A system for the classification of the carbohydrases has been proposed by Weidenhagen, and, although it has considerable value, it also has a number of obvious deficiencies. It is demonstrated in the present paper that many of these difficulties may be obviated by considering the individual enzymes of Weidenhagen, e. g., a-glucosidase, as classes of enzymes of similar action but varying accordi...

The 'adaptive modulation hypothesis' predicts that activity of digestive enzymes should match the amount of their substrates in diet. Interestingly, many passerine birds do not adjust the activity of intestinal carbohydrases to dietary carbohydrate content. It is difficult to assess the generality of this rule, because in some studies passerines fed on low-carbohydrate and high-lipid diet showe...

Carbohydrases find a wide application in industrial processes and products, mainly in the food industry. With these enzymes, it is possible to obtain different types of sugar syrups (viz. glucose, fructose and inverted sugar syrups), prebiotics (viz. galactooligossacharides and fructooligossacharides) and isomaltulose, which is an interesting sweetener substitute for sucrose to improve the se...

Evolutionary shifts in diet composition are presumably accompanied by simultaneous changes in digestive physiology. The adaptive modulation hypothesis predicts that activities of digestive enzymes should match the relative levels of their substrates in an animal's diet so that available membrane space and synthetic energy are not wasted on enzymes in excess of need. However, previous studies on...

Lipases are placed only after proteases and carbohydrases in world enzyme market and share about 5% of enzyme market. They occur in plants, animals and microorganisms and are accordingly classified as plant, animal and microbial lipases. Wherever they exist, they function to catalyze hydrolysis of triglycerides to glycerol and fatty acid. Like carbohydrases and proteases, lipases of microbial o...

Microbulbifer strain CMC-5 produces agarase, alginate lyase, xylanase, carboxymethyl cellulase and carrageenase. The extracellular production of the above carbohydrases was investigated by growing Microbulbifer strain CMC-5 in a sea water based medium containing homologous/heterologous polysaccharides as a single substrate or as a combination of mixed assorted substrate. Presence of singular ho...

1. Gliadin from which carbohydrate was removed by treatment with carbohydrase from Aspergillus niger was fed to three coeliac patients in remission. 2. Xylose absorption, mucosal morphology and brush-border enzymes were used to assess the toxicity of the carbohydrase-treated gliadin. 3. Gliadin treated with carbohydrases did not damage the intestinal mucosa of the coeliac patients. 4. The prima...