微生物降解纤维素的新机制

A new microbial strategy for cellulose degradation

自然界中能够降解纤维素的微生物分布广泛,纤维素降解的方式也呈现很高的多样性。Cytophaga hutchinsonii属于拟杆菌门,具有很强的结晶纤维素降解能力,但是其降解机制既异于已经发现的游离纤维素酶降解体系,也不同于纤维小体的降解模式,推测其存在第3种细胞结合型纤维素降解模式。本文简要阐述以C.hutchinsonii为代表的一种新的纤维素降解策略。

Microorganisms capable of degrading cellulose are widely distributed in nature and diverse strategies are thus employed to achieve the efficient deploymerization of lignoceUulose. Cytophaga hutchinsonii belonging to the phylum Bacteroidetes has a strong ability to hydrolyze cellulose, but the involved mechanism seems to be different either from the known extracellular noncomplexed cellulase system or from cellulosome system. It is speculated that it possesses a third mode of cellulose utilization with the degradation system tightly associated with cells. The present review will briefly introduce the potentially novel strategy employed by C. hutchinsonii to assimilate cellulose.