What enzymes can digest cellulose

[DarrenOH97]

Hi, some help with this question would be much appreciated!

What enzymes can digest cellulose?

A: mammalian cellulase

B: bacterial cellulase

C: mammalian and bacterial cellulase

[StringJunky]

Hi, some help with this question would be much appreciated!

What enzymes can digest cellulose?

A: mammalian cellulase

B: bacterial cellulase

C: mammalian and bacterial cellulase

What does the suffix -ase tell you?

[DarrenOH97]

What does the suffix -ase tell you?

yeah.. I guess my question really is does mammalian cellulase exist? couldnt find any record of it after extensive searching

[John Cuthber]

Are there any mammalian cellulases?

Edit: Cross posted.

Edited April 22, 2017 by John Cuthber

[Function]

You could google it

 

Then again, what's the point of a forum ...

 

No, we don't have "cellulases". If you eat a lot of e.g. red berries, which have cellulose in their peel, you'd excrete them again - as such. If you don't bite them, don't expect anything of the berry to be absorbed by your intestines. Bacteria might have cellulase, I guess ... But I'm not sure. I'm only certain that we don't.

 

Excessive cellulose ingestion might thus cause an osmotic diarrhoea (I'm not sure if that's written correctly; I find the spelling of that word disturbingly odd).

[StringJunky]

It depends whether you consider the cellulase is produced by a ruminant or the commensal bacteria within them because you can say "Yes, ruminants can break down cellulose" but, in reality, it's the bacteria. Strictly speaking, mammals can't break it down.

[BabcockHall]

Hi, some help with this question would be much appreciated!

What enzymes can digest cellulose?

A: mammalian cellulase

B: bacterial cellulase

C: mammalian and bacterial cellulase

 

@OP, When you post a question, please give us what you have done so far and your thoughts, as opposed to dumping a problem. However, it is clear from your later comments that you have done some searching.