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While foregut fermentation is generally considered more efficient, and monogastric animals cannot digest cellulose as efficiently as ruminants, [5] hindgut fermentation allows animals to consume small amounts of low-quality forage all day long and thus survive in conditions where ruminants might not be able to obtain nutrition adequate for their needs.
Thus, while most microorganisms can assimilate simple monomers, degradation of polymers is specialized, and few organisms can degrade recalcitrant polymers like cellulose and lignin. [16] Each microbial species carries specific combinations of genes for extracellular enzymes and is adapted to degrade specific substrates. [12]
Most animals, however, do not produce cellulase; the enzyme needed to digest cellulose. However, some animals and species have developed symbiotic relationships with cellulase-producing bacteria (see termites and metamonads.) This allows termites to use the energy-dense cellulose carbohydrate. [1]
Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth. [6] The cellulose content of cotton fibre is 90%, that of wood is 40–50%, and that of dried hemp is approximately 57%. [7] [8] [9] Cellulose is mainly used to produce paperboard and paper. Smaller quantities are converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and ...
Ribbon representation of the Streptomyces lividans β-1,4-endoglucanase catalytic domain - an example from the family 12 glycoside hydrolases [1]. Cellulase (EC 3.2.1.4; systematic name 4-β-D-glucan 4-glucanohydrolase) is any of several enzymes produced chiefly by fungi, bacteria, and protozoans that catalyze cellulolysis, the decomposition of cellulose and of some related polysaccharides:
The enzymes that are of particular interest in ethanol production are cellobiohydrolase which solubilizes crystalline cellulose and xylanase that hydrolyzes xylan into xylose. [29] One model of biofuel production is the use of a mixed population of bacterial strains or a consortium that work to facilitate the breakdown of cellulose materials ...
Proteins are the basis of many animal body structures (e.g. muscles, skin, and hair). They also form the enzymes which control chemical reactions throughout the body. Each molecule is composed of amino acids which are characterized by the inclusion of nitrogen and sometimes sulfur. The body requires amino acids to produce new proteins (protein ...
A large percentage of herbivores also have mutualistic gut flora made up of bacteria and protozoans that help to degrade the cellulose in plants, [1] whose heavily cross-linking polymer structure makes it far more difficult to digest than the protein- and fat-rich animal tissues that carnivores eat.