Polygalacturonase produced in apple tissue decayed by Botrytis cinerea.

An exo-polygalacturonase with an isoelectric point of 4.6 and an apparent molecular weight of 45 kDa was isolated from apple tissue decayed by Botrytis cinerea. This isozyme had a similar isoelectric point, optimum pH, and mode of action as an isozyme produced in liquid culture by B. cinerea. The enzyme produced in the decayed tissue was less sensitive to lower pH and less inhibited by CaCl2, MgCl2, or NaCl than the enzyme produced in culture. Such changes in the properties of the enzyme produced in infected tissue could have been essential for the pathogen's successful colonization of the host tissue. Among the cations studied, calcium was the best inhibitor of PG activity.