Subcellular Fractionation of a Hypercellulolytic Mutant, Trichoderma Reesei Rut-C30: Localization of Endoglucanase in Microsomal Fraction

The growing mycelia of Trichoderma reesei Rut-C30 are richly endowed with endoplasmic reticula and a variety of pleomorphic subcellular bodies. Mycelia of the culture growing in presence of avicel pH101 was fractionated in sucrose density gradients, and several morphologically and biochemically distinct fractions were isolated. Mycelia were homogenized in a Bead Beater, and the homogenate was freed of nucleus and wall fragments by low-speed centrifugation before fractionation. Organelle-free cytosol, which did not penetrate the gradient, contained (of the total) 72% of the vanadate-sensitive ATPase, 26% of carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase), 2% of cytochrome c reductase, and 13% of the protein. Significant fractions separated on a gradient were light vesicles containing heavily stained material inside and ribosomes attached to the outside surface, intact vesicles resembling condensing vacuoles, large vesicles derived from the plasma membrane, and heavy vesicles containing crystalline material. The light-vesicle fraction contained a large portion of the cell-bound CMCase activity. The particle-bound ATPase and cytochrome c reductase activities were concentrated in heavy fractions. The fractionation in the presence of MgCl2 improved the preservation of subcellular bodies derived from the endoplasmic reticula. Although the CMCase activity of the light-vesicle fraction was 4 times higher than the activity in the heavy-vesicle fraction, the CMCase antibody-binding capacities of both fractions were about the same. This discrepancy between the catalytic activity and the antibody-binding capacity suggests that the heavy vesicles might have contained considerable amount of inactive CMCase compared with that present in the light vesicles.