Protection of soil enzymes

Some extracellular enzymes produced by microorgcinisms are known to be protected by association with co-secreted polysaccharide molecules. This could form a basis for the observation that a range of enzymes, including invertase, cellulase, phosphatase, proteases, B-glucosidase, lysozyme and hyaluronidase exist in soil in complexes with carbohydrate which serves to protect them against denaturation or proteolysis  

The complexes are not glycoproteins, but involve the adsorption of the enzyme on polysaccharide. The evidence for the association comes from the isolation from soil, using buffer extraction, of active enzyme fractions which, on hydrolysis, yield the usual rainge of neutral sugars common to soil. Dissociation of the enzymes (lysozyme and hyaluronidase) from the carbohydrate occurs on treatment with sodium dodecyl sulphate, which would not separate covalently linked components. This evidence does not rule out the possibility that the association occurs during coextraction. 

The stability of a phenylesterase in soil was considered to be the result of a carbohydrate-enzyme complex, although in this instance, the existence of a carbohydrate-protein bond through N-acetylhexosamine-tyrosine is postulated. Hyaluronidase treatment increases the activity of the enzyme. 

Many soil bacteria can produce copious amounts of extracellular 

Extracellular polysaccharide enables organisms to adhere to particulate 

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