Side chain reactivities of glucoamylase G2 from Aspergillus niger evaluated by group-specific chemical modifications

Treatment of glucoamylase G2 with large excesses of different group specific reagents resulted in modification of 25% of the histidyl, 15% of the tyrosyl, 20-40% of the arginyl, 30-50% of the lysyl and none of the methionyl residues. The modified groups were not critical since the various derivatives possessed from 50% to 100% residual enzymatic activity and retained the thermostability. Carboxamidomethylation occurred specifically at His254 with essentially no change of the kinetic parameters for hydrolysis of maltose and starch. Removal of the two N-linked sugar units by endoglycosidase H was similarly without effect on activity, thermostability and chemical reactivity of the histidyl residues. H(+)-titration revealed that glucoamylase G2 carries a lower net charge throughout the pH-range 3-11 than predicted from its amino acid composition.