[Vol. 2 



772 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



ilated in the hexose form and that sucrose must be split by 

 invertase before becoming available. It is a well-known fact 

 that diverse fresh-water algae can be grown in pure culture 

 on media where asparagin and peptone are sources of 

 nitrogen. It is hardly conceivable that the large protein 

 molecule is assimilated directly and, a priori, this would argue 

 for the presence of both an ereptase and a desamidizing 



enzyme. 



ENZYMES FOUND IN THE MARINE ALGAE 



Few workers have demonstrated enzymes present in either 

 the fresh- or salt-water algae. Fischer ('05), working on the 

 storage carbohydrates of Anabaena and Oscillatoria, found 

 that the specific carbohydrate involved, which he named ana- 

 baenin, disappeared when the algal tissue was autolysed at 

 40° C. Microchemical tests showed glycogen split off. The 

 action here, if it be due to ferments of the alga, is interest- 

 ing in that the action was inhibited by .1 per cent acetic acid, 

 by 1 per cent carbolic acid, and still more strangely, by con- 

 centrations of ethyl alcohol as low as 5 per cent. One per 

 cent carbolic acid is quite often used as an antiseptic in enzyme 

 experimentation, and the resistance of enzymes to even high 

 concentrations of alcohol is common knowledge. No attempt 

 was made to isolate the enzyme or to carry on experiments 

 outside the cell. 



Teodoresco ('12) found that Chlamydomonas in pure cul- 

 ture gave rise to an extracellular enzyme that decomposed 

 sodium nucleate with the liberation of phosphorus. Later, 

 ('12 a ) he demonstrated nucleases present in certain "blue- 

 greens," "browns," and "reds." Unfortunately, differences 

 in methods do not permit a true comparison of activity with 

 that of the nuclease isolated by Dox ( '10) from Penicillium 

 camemberti, nor with that determined by Zaleski ('07) in the 

 growing tips of Vicia faba, yet even a crude comparison is in- 

 teresting. Dox added 2 grams of mold powder to 100 cc. of a 

 2 per cent solution of yeast nucleic acid, and maintaining his 

 flasks at a temperature of 35-37 °C. for forty-five days, found 

 51 milligrams of phosphorus (calculated as phosphoric acid) 

 liberated. Teodoresco used a .5 per cent solution of sodium 



