Mode of enzymatic degradation

The Mode of Enzymatic Degradation of Cellulose Based on the Properties of Cellulase Components... 

A common feature of vapor-phase thermohydrolysis, liquid-phase acid hydrolysis, and enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose is a significant influence of lateral order on the rate of chain cleavage, the DP finally reached, and weight loss. But with regard to this influence of the physical structure of cellulose, there also exist remarkable differences between these three modes of hydrolytic degradation. 

This initial survey of naturally occurring cyclopropanoid metabolites raises several questions relating to the biochemistry including function and metabolism of the compounds and in particular the cyclopropyl group. In the bulk of this chapter we summarize what evidence is available on modes of biosynthesis and degradation of cyclopropyl substituents. While in several cases, e.g. in terpenoids and steroids of the cycloartenol (20) case, biogenetic tracer studies or stereochemical probes have been carried out and are quite revealing about precursor-product relationships, there are very few cases indeed where specific enzymatic catalysts have been identified, isolated, and characterized for action on specific cyclopropane substrates. 

Our method for structure determination originally involved a combination of NMR spectroscopy with chemical transformation and enzymatic degradation as well as FAB-MS spectroscopy (in positive and/or negative ion mode) ... 

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