Abstract
Five 11-week-old rabbits, fed a commercial granulated feed, were slaughtered and cecal starch-degrading bacteria enumerated; total concentration of cultivable bacteria utilizing starch averaged 5.5 × 1010 CFU/g. The activity and cellular localization of amylases was determined in 9 bacteria identified asActinomyces israeli (strains AA2 and AD4),Bacteroides spp. (strain AA3),Dichelobacter nodosus (strain AA4),Mitsuokella multiacidus (strain AA6),Eubacterium spp. (strains AA7 and AB2),Clostridium spp. (strains AD1 and AA5). Four strains (AA3, AA4, AA5, AD4) produced extracellular amylases with an activity of 26–35 µmol of reducing sugars per h per mg of protein; in five strains (AA2, AA6, AA7, AB2, AD1) amylases were membrane-bound with an activity of 14–18 µmol of reducing sugars per h per mg of protein. All strains exhibited a low intracellular amylolytic activity. The pH optimum of amylases was 6.8–7.0. In strains producing extracellular amylases a substantial loss of viscosity was observed during incubations of cultivation supernatant with starch, similar to viscosity reduction in starch solutions treated with α-amylase; this indicates an endo-type (random cleavage) of extracellular amylase reaction in the bacteria under study. No strain possessed glucoamylase activity.
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This study was supported by theMinistry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (project OC 848.001 of the program COST), and from theAcademy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (project AV 0Z 5045 0515).
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Sirotek, K., Marounek, M. & Suchorská, O. Activity and cellular localization of amylases of rabbit cecal bacteria. Folia Microbiol 51, 309–312 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931821
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931821