Activity and thermostability of carboxymethylcellulase from Aspergillus niger is strongly influenced by noncovalently attached polysaccharides.

Removal of non-covalently attached polysaccharides from carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) of Aspergillus niger improved its activity but decreased its thermostability and protease resistance. The activation energy profile of the hydrolysis of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) was triphasic with increasing values of 17,-55 and-562 kJ/mol for polysaccharide-free and 19, -21 and -207 kJ/mol for polysaccharide-complexed CMCase. The specificity constant (Vmax/Km) of polysaccharide-free CMCase was 1.41 compared to polysaccharide-complexed CMCase which was only 0.68. The polysaccharide free CMCase had lower thermostability ('melting point' = 82°C) and higher protease susceptibility compared to polysaccharide-complexed CMCase ('melting point'>100°C).