A plant class V chitinase from a cycad (Cycas revoluta): Biochemical characterization, cDNA isolation, and posttranslational modification

Chitinase-A (CrChi-A) was purified from leaf rachises of Cycas revoluta by several steps of column chromatography. It was found to be a glycoprotein with a molecular mass of 40 kDa and an isoelectric point of 5.6. CrChi-A produced mainly (GlcNAc)(3) from the substrate (GlcNAc)(6) through a retaining mechanism. More interestingly, CrChi-A exhibited transglycosylation activity, which has not been observed in plant chitinases investigated so far. A cDNA encoding CrChi-A was cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends and polymerase chain reaction procedures. It consisted of 1399 nucleotides and encoded an open reading frame of 387-amino-acid residues. Sequence analysis indicated that CrChi-A belongs to the group of plant class V chitinases. From peptide mapping and mass spectrometry of the native and recombinant enzyme, we found that an N-terminal signal peptide and a C-terminal extension were removed from the precursor (M1-A387) to produce a mature N-glycosylated protein (Q24-G370). This is the first report on a plant chitinase with transglycosylation activity and posttranslational modification of a plant class V chitinase.