Chitin is a biopolymer. Theoretically, it is a homopolymer of acetyl-glucosamine. Chitosan is the deacetylated product of chitin. Chitin and chitosan have many applications in water purification, agriculture, food and pharmaceutical industries. Currently, industrial production for chitin and chitosan is from the shell wastes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of chitin...

The properties and behavior of a “microsomal” (100,000 X g particles) chitin synthetase of Mucor rouxii were investigated. The enzyme utilizes uridine diphosphate N-acetylD-glucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) as glycosyl donor and is strongly and specifically activated by free N-acetyl-o-glucosamine (GlcNAc). A variety of GlcNAc analogues were tested as activators but were found ineffective. A small propo...

Permeabilized germlings from the dimorphic fungus Mucor rouxii were used for in situ measurement of protein kinase A (PKA) activation, to compare the results with those obtained in vitro at low or high (nonlinear) enzyme concentrations. The apparent total activity per cell when measured in situ is 5- to 10-fold lower than the in vitro measured activity in crude extracts from those cells. Polyam...

Three forms of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase have been separated by chromatography of extracts of yeast-like cells and mycelium of the dimorphic fungus Mucor rouxii. Each of the three eznymes has been purified by means of protamine sulfate precipitation, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, and velocity sedimentation. Electrophoresis under denaturing conditions showed difference...

Inactivated copper-sensitive and copper-tolerant strains of Mucor rouxii cultured at high copper concentration were tested for their potential to adsorb Cu(II) ions from solution. We performed batch experiments to determine the pH profile for Cu(II) binding, binding capacity and the possibility of removing the Cu(II) that had been adsorbed. The biomasses studied showed a high affinity for Cu(II...

A collection of yeasts, isolated mostly from spoiled wines, was used in order to develop a differential medium for Zygosaccharomyces bailii. The 118 selected strains of 21 species differed in their origin and resistance to preservatives and belonged to the genera Pichia, Torulaspora, Dekkera, Debaryomyces, Saccharomycodes, Issatchenkia, Kluyveromyces, Kloeckera, Lodderomyces, Schizosaccharomyce...