Qualitative and quantitative changes in beta-1,4-glucosidase accompanying growth of Aspergillus nidulans

A comparative study of the wild type A. nidulans and a mutant strain aco-T69 (lacking conidia and cleistothecia) revealed the better production of beta-1,4-glucosidase in the former. The relative distribution of the enzyme levels in various morphological structures viz. somatic hyphae, spores and cleistothecia also showed a variation. Highest specific activity was found in the cleistothecial extracts. The electrophoretic analysis of the wild type strain demonstrated the presence of three isoenzymes of beta-1,4-glucosidase i.e. beta-GLU I, beta-GLU II and beta-GLU III, the number of which varies from one to three during the growth of the organism. The parallel study of the mutant strain showed complete absence of beta-GLU II. All three forms were present in the somatic hyphae and cleistothecial extracts while spore extracts depicted the absence of beta-GLU III in the wild type.