The presence of isoforms of β-glucosidase has been reported in some grasses such as sorghum, rice and maize. This work aims to extract and characterize isoform II in β-glucosidase from S. edule. A crude extract was prepared without buffer solution and adjusted to pH 4.6. Contaminating proteins were precipitated at 4 °C for 24 h. The supernatant was purified by chromatography on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) column, molecular exclusion on Sephacryl S-200HR, and exchange anionic on QFF column. Electrophoretic analyzes revealed a purified enzyme with aggregating molecular complex on SDS-PAGE, Native-PAGE, and AU-PAGE. Twelve peptides fragments were identified by nano liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nano LC-ESI-MS/MS), which presented as 61% identical to Cucurbita moschata β-glucosidase and 55.74% identical to β-glucosidase from Cucumis sativus, another Cucurbitaceous member. The relative masses which contained 39% hydrophobic amino acids ranged from 982.49 to 2,781.26. The enzyme showed a specificity to β-d-glucose with a Km of 4.59 mM, a Vmax value of 104.3 μM∙min-1 and a kcat of 10,087 μM∙min-1 using p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside. The presence of molecular aggregates can be attributed to non-polar amino acids. This property is not mediated by a β-glucosidase aggregating factor (BGAF) as in grasses (maize and sorghum). The role of these aggregates is discussed.
Keywords: Cucurbitaceae; Sechium edule; aggregating protein; β-glucosidase.