EGVII endoglucanase and nucleic acids encoding the same

1. A polynucleotide isolated from a fungal source encoding an endoglucanase EGVII enzyme having endoglucanase activity selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a nucleic acid sequence which encodes or is a full length complement to a sequence which encodes an EGVII polypeptide having at least 98% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence presented in FIG. 2 comprising SEQ ID NO:3 and 2 as;

(b) a nucleic acid sequence which encodes or is a full length complement to a sequence which encodes an EGVII polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence presented in FIG. 2 comprising SEQ ID NO:3 and 2 as;

(c) a nucleic acid sequence which encodes or is a full length complement to a sequence which encodes an EGVII polypeptide having the amino acid sequence presented in FIG. 2 comprising SEQ ID NO:3 and 2 as;

(d) a nucleic acid sequence which encodes or is a full length complement to a sequence which encodes an EGVII polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:2;

(e) a nucleic acid sequence which encodes or is a full length complement to a sequence which encodes an EGVII polypeptide having the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:2; and

(f) a nucleic acid sequence SEQ ID NO:4, or the complement thereof; wherein % identity is calculated using the CLUSTAL-W program in MacVector version 6.5, operated with default parameters, including an open gap penalty of 10.0, an extended gap penalty of 0.1, and a BLOSUM 30 similarity matrix.

2. An Isolated polynucleotide that hybridizes under high stringency conditions to the polynucleotide sequence SEQ ID NO:4, or the full length complement thereof, wherein said isolated polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having the biological activity of an endoglucanase, wherein hybridization is conducted at 42° C. in 50% formamide, 6×SSC, 5×Denhardt's solution, 0.5% SDS and 100 μg/ml denatured carrier DNA followed by washing two times in 2×SSPE and 0.5% SDS at room temperature and two additional times in 0.1 SSPE and 0.5% SDS at 42° C.

3. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 , wherein said polynucleotide is an RNA molecule.

4. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 encoding an enzyme having endoglucanase activity, wherein the enzyme is isolated from a Trichoderma source.

5. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 4 , wherein the enzyme is isolated from Trichoderma reesei.

6. An expression construct comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence having endoglucanase activity and (i) having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:2, or (ii) being a full length complement to a nucleotide sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to the nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:2.

7. A vector comprising the expression construct of claim 6 .

8. A vector comprising an isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 , operably linked to control sequences recognized by a host cell transformed with the vector.

9. An isolated host cell transformed with the vector of claim 7 .

10. An isolated host cell transformed with the vector of claim 8 .

11. The host cell of claim 10 , which is a prokaryotic cell.

12. The host cell of claim 10 , which is a eukaryotic cell.

13. An isolated recombinant host cell comprising a polynucleotide of claim 1 .

14. The recombinant host cell of claim 13 , which is a prokaryotic cell.

15. The recombinant host cell of claim 13 , which is a eukaryotic cell.

16. A method of producing an enzyme having endoglucanase activity, comprising:

(a) stably transforming an isolated host cell with an expression vector comprising a polynucleotide as defined in claim 1 ;

(b) cultivating said transformed host cell under condition suitable for said host cell to produce said endoglucanase; and

(c) recovering said endoglucanase.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the host cell is a filamentous fungi or yeast cell.

18. An isolated recombinant host cell comprising a deletion or insertion or other alteration in the egl7 gene wherein said gene encodes an endoglucanase polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:3 and 2 as presented in FIG. 2 which inactivates the gene and prevents EGVII polypeptide production.

19. An antisense oligonucleotide complementary to a messenger RNA that encodes an EGVII polypeptide having the sequence SEQ ID NO:2, wherein upon exposure to a endoglucanase-producing host cell, said oligonucleotide inhibits the production of endoglucanase by said host cell.

20. The antisense oligonucleotide of claim 19 , wherein the host cell is a filamentous fungi.

21. A method of expressing a heterologous polypeptide having endoglucanase activity in an Aspergillus species, comprising:

(a) Providing a host Aspergillus with an expression vector comprising a polynucleotide encoding a signal sequence linked to a polynucleotide encoding the heterologous endoglucanase EGVII according to claim 1 , thereby encoding a chimeric polypeptide;

(b) Cultivating said host Aspergillus under conditions suitable for said Aspergillus to produce said chimeric polypeptide, wherein said heterologous polypeptide is produced.