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Título: Studies on the decomposition of cellulose by microorganisms.
Autores: Perlin, Arthur Saul.
Fecha: 1946
Publicador: McGill University - MCGILL
Fuente:
Tipo: Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Tema: Agricultural Chemistry.
Descripción: Cellulose is attacked and decomposed to simpler chemical compounds by a host or microorganisms in a variety or natural processes. In this manner, a very large part of the carbon of decaying vegetation is reconverted into forms utilizable by other living organisms, and a proper balance or the carbon cycle is thus maintained. A large number of different organisms are associated in the breakdown, and the cellulose itself is in intimate contact with other plant materials, notably hemicelluloses and lignin. The majority of the studies on cellulose decomposition, however, have been confined to the use of pure cultures of microorganisms, with pure cellulose as the substrata, so that experimental conditions are more easily controlled. However, even with isolated systems much of the information obtained has been of little value, so that the existing knowledge concerning the microorganisms involved and the mechanisms by which the decomposition is accomplished, is relatively scanty. The increasing economic importance being attributed to cellulosic residues - the largest by-product of the agricultural and lumbering industries - as well as the desirability of fully understanding the decomposition of plant materials in the soil and in the rumen of herbivorous animals, accentuates the need for further research into the action of microorganisms on cellulose. This study was undertaken as a contribution to the knowledge of cellulose decomposition.
Idioma: en