) and high ionic strength (1 M KCl). The purified enzyme exhibited an efficient transglycosylation capacity allowing the synthesis of cellotriose and cellotetraose using cellobiose as donor.