Harvested mycelia were ground into fine powder and resuspended in 0.1 M Bicine buffer (pH 8) containing protease inhibitors (2 μM leupeptin, 1 μM pepstatin A, and 10 μM PMSF) (0.3 g mycelia/mL). The suspension was sonicated using a Sonifier ® 250 Cell Disruptor (Branson, Danbury, US) (power 40%, duty cycle 50%, power 20 sec, 40 sec pause, 10 cycles). Insoluble compounds were separated using centrifugation (10 min, 13000 g, 4°C). Enzymatic analysis was performed according to a previously described modified protocol [33] . The assay was performed in a total volume of 100 μL containing 10 mM GlcNAc, 10 mM PEP, 12.5 mM MnCl 2 , 100 mM Bicine buffer (pH 8) and 40 μL cell-free extract. Reactions were incubated for 60 min at 37°C, terminated at 85°C for 10 min and analyzed using HPLC. As a positive control, 5 μL of both GST fusion proteins were applied in place of the cell-free extracts.