THE AMYLASE OF CLOSTRIDIUM ACETOBUTYLICUM
Abstract
Receive: RSS Feeds, eTOCs, free email alerts (when new articles cite this article), more» Information about commercial reprint orders: http://jb.asm.org/site/misc/reprints.xhtml To subscribe to to another ASM Journal go to: http://journals.asm.org/site/subscriptions/ DON SCOTT1 AND L. R. HEDRICK Biology Department, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois Received for publication November 27, 1951 The hydrolysis of soluble starch by the amylase of Clostridium acetobutylicum was first reported by Johnston and Wynne (1935). These investigators followed the action of the amylase by determining the changes in viscosity and in the total reducing value of the digest. Unfortunately, Johnston and Wynne did not present their experimental results, but only various "factors" calculated from these results plus a mention of the analytical methods used. Since they did not recognize the existence of a maltase in their preparations and since the ratio of amylase to maltase is not a constant from one preparation to another, the quantitative conclusions reached by these authors must be held subject to confirmation. The presence of the maltase in cell free filtrates was recognized and the maltase and amylase studied by Hockenhull and Herbert (1945). These authors described a method for purifying amylase but failed to obtain it free of