Purification and characterization of beta-glucosidase from honey bees (Apis mellifera)

beta-glucosidase has been purified from the ventriculus and honey sac of Apis mellifera using a combination of anion- and cation-exchange, hydroxyapatite and gel-permeation chromatography. In addition, beta-glucosidase from the hypopharyngeal glands has been partially purified using anion-exchange and gel-permeation chromatography. The purified beta-glucosidase gave a positive result by glycoprotein staining. This beta-glucosidase consists of only one subunit and has M(r) of 72 kDa as determined by SDS-PAGE. IEF-PAGE showed several bands with pIs ranging from 4.5 to 4.8. These multiform proteins have been proposed as having different degrees of glycosylation. The pH optimum of the purified beta-glucosidase from the ventriculus and honey sac are 5.0. These enzymes were stable at temperatures up to 50 degrees C and have a relatively wide pH stability range of 4.0 to 9.0. MALDI-TOF-MS peptide mass maps of purified beta-glucosidase from the ventriculus, honey sac and hypopharyngeal glands showed six matching masses. These results indicate that the beta-glucosidase isolated from the hypopharyngeal glands, honey sac and ventriculus is the same. It is proposed that beta-glucosidase is produced in the hypopharyngeal glands, secreted into the mouth during feeding and then passes to the honey sac. From the honey sac, this enzyme is transferred into honeycomb cells and the ventriculus.