Complex Forms of Cellulase

Abstract

RECENTLY, several articles have been published on the multiplicity of cellulase. Using paper chromatography Jermyn¹ found eight components in cellulase from Aspergillus oryzae, each with cellulolytic activity. Reese and Gilligan² found, also with chromatographic techniques, three components in Myrothecium cellulase, whereas Miller and Blum³, using starch electrophoresis, found at least eight components in this product. Grimes⁴ isolated from Myrothecium cellulase six components, of which possibly three had cellulolytic activity, and Thomas⁵ found seven protein fractions by paper electrophoresis. These facts are puzzling. Whitaker⁶ succeeded in isolating a homogeneous protein from crude Myrothecium cellulase which exhibited all the activities of the crude product, so there is a possibility that cellulase is a single enzyme. However, this has never been confirmed.