Vol. 136, No. 2, 1986 BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS April 29, 1986 Pages 563-569 a-L-FUCOSIDASE FROM ASPERGILLUS NIGER: DEMONSTRATION OF A NOVEL a-L-(l-+6)-FUCOSIDASE ACTING ON GLYCOPEPTIDES SHIN YAZAWA, RAGUPATHY MADIYALAKAN, RAMANIK P. CHAWDA, AND KHUSHI L. MATTA* Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263 Received March 10, 1986 An a-L-fucosidase which hydrolyzes fucose from a-(l-+6)-linkage to E-acetylglucosamine was found in Aspergillus niger. The enzyme was purified by affinity chromatography with bovine IgG glycopeptide- Sepharose 4B. The enzyme preparation released fucose from bovine IgG glycopeptide and fucosylated asialoagalactofetuin, but failed to cleave l-+2, l-+3 or l-+4 linkages of a-L-fucosides. 0 1986 Academic Press, Inc. cl-L-Fucosidases have been demonstrated in many mammalian tissues and organs (l-6), invertebrates (7-12), microorganisms (13-16), and almond emulsin (17). The substrate specificities of these enzymes are different according to the origins. Although a-L-fucosidases that hydrolyze L-fucoses linked to C-2 of galactose and C-3, -4 or E-acetyl- glucosamine have been purified from mammalian (5) and non-mammalian (14-17) sources, an a-(1+6)-fucosidase that specifically hydrolyzes Fuc o-(1+6)- GlcNAc linkage has not yet been even demonstrated in any sources. Because of the association of the fucosylated glycoconjugates with tumors (18), availability of specific fucosidases that are capable of hydrolyzing all the individual fucosyl linkages are needed for the structural elucidation. For example, recently we needed a-(1 +6)-fucosidase for the characterization of fucosyl linkages present on the fucosylated ci-fetoprotein isolated from serum of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (19). In addition, * To whom all correspondence should be addressed. The abbreviations used are: Fuc, a-L-fucose; GlcNAc, 8-D-g-acetyl- glucosamine; Gal, 8-D-galactose; Xyl, 8-D-xylose; IgG, immunoglobulin G; PNP, p-nitrophenyl; ASF, asialo-fetuin; ASAGF, asialo-agalacto-fetuin. 0006-291X/86 $1.50 563 Copyright :F 1986 by Academic Press. Inc. A// rights IJ/ reprodwlion m any ./arm reserved.