Cel5M thus possessed the typical properties of a cold active cellulase and is the first cold-active cellulase in the newly established subfamily of GH5 (Fig. 1). The effects of metal ions, detergents and chelating agents on Cel5M were

examined (Table 2). CuSO4, SDS and EDTA significantly reduced the activity of Cel5M, indicating that these agents may be inhibitors of Cel5M. CoCl2, FeCl2 and dithiothreitol increased the cellulolytic activity of Cel5M. Most other agents did not significantly influence Navitoclax cost the cellulolytic activity of Cel5M. Previous studies showed that ferrous and ferric ions may interfere with the activity of most cellulases (Tejirian & Xu, 2010). Cel5M exhibits a novel adaptation to the ferrous ion and may therefore may have a broader application in biofuel and chemical industries. The hydrolytic activity toward different substrates was assayed at 30 °C in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 4.5). Cel5M exhibited high activity toward CMC (26.9 ± 1.35 U mg−1 protein), low activity

toward p-nitrophenyl-β-d-galactopyranoside (0.56 ± 0.03 U mg−1 protein), and no activity toward microcrystalline cellulose or avicel (specific cellulolytic activity was not detectable). These results are consistent with a previous study showing that the CBM is necessary for efficient hydrolysis of crystalline celluloses (Takashima et al., 1998). The EX 527 price present work was supported by the China National Natural Science Foundation Fenbendazole (Grant Nos. 91028011 and 41076091), the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (Grant Nos. DYXM-115-02-2-20 and DYXM-115-02-2-6), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant No. 09CX05005A), the National Basic Research Program of China (grant No. 2009CB219506), the Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA091903), the Key Scientific and Technological Development Program of the National Qingdao Economic & Technical Development Zone (Grant No. 2009-2-34), and the Foundation of

the State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing in China University of Petroleum (Grant No. SKL2010-02). We thank Baosheng Ge for his help in data analysis. “
“FMRP – University of São Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil Environmental plasmids often expand the metabolic repertoire of bacteria that carry them, but they also interfere with the biochemical and genetic network of the host. The pWW0 plasmid born by Pseudomonas putida mt-2 encodes the TOL pathway for degradation of toluene/m-xylene through production of intermediate compounds benzoate/3-methylbenzoate. These can be also recognized as substrates by the chromosomally encoded ben and cat gene products, thereby creating a manifest regulatory and biochemical conflict. In this context, we have investigated how the introduction of the pWW0 plasmid into P. putida affects behaviour of the promoter of the ben pathway (Pb) in single cells.