科研之友
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摘要
Lignocelluloses, long chained polysaccharides, are the most abundant biomass on the earth and important renewable resource but they are difficult to utilize for food due to the inefficiency of their energetic degradation. Termites are an exception; they can efficiently decompose lignocellulose in combination with their microbial symbionts. The present study investigated some lignocellulasic activity in the workers of five termite species: Odontotermes formosanus, Macrotermes barneyi, Reticulitermes flaviceps, Reticulitermes chinensis, and Coptotermes formosanus. The five termite species had significantly different digestive enzymes activities. C. formosanus had the highest activity of endo-beta-1,4-glucanase (16.5367 +/- 0.3479 units/mg protein), M. barneyi had the highest activity of beta-glucosidase (9.9767 +/- 0.4359 units/mg protein) and 1,4-beta-xylosidase (3.3210 +/- 0.1365 units/mg protein) and O. formosanus had the highest activity of endo-1,4-beta-xylanase(1.2818 +/- 0.1733 units/mg protein). Laccasc activity was found in C. formosanus, R. flaviceps and R. chinensis but was not found in O. formosanus and M. barneyi. Neither lignin peroxidase nor manganese peroxidase activity were detected. These results suggest degradation ability of various components of lignocellulose varies between termite species.
