UTILIZATION OF CELLULOSE OLIGOSACCHARIDES BY CELLVIBRIO GILVUS.

Schafer, Marion L. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg), and Kendall W. King. Utilization of cellulose oligosaccharides by Cellvibrio gilvus. J. Bacteriol. 89:113-116. 1965.-The hypothesis that oligosaccharides of the cellulose polymer series can be absorbed by cellulolytic bacteria, prior to hydrolysis to the level of glucose or cellobiose, has been tested. Resting-cell suspensions of Cellvibrio gilvus removed oligosaccharides of one to six monomer units from solution at a rate providing the cells with 37 x 10(6) to 42 x 10(6) molecules of glucose per cell per minute. There was no concurrent extracellular hydrolysis of the oligosaccharides. The fact that the rate of uptake was constant indicates that an active absorption system is involved. Filtrates from washed-cell suspensions before or after exposure to the oligosaccharides were incapable of hydrolyzing the sugars. In media where the carbohydrate concentration was growth-limiting, the larger members of the oligosaccharide series supported greater final cell densities than the smaller sugars, but there were no recognizable differences in the growth rates during the logarithmic-growth phase.