Induction of Cellulases in chaetomium cellulolyticum by cellobiose.

The production of extracellular cellulases by Chaetomium cellulolyticum could be induced by slow feeding of cellobiose to the cultures. Both the rate of production and the amount of activity were comparable to that obtained in batch cultivation on cellulose. The specific filter paper activity of 2.06 U per mg protein was almost two times higher than that obtained in cellulose medium. Cellulases were not induced when glucose was slowly fed to the cultures. Changing the feed stream from glucose to cellobiose resulted in a rapid accumulation of cellulases. Thus cellobiose has a similar role in cellulase induction in C. cellulolyticum, as earlier shown for Trichoderma reesei.