Enzymatic Breakdown of Dextran

Enzymatic synthesis of dextran.

Dextran, a glucose polymer composed predominantly of ol-1,6-glucopyranosidic linkages, is produced from sucrose by Leuconostoc mesenteroides and related organisms and from dextrins by other bacteria (see the review by Hehre (1)). Conversion of sucrose to dextran is catalyzed by an enzyme, dextransucrase, elaborated by the organisms. Dextransucrase preparations as culture filtrates (2, 3) or as ...

Enzymatic Synthesis and Breakdown

Considerable evidence has accumulated from studies in vivo and with tissue slices indicating that erotic acid (4-carboxyuracil), or a closely related compound, is a precursor of the pyrimidines in nucleic acid (l-6). In order to study the pathway of erotic acid metabolism at the enzymatic level, a source material capable of metabolizing large amounts of erotic acid was sought. Such a system was...

Enzymatic Breakdown of Threonine by Threonine Aldolase

1. The enzyme which splits threonine to acetaldehyde and glycine has been partially purified from rat liver (five- to sixfold purification) and the name threonine aldolase proposed for it. 2. The general properties of threonine aldolase have been studied. The enzyme is unstable to a pH below 5. The pH optimum of the enzyme reaction is at 7.5-7.7. The initial rate of production of acetaldehyde i...

Studies on the enzymatic systhesis of dextran from sucrose.

The syntheses of dextrans (l-5) and levans (6-10) from sucrose by enzymes from certain bacteria and the syntheses of glycogens and starches from glucose-l-phosphate by phosphorylases from yeast (11) and animal (12-15) and plant (16, 17) tissues have a fundamental point of similarity in that, with all of them, the substrate contains the basic unit of the final polymer product in the form of a gl...

Enzymatic breakdown of citrate in the absence of coenzyme A.