Endothia parasitica (Murr.) P. J. & H. E. Anderson (syn:
Cryphonectria parasitica(Murr.) Barr), the causal agent of
chestnut blight, was able to grow in total aqueous and tannin
extracts from blight-susceptible American chestnut as well as
in blight-resistant Chinese chestnut bark extracts, from
winter and summer bark. Differences in the amount of conidial
germination and growth in extracts of the two species were
small. The, E. parasitica tannase was more abundant
intracellularly than extracellularly. Total tannase activities
from cultures in American chestnut aqueous and tannin extracts
were greater than in the Chinese chestnut extracts, for both
winter and summer bark.
The tannase was isolated from the mycelium of E.
parasitica and purified 142-fold with a 10% yield by anion
exchange chromatography and gel filtration. The estimated
molecular weight was 240 kD and the molecule may be a tetramer
composed of four subunits with a molecular weight of 58 kD.
The pH optimum of the purified tannase was 5.5 and the
temperature optimum for activity was 30 C. The enzyme was
separated into six bands in the pH range of 4.6 to 5.1 which
may represent isoenzymes or post-translational modifications.
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