Regulation of the cellulolytic activity of Eubacterium cellulosolvens 5494: a review.

Eubacterium cellulosolvens 5494 is a cellulolytic gram positive bacterium isolated from the rumen. Substrate specific regulation has not been previously demonstrated in any members of this genera. However, we have recently found that E. cellulosolvens regulates some of its membrane proteins. Growth on different substrates, including cellulose and cellobiose, gave different SDS-PAGE profiles of proteins from the membrane fraction. Using scanning electron microscopy, we also found that growth of E. cellulosolvens on cellulose induces an ultrastructural complex that is not present when grown on any other substrate. Further study revealed that this ultrastructure was subsequently lost when an alternative substrate was made available to cellulose growing cells. We also found that cellulose, cellobiose, and maltose utilization are inhibited in the presence of a glucose analog, indicating glucose is the preferred substrate.