Cellulolytic enzyme system of Trichoderma koningii. Separation of components attacking native cotton

Abstract

1. Cell-free culture filtrates from Trichoderma koningii were concentrated by precipitation with ammonium sulphate between the limits of 20% and 80% saturation. 2. Removal of a low-molecular-weight carboxymethylcellulase (CM-cellulase) component by chromatography on Sephadex G-75 had no effect on the ability of the enzyme complex to solubilize cotton. 3. Further chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex separated a component (C(1)) from the C(x) (CM-cellulase) and beta-glucosidase activities. Separately these components had little ability to produce soluble sugars from cotton, but when recombined in their original proportions this capacity was almost completely recovered. 4. The C(x) component was further fractionated on SE-Sephadex into a fraction containing only CM-cellulase and a fraction showing CM-cellulase and beta-glucosidase activities: the latter two components could be separated by heat treatment. 5. The C(1) component had no swelling factor (S-factor) activity (Marsh, Merola & Simpson, 1953; Reese & Gilligan, 1954) on its own, but it had a synergistic effect on the S-factor activity associated with the CM-cellulase and beta-glucosidase components.