Production, purification, and characterization of a highly glucose-tolerant novel beta-glucosidase from Candida peltata

The beta-glucosidase produced and purified from Candida peltata hydrolyzes cellobiose, shows a synergistic interaction with cellulase and has high glucose tolerance. The enzyme is a monomeric protein with a molecular weight of 43,000, and has maximum activity at 50 degrees celsius and 5.0 pH. The beta-glucosidase has little transglucosylation activity. Divalent cations are unessential for the enzymatic activity which is unaffected by p-chloromercuribenzoate.