Purification and some properties of raw starch-binding amylase of Clostridum butyricum T-7 isolated from mesophilic methane sludge.

The raw starch-binding a-amylase of C. butyricum, an acidogenic anaerobe found in mesophilic methane sludge, was purified by chromatographyon a column ofBio-Rex 70 after the enzymehad been liberated from potato starch granules.The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was determined to be 89,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) disc electrophoresis.The iodine reaction completely disappeared at 9% hydrolysis of soluble starch by the enzyme, and the successive formation of maltooligosaccharides proceeded at pH 5.0 and 37°C.Decreases in the levels of maltopentaose and maltotetraose then took place as well as the formation of glucose, there being eventually almost 36% hydrolysis of the substrate.