PURIFICATION AND SOME PROPERTIES OF A BETA-XYLOSIDASE AND AN ALPHA-FUCOSIDASE FROM APPLE SNAILS (POMACEA-CANALICULATA)

beta-Xylosidase and alpha-fucosidase were purified from the viscera of apple snails (Pomacea canaliculata) using ammonium sulfate precipitat ion, hydrophobic chromatography on Butyl-Toyopearl, gel filtration on Sephacryl S-300, and Q-Sepharose column chromatography, beta-Xylosidas e and alpha-fucosidase are glycoproteins and their molecular masses we re estimated to be approximately 85 kDa and 54 kDa by SDS-polyacrylami de gel electrophoresis, and assumed to be about 96 kDa and 230 kDa fro m their sedimentation coefficients, respectively, indicating that the former is a monomer and the latter has a tetrameric structure, beta-Xy losidase is stable at pH 4-10 and its optimum pH toward pNP-beta-D-xyl oside is around 3.6 while alpha-fucosidase is fairly stable at 65 degr ees C and pH 4-10, and its optimum pHs toward pNP-alpha-L-fucoside are around 3.2 and 5.2, beta-Xylosidase released a xylose residue from Xy l beta 1 --> 2Man beta 1 --> 4GlcNAc beta 1 --> 4(Fuc alpha 1 --> 3)Gl cNAc-PA and Man alpha 1 --> 6(Man alpha 1 --> 3)(Xyl beta 1 --> 2)Man beta 1 --> 4GlcNAc beta 1 --> 4(Fuc alpha 1 --> 3)GlcNAc-PA, but not f rom GlcNAc beta 1 --> 2Man alpha 1 --> 6(GlcNAc beta 1 --> 2Man alpha 1 --> 3)(Xyl beta 1 --> 2)Man beta 1 --> 4GlcNAc beta 1 --> 4(Fuc alph a 1 --> 3)GlcNAc-PA, while alpha-fucosidase released a fucose residue from these three PA-oligosaccharides.