Zimmer, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1549-8871 (2020) Cellulases. In: Methods to study litter decomposition – a practicle guide. , ed. by Bärlocher, Felix, Gessner, Mark O. and Graca, Manuel A. S.. Springer, Cham, pp. 397-403. 2nd edition ISBN 978-3-030-30514-7 DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30515-4_42.

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Abstract

Cellulose is the most abundant polymer in the living world. Its enzymatic degradation is a crucial step in the decomposition of plant litter. Despite a wide variety of enzymatic mechanisms contributing to cellulose degradation, some general patterns driven by extracellular enzymes have emerged, allowing estimates of cellulolytic activities in environmental samples. The basic procedure described in this chapter is to incubate natural, crystalline cellulose fibres with an extract from environmental samples containing enzymes. The amount of glucose moieties being released is measured and attributed to cellulolysis. These measurements give an estimate of the potential for complete degradation of crystalline cellulose into glucose under optimal pH conditions.

Document Type:	Book chapter
Programme Area:	PA4
Research affiliation:	Mangrove Ecology
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30515-4_42
Date Deposited:	26 May 2026 11:28
Last Modified:	26 May 2026 11:28
URI:	https://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/4420

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