Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Macromolecules: Development of Complex Substrates and Investigation of Hydrolysis Rates in Seawater and Sediments

大多数有机物是以高分子量大分子的形式生物合成的，如蛋白质、脂质复合物和多糖，其中绝大多数最终被分解为二氧化碳。 对介导这些重要分解过程的酶系统知之甚少。 出于这个原因，主要研究者建议开发一套底物，可用于研究海洋水柱和沉积物中多糖和含碳水化合物大分子的生物矿化所涉及的胞外酶的水解速率和底物特异性。 预计在这个项目中开发的大分子底物将扩大我们目前的能力，检查细胞外酶水解过程，以及我们的知识的天然有机大分子的结构。

ABSTRACTOCE-9906089Most organic matter is biologically synthesized in the form of high molecular-weight macromolecules such as proteins, lipid complexes, and polysaccharides, the vast majority eventually being remineralized to carbon dioxide. Very little is known about the enzyme systems that mediate these important decomposition processes. For this reason, the principal investigator proposes to develop a set of substrates that can be used to investigate the rate of hydrolysis and substrate specificities of extracellular enzymes involved in the remineralization of polysaccharides and carbohydrate-containing macromolecules in the marine water column and sediments. It is expected that the macromolecular substrates developed in this project will expand our current ability to examine extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis processes as well as our knowledge of the structure of naturally-occurring organic macromolecules.