Analysis of DNA Sequence Coding for a Partial Cellobiohydrolase Gene from Aspergillus terreus SUK-1

Cellulolytic enzymes are generally composed of multienzyme systems and are divided into three classes, endoglucanase, exoglucanase and ?-glucosidase. They work synergistically to hydrolyze cellulose molecules to glucose. Fungal exoglucanase (CBH) is a unique enzyme, capable of degrading highly ordered crystalline cellulose. Here we report the isolation of both genomic and cDNA clone and coding for a partial exoglucanase gene from Aspergillus terreus SUK-1. Two oligonucleotide primers were synthesised based on conserved regions of CBH genes information obtained from database which act as specific primers for gene amplification. PCR amplification was done on both genomic DNA and cDNA. The reactions amplified approximately 538 bp nucleotides from genomic DNA and 486 bp from cDNA which were then sequenced. The sequences were analysed using various platforms such as BLASTX, BLASTN, PSI-BLAST and Pfam. Both genomic and cDNA sequences showed high similarity towards exoglucanase gene and protein from various type of microorganisms. When scanned against Pfam, a high match to glycosyl hydrolase family 7 was observed. Analysis of the genomic sequence showed that it contains a 52 bp intron