Ruminococcus cellulase complex

Leatherwood (49) interprets his observations made with roll tube cultures of the anaerobic bacterium Ruminococcus albus to indicate that a single cellulase complex is formed from enzymes diffusing from two different colony types. He discussed the mechanism in terms of a non-... 

Cellulase Complex of Ruminococcus and a New Mechanism for Cellulose Degradation... 

An apparent protein-protein interaction has been observed in cultures of Ruminococcus that results in the formation of an enzyme complex that degrades cellulose. On the basis of these and other observations, we propose a new mechanism for cellulose degradation that involves a single cellulase complex. 

Cellulase complexes similar to the cellulosomes of C. thermocellum were also identified in other cellulolytic bacteria such as the mesophilic species C. cellulovorans, C. cellulolyticum, C. papyrosolvens, Bacteroides cellulosolvens, Acetivibrio cellulolyticus,Ruminococcus albus, and Ruminococcus flavefaciens and the thermophilic species Clostridium clariflavum and Clostridium josui. They... 

Enzyme preparations active against crystalline cellulose, marble-milled filter paper, carboxymethylcellulose (CM-cellulose), hemicellulose, and D-xylan have been obtained from cultures of Ruminococcus flavefaciens. Carboxymethyl cellulase and D-xylanase activities were present in a high molecular weight complex (see p. 461). 

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