Molecular cloning and expression of the nag1 gene (N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase-encoding gene) from Trichoderma harzianum P1

A 72-kDa N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase was purified from the mycoparasitic fungus Trichoderma harzianum P1; antibodies were raised against it, and aa-sequences were obtained. The antibody reacted with a single 72-kDa protein band in culture filtrates of T. harzianum grown on chitin, and was subsequently used to clone the corresponding nag1 gene from a lambdagt11 cDNA expression library. It was interrupted by two short introns and encoded a protein of 580 amino acids. The deduced protein sequence contained aa-sequence areas of high similarity to N-acetyl-glucosaminidases from other eukaryotes such as Candida albicans, and invertebrate and vertebrate animal tissues. The highest similarity was observed with the corresponding gene from the silkworm. The aa-sequence of a tryptic fragment of purified N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase from T. harzianum corresponded to a deduced aa sequence from a portion of the cloned gene, thus verifying that the protein is encoded by nag 1. Southern analysis showed that nag 1 is present as a single-copy gene in T. harzianum. Expression of nag1-mRNA was strongly induced upon growth on chitin, N-acetyl-glucosamine and the cell walls of Botrytis cinerea used as a carbon source. The appearance of the corresponding N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase protein, as determined by Western analysis, paralleled the pattern of nag 1 expression, thereby suggesting that its formation is regulated at the level of transcription.