Book chapter
Cellulose-Decomposing Bacteria and Their Enzyme Systems
Prokaryotes:A Handbook On The Biology Of Bacteria, Vol.2 Ecophysiology And Biochemistry, pp.578-617
2006
Abstract
From an anthropocentric point of view, for millennia, human culture has been intricately involved with cellulose, the major component of the plant cell wall. The development of the wood, paper and textile industries has served to incorporate cellulosic materials into the fabric of our society. Within the past century, however, cellulosic wastes, derived mainly from the same industries, have also become a major source of environmental pollution. This chapter will concentrate mainly on cellulose and the cellulolytic bacteria, in view of their importance to mankind and world ecology. Nevertheless, the true substrate of these bacteria—i.e., the complement of plant cell wall polysaccharides in general—is much more complex than cellulose alone. Likewise, the complement of enzymes—both the cellulolytic and the non-cellulolytic glycosyl hydrolases—are produced concurrently in these bacteria for the purpose of efficient synergistic degradation of the complete substrate composite as it appears in nature. Consequently, when we discuss the cellulose-decomposing bacteria and their enzyme systems, we cannot ignore the related noncellulolytic enzymes, and these will also be treated, albeit secondarily, in the present chapter.
Details
- Title
- Cellulose-Decomposing Bacteria and Their Enzyme Systems
- Creators
- Ed Bayer (null) - 972WIS_INST___112Yuval Shoham (null)Raphael Lamed (null)
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Prokaryotes:A Handbook On The Biology Of Bacteria, Vol.2 Ecophysiology And Biochemistry, pp.578-617; 2006
- Number of pages
- 40
- Edition
- 3rd
- Publisher
- Springer Verlag
- Language
- English
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30742-7_19
- Grant note
- Grants from the Israel Science Foundation (administered by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem) and the Minerva Foundation (Germany) are sincerely appreciated.
- ISBN
- 978-0-387-25492-0
- Record Identifier
- 993263917103596
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