Purification, characterization, and cDNA cloning of rice class III chitinase.

Several chitinases were expressed in a rice cell suspension culture and detected in the medium. One of them, designated as RCB4, was isolated 248 fold from the culture filtrate to homogeneity by 70% ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-cellulose, CM-cellulose, Sephadex G-75 column chromatography, and native gel slicing. RCB4 had a molecular mass of 32 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The optimum temperature was 40 degrees C, and 96% of its activity still remained at 60 degrees C. The optimum pH was 4, and 95% of its activity was maintained at pH 2. Using a substrate (GlcNAc)6, the Km and Vmax values of RCB4 were 0.53 mM and 11.1 mM/min, respectively. The N-terminal and internal amino acid sequences of RCB4 were determined to be VNSNLFRDYIGA and MALWA, respectively. A cDNA (C12523) clone that contained the N-terminal and internal amino acid sequences of RCB4 was obtained, sequenced, and renamed RCB41. RCB41 encoded 307 amino acid protein with a signal peptide of 25 amino acids and showed a 45% similarity to gladiolus chitinase GBC-a, one of the class III chitinase family. The expression of RCB4l in E. coli showed that RCB41 encodes a chitinase.