A simple and rapid semiquantitative method for measuring cellulase activity in agar media.

A simple and rapid semiquantitative technique for the determination of fungal cellulytic activities in solid (agar slant) media has been developed. This method is a combination of Congo-red staining widely used for qualitative cellulase detection and common cellulase activity tests. Previous investigation on the adsorptive effect of cellulose content of media showed that the real enzyme activity values can be measured with minimum loss by means of agar discs cut from the most active zones of slants visualized by Congo-red staining. Different cellulase activity tests (FPase, CMCase and beta-glucosidase by PNPG-method) of seven cellulolytic fungal strains were investigated by this technique. Data give information on the different enzyme profiles of the species. The method can be regarded as very simple and suitable for simultaneous rapid comparison of cellulase components of greater series of fungal strains from agar slant cultures. It can also be used in the case of fungi unable to grow in liquid cultures.