Regulation of Cellulase Production by Myrothecium verrucaria Grown on Non-cellulosic Substrates

SUMMARY: Myrothecium verrucaria can produce cellulase when grown on media containing glucose or glycerol as sole carbohydrate source. The enzyme complex can depolymerize cellulosic substrates ranging from carboxymethylcellulose to cotton fibres. Hemicellulase is also produced. These depolymerases are first detected intracellularly near the time of the deceleration phase of growth and appear extracellularly a few hours later. Since cellulase can be produced by reducing the organism’s growth rate in the absence of cellulose or any of its constituent sugars, it is suggested that this enzyme is constitutive and that production may be partly controlled by catabolite repression.