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The distribution of polysaccharide-degrading enzymes in the bovine rumen digesta ecosystem

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Abstract

The location and level of activity of the principal polysaccharidases and glycoside hydrolases involved in the degradation of plant structural and storage polysaccharides were monitored in microbial populations isolated from liquid and particulate phases of bovine rumen digesta. The three principal subpopulations, and their constituent subgroups studied, all contained polysaccharide depolymerizing enzymes; however, the specific activities of the enzymes that degraded the plant cell wall structural polymers were highest within the adherent particle-associated populations. Separate functional groups of organisms could be recongnized in the particle-associated population by their distinctive enzyme profiles.

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  1. Hannah Research Institute, KA6 5HL, Ayr, Scotland

    Alan G. Williams & Norman H. Strachan

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  1. Alan G. Williams
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  2. Norman H. Strachan
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Williams, A.G., Strachan, N.H. The distribution of polysaccharide-degrading enzymes in the bovine rumen digesta ecosystem. Current Microbiology 10, 215–220 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01627258

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