BGL7 beta-glucosidase and nucleic acids encoding the same

An isolated polynucleotide that hybridizes under high stringency conditions to the sequence of SEQ ID NO:

• 4, or the full complement thereof, wherein said isolated polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide having the biological activity of a beta-glucosidase 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.

An expression construct comprising a polynucleotide sequence (i) encoding an amino acid sequence having beta-glucosidase activity and having at least 98% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:

• 2, or (ii) being the full complement to a nucleotide sequence encoding a beta-glucosidase having at least 98% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:
• 2.

A recombinant host cell comprising a deletion or insertion or other alteration in the bgl7 gene encoded by the host cell, wherein said gene encodes a beta-glucosidase polypeptide having at least 98% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, wherein said deletion or insertion or other alteration-inactivates the gene and prevents BGL7 polypeptide production.

An antisense oligonucleotide complementary to a messenger RNA that encodes a BGL7 polypeptide having the sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, wherein said oligonucleotide inhibits the production of β-glucosidase by said host cell.