Purification of ß-glucosidases from Pichia etchellsii using CIM monolith columns

β-Glucosidases (EC 3.2.1.21) are industrially important glycosyl hydrolases used for cellulose saccharification as well as for synthesis of glyco-conjugates. Crystal structure of only one β-glucosidase of family 3 of the glycosyl hydrolase families is available due to difficulty in purification of these closely related enzymes from a given source. Multiple steps used during purification result in low yield, making it difficult to study their properties. Conditions for purification of two closely related β-glucosidases (BGL I and BGL II) of family 3 from Pichia etchellsii were investigated in this study. Two weak anion exchange columns convective interaction media-diethyl amino ethyl (CIM-DEAE) and CIM-ethylenediamine (CIM-EDA) were used for this purpose. The results obtained at 0.34 ml disk (CIM-DEAE) level were scaled up to 8 ml CIM-DEAE tube column wherein BGL I and BGL II were separated from the major contaminants in the cell-free extract. The recovered enzymes were completely resolved in the second step using CIM-EDA. A final specific activity of 9,180 IU/mg and 2,345.3 IU/mg was achieved for BGL I and BGL II respectively with an overall yield of 33%. The system should be applicable to resolution of other closely related enzymes from this family.