Products Of Cellulose Hydrolysis Research Articles

A polarographic assay of cellulase activity

Cellulase activity, or the susceptibility of cellulosic substrates to cellulolytic degradation, can be measured polarographically by coupling the liberation of glucose with oxygen consumption. The polarographic assay couples cellulase with an excess mixture of β-1,4-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.21), glucose oxidase (EC 1.1.3.4), mutarotase (EC 5.1.3.3), and catalase (EC 1.11.1.6). Glucose oxidase couples β- d-glucose formation, the end product of cellulose hydrolysis, with the consumption of oxygen. Thus, the enzyme-coupled system provides a means of continuously monitoring cellulase activity, or the susceptibility of cellulosic substrates to enzymatic degradation, by measuring oxygen consumption in the reaction medium. The assay is capable of detecting glucose concentrations as low as 5 μg ml −1 and is particularly well suited for measuring cellulase activity in complex mixtures in which conventional assay methods cannot be used.