Starch degradation by the mould Trichoderma viride II. Regulation of enzyme synthesis

Abstract

The synthesis of amylolytic enzymes by the maltose not-utilizing Trichoderma viride strain CBS 354.44 requires the presence of starch or dextrins. Several readily utilizable carbon sources such as glucose and glutamic acid were shown to exert a strong catabolite repression which completely inhibited enzyme induction by starch or dextrins.

Enzyme synthesis occurs in the exponential and in the stationary growth phase. In the latter, the ratio between saccharifying and dextrinizing enzyme activity is invariably high. In the exponential growth phase this ratio depends on the nature of the inducing substrate. Growth on starch results in an initially high production of dextrinizing activity, the saccharifying one becoming predominant in the course of exponential growth. The latter activity in dextrin DE 30 cultures is predominant from the very beginning. Thus, the amylolytic enzyme system of T. viride consists of at least two different enzymes, the synthesis of each being controlled specifically. The careful regulation of the synthesis of the dextrinizing enzyme is discussed with special reference to the production of non-utilizable maltose by the latter.