Comparison of fungal glucose oxidases. Chemical, physicochemical and immunological studies.

Glucose oxidases (beta-D-glucose:oxygen 1-oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.3.4) from two fungal genera (Aspergillus and Penicillium) were studied chemically, physicochemically and immunologically to elucidate the similarities and dissimilarities between these enzymes. Investigation of circular dichroism spectra revealed that these enzymes proteins possess essentially identical conformations. However, differences found in thermal inactivation parameters, catalytic parameters and quantitative immunological reactivities indicate that these enzymes must have some minor but distinct variations in their structures. Interestingly, it was observed that the Penicillium enzyme cross-reacted with the antiserum against the Aspergillus enzyme with an association constant of two orders of magnitude lower than that of the Aspergillus enzyme, and that the precipitin one of the Penicillium enzyme fused together with that of the Aspergillus enzyme in the immunodouble diffusion test. These results lead to the conclusion that these enzymes are closely related but not completely identical, and suggest that they might have evolved from a common ancestral precursor.