DIX'OMI'OSI ri()\ OF COMIMJ'.X IM,A\"I' AND AMMAI, IJ I '.SI I )r IIS 



245 



puiilicd st;it(' aiul in ;i natural cdiidii ion in 

 tlu' plant nial(>rials. Mannans and xylans 

 \v('i-{' attacked particularly. I)cc()nii)().'<it ion of 

 laniinarin hy act inoniNci^t (>.•-; was studied hy 

 C'hestefs <t nl. (I*).").")). 'I'he lorniation of the 

 en/.ynie xylanase by actinoniycetes was 

 slidwn in Cliaplei- 11. NunKM'ous otiier in- 

 \i>stij;at()rs ha\"e diMuonsti'ated the ability of 

 actinoniycetes to d(>conipos(> c(>llulos(> and 

 \arious heniicellulo>es. I n t he dei;i'adat ion of 

 cellulose in the intestinal canal, ceftain ac- 

 tinoniycetes probal)ly play a part, as shown 

 by lluntiate (l!)4(t) for a species of Micro- 

 mouospora. The actix'e part played by ac- 

 tinoniycetes in cellulose decomposition under 

 high salt concentration, with the result that 

 l)lack nuids are formed, has been established 

 l)y Rubentschik (11)28, 1932). 



Cellulo.se decomposition in composts, un- 

 der thermophilic conditions, was first dem- 

 onstrated by Tsiklinsky (1899) and by 

 Schiitze (1908); later, extensive studies were 

 made by Waksman and Cordon (1989), 

 Waksman ct ol. (19o9), Waksman and Corke, 

 and more recently by Henssen. Other .stud- 

 ies on cellulose decomposition by actinoniy- 

 cetes were made by Bokor (1930), Meyer 

 (1934), and others. 



Decomposition of Proteins 



The ability of actinomycetes to take an 

 acti\-e part in protein decomposition is also 

 highly significant. In a study of the effect of 

 di'ied blood versus rye straw ujion the de- 

 \-(4opm(Mit of fungi and actinoniycetes in dif- 

 ferently treated soils (Tables 73 and 74), it 

 was found that the addition of protein-rich 

 materials greatly stimulates the develop- 

 ment of actinomycetes as compared to other 

 groups of microorganisms. 



The ability of actinomycetes to dc^compo.se 

 proteins into amino acids and ammonia was 

 first shown by Mace. In A'iew of the fact that 

 actinomycetes synthesize considerably le.ss 

 myceliinn than do fungi, only small (|uanti- 

 ties of nitrogen are as.similated into conii)lex 



'i"\in,K 71 



('<iiii fxiralivc tlrri)}it position o/j't/lnn, in ninu-ohs bij 



fiiiu/i anil (irtinoDujrt'tcs (Wiik.smaii 



.111(1 Diclim) 



.Milligianis por fiusk 



Organism 



Found 



Decomposed 



Cniitrol 405.5 — 



lxhi:npu>< 1S7.9 237.6 



I'fiticilliiDii 223.(5 181.9 



TriflKidcrnid 331.0 74.5 



.l.s/j. niycr 302.9 102. (i 



Slreplomyces 26 372. 1 33 . 4 



St reptomyces 50 362.9 42.6 



S I reptotnyces -iO 306.2 98.3 



T.\BLE 72 



Relative decoDiposilioti of galactan in Irish 



moss hy different niicroorganisnis 



(Wak.sman and Diehin) 



Milligrams per fla.sk 



Organism Found Decomposed 



Control 382.3 — 



Rhizopns 259.7 122.6 



Penicilliinn 263.0 119.3 



Trichoderma 265.7 116.6 



Asp. niger 281.3 101.0 



Streptoinyces 2Q 263.0 119.3 



Streplowyces 3:i 268.9 113.4 



Streptomyces 35 287.3 95.0 



Streptomyc.es AO 253.8 128.5 



Streptomyces 50 241.9 140.4 



cell material. Most of it is liberated free in 

 the form of ammonia. Although actinomy- 

 cetes also utilize nonnitrogenous organic ma- 

 terials for cell synthesis, such materials do 

 not exert such a depressing effect upon the 

 liberation of ammonia as do bacteria and 

 fimgi. 



Xicolaieva, in a study of protein decom- 

 position by eight cultures of actinoniycetes, 

 found that the proteins were completely de- 

 graded. 8he came to the conclusion that ac- 

 tinomycetes take an active part in soil pi-oc- 

 esses, leading to the mineralization of soil 

 organic matter. As shown previously (Chap- 

 ter 7), Waksman and Starkey demonstrated 



