A comparative study of cellulase and xylanase activity in freshwater crayfish and marine prawns

Abstract

Cellulase and xylanase digestive enzyme activities were compared in four freshwater crayfish (Genus Cherax) and three marine prawn (Genus Penaeus) species. Temperature and pH profiles for cellulase (endoglucanase) were found to be very similar in all species, with maximum activity occurring at 60°C and pH 5.0. Temperature and pH profiles for xylanase (endoxylanase) were also very similar in all crayfish species, with maximum activity occurring at 50°C and pH 5.0. Xylanase activity was not detected in the three prawn species examined. In addition, in vitro studies showed that most species were able to liberate glucose from carboxymethyl cellulose, indicating that cellulose substrates can be a source of energy for both crayfish and prawn species.

A comparative study of cellulase and hemicellulase activities of brackish water clam Corbicula japonica with those of other marine Veneroida bivalves

“…In particular, decomposing cellulose and structural polysaccharides generally requires multiple enzymes (Watanabe and Tokuda, 2001), which makes analyzing enzyme activities more difficult. In addition, most such studies on invertebrates have used homogenates of digestive organs such as the digestive gland, stomach or intestine as enzyme samples (Gianfreda et al, 1979;Teo and Sabapathy, 1990;Crawford et al, 2005), but the effect of reaction product conversion to other substances by metabolic enzymes existing in such organs should not be neglected. For this reason, determining substrate reduction seems to be the best way to quantify digestive enzyme activity, but for polysaccharide-degrading enzymes such as cellulase, accurately determining substrate quantity is difficult because of limited methods.…”

Recombinant Xylanase from Bacillus tequilensis BT21: Biochemical Characterization and Its Application in Production of Xylobiose from Agricultural Residues

“…Xylanases from the marine sources can have some remarkable qualities with respect to stability at high temperature and pH, which needs attention. There are a few studies reported on marine xylanases (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) and it is important to look into more potential xylanases from the marine sources. Recently, the interest in application of endoxylanases in the production of xylooligosaccharides from xylan sources is growing rapidly.…”

Food utilisation and digestive ability of aquatic and semi-terrestrial crayfishes, Cherax destructor and Engaeus sericatus (Astacidae, Parastacidae)

“…The presence of proteinases, endo--1,4-glucanase, -1,4-glucanase, xylanase, lichenase and, laminarinase has been documented previously in Cherax species (Crawford et al 2005;Figueiredo et al 2001). CrayWsh of the genus Cherax are omnivorous consuming mainly plant material and clearly their digestive enzyme complement correlates well with the substrates that they would encounter in their natural diet.…”

“…Like laminarinase, these enzymes may be widely distributed throughout the Crustacea. However they may only be present in species that encounter these substrates in their diet (Crawford et al 2005).…”

“…Carnivorous species may produce high levels of proteases such as trypsin and chymotrypsin for digesting protein; omnivorous species express proteases and carbohydrases such as -amylase and -glucosidase; algal and phytoplankton feeders have high levels of laminarinases for digesting laminarin, the major storage polysaccharide of algae; and herbivorous species show high activities of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes for hydrolysing cellulose and hemicellulose found in plant cell walls (Johnston and Yellowlees 1998;Linton and Greenaway 2004;Johnston and Freeman 2005;Crawford et al 2005). Whilst the complement of digestive enzymes produced by terrestrial omnivorous species is largely unknown, it is most likely to be dominated by high activities of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes.…”