A 1,3-β-glucanosyltransferase isolated from the cell wall of Aspergillus fumigatus is a homologue of the yeast Bgl2p

A 1,3-beta-gtucanosyltransferase which introduces intrachain 1,6-beta linkages into 1,3-beta-glucan was isolated from the cell wall of Aspergillus fumigatus. The biochemical and molecular characterization of the A. fumigatus transferase showed it was homologous to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans transferase Bg12p. A null mutant constructed in A. fumigatus by gene replacement did not show a distinct phenotype from the parental strain. The putative function of this major cell-wail-associated protein is discussed.