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Metabolism and Enzymology

Purification and Characterization of Abundant Secreted Protein in Suspension-Cultured Pumpkin Cells ¹

Abundant Secreted Protein May Be a Chitinase

Faculty of Applied Biological Science, Hiroshima University, Saijo, Higashi-Hiroshima, 724 Japan

The abundant secreted protein with molecular weight of 32,000 was purified from the culture medium of suspension-cultured pumpkin (Cucurbita sp.) cells. Two steps, ammonium sulfate fractionation and Sepharose 6B column chromatography, were sufficient for purification to homogeneity. Antibodies against the pure protein were used to show that a protein of the same size is made by callus cells. There is considerable homology between the amino-terminal amino acid sequence of this secreted protein and chitinase isolated from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) or bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.).

¹ This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 01760076) from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan.