[Hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose by multienzyme cellulase complexes of various origins]

The kinetic regularities of glucose and cellobiose formation from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) under the action of cellulase complexes from eight different sources were studied. By means of successive addition of selected components of the cellulase complexes (endoglucanase and cellobiase) to the reaction system the rate-limiting steps for multienzymatic hydrolysis of MCC were determined. It was shown that in most cases the rate-limiting step of glucose formation (via hydrolysis of the intermediate cellobiose) is the cellobiase action. In a single case only (with a cellulase complex from Aspergillus foetidus enriched with cellobiase) the rate of glucose formation from MCC was limited by the endoglucanase action. In accordance with the kinetic theory developed it was shown that the addition of cellobiase excess to the reaction system resulted in changes of the rate-limiting step over to endoglucanase attack on the non-soluble cellulose for all cellulase complexes under study. Under the given experimental conditions a linear correlation between the steady-state ready of glucose formation from MCC under the action of all cellulase complexes on the on hand, and the endoglucanase activity of these complexes, on the other, was established. It was shown that the action of all cellulase (arbitrarily selected ones) is described by principally the same kinetic regularities, which, in turn, is indicative of identical mechanisms for hydrolysis of the insoluble cellulose under effects of cellulase complexes of various origin.