Saccharification and adsorption characteristics of modified cellulases with hydrophilic/hydrophobic copolymers

Saccharification and adsorption characteristics of native and modified cellulases were investigated. Copolymers, containing polyoxyalkylene and maleic anhydride (MA) were used to modify cellulase. Amino groups of the cellulase were covalently coupled with the MA. As the degree of modification (DM) increased, the activity of modified cellulase slightly decreased. At the maximum DM, the modified cellulase activity retained more than 75% of the unmodified native cellulase activity. In saccharification, native cellulase rapidly adsorbed onto the substrate at initial reaction time. Native cellulase adsorbed tightly onto the substrate surface and did not desorb as reaction time proceeded. The strong adsorption of cellulase onto the substrate can, however, be controlled by the modification. As the hydrophilicity of modified cellulase increased, free modified enzyme concentration also increased. As a result, the conversion rate of modified cellulase was higher than the native one.