Eight isolates of cellulose-degrading bacteria (CDB) were isolated from four different invertebrates (termite, snail, caterpillar, and bookworm) by enriching the basal culture medium with filter paper as substrate for cellulose degradation. To indicate the cellulase activity of the organisms, diameter of clear zone around the colony and hydrolytic value on cellulose Congo Red agar media were me...

In industrial hydrolysis processes the lignocellulose-degrading enzymes may have a potential application as an alternative to chemical treatments because they produce high specificity, mild reaction conditions, no toxic chemical hydrolysis inhibitors, and no loss of substrate due to chemical modifications. The amounts of reducing sugars released from the degradation of wheat straw by the action...

Bioconversion of cellulose-containing substrate to glucose represents an important area of modern biotechnology. Enzymes for the degradation of the polysaccharide part of biomass have been produced, mostly by fungi belonging to genus Trichoderma. Studies were carried out with the mutant strain Trichoderma reesei-M7, a cellulase producer. Spores of the enzyme producer were irradiated with differ...

Studies on reconstituted mixtures of extensively purified cellobiohydrolases I and II and the five major endoglucanases of the fungus Penicillium pinophilum have provided some new information on the mechanism by which crystalline cellulose in the form of the cotton fibre is rendered soluble. It was observed that there was little or no synergistic activity either between purified cellobiohydrola...

The expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in xylan degradation and two endoglucanases involved in cellulose degradation was studied at the mRNA level in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger. A strain with a loss-of-function mutation in the xlnR gene encoding the transcriptional activator XlnR and a strain with multiple copies of this gene were investigated in order to define which g...

Towards the aim of examining the potential function of KORRIGAN (KOR), a highly conserved membrane-bound endoglucanase, in reproductive development, here transgenic evidence is provided that a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) endoglucanase, GhKOR1, plays significant roles in endosperm and embryo development. RNA interference (RNAi)- and co-suppression-mediated down-regulation of GhKOR1 resulted in s...

Many naturally-occurring cellulolytic microorganisms are not readily cultivable, demanding a culture-independent approach in order to study their cellulolytic genes. Metagenomics involves the isolation of DNA from environmental sources and can be used to identify enzymes with biotechnological potential from uncultured microbes. In this study, a gene encoding an endoglucanase was cloned from red...

Industrial-scale biofuel production requires robust enzymatic cocktails to produce fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. Thermophilic bacterial consortia are a potential source of cellulases and hemicellulases adapted to harsher reaction conditions than commercial fungal enzymes. Compost-derived microbial consortia were adapted to switchgrass at 60°C to develop thermophilic biomass-d...

EG1 is a modular glycoside hydrolase family 5 endoglucanase from Volvariella volvacea consisting of an N-terminal carbohydrate-binding module (CBM1) and a catalytic domain (CD). The ratios of soluble to insoluble reducing sugar produced from filter paper after 8 and 24 h of exposure to EG1 were 6.66 and 8.56, respectively, suggesting that it is a processive endoglucanase. Three derivatives of E...