Microbial Enzymes in Aquatic Environments

✍ Scribed by Jürgen Overbeck (auth.), Ryszard J. Chróst (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 332
• Series: Brock/Springer Series in Contemporary Bioscience
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Organic matter in aquatic environments consists mostly of large compounds which cannot be taken up and utilized directly by microbial cells. Prior to incorporation, polymeric materials undergo degradation by cell-bound and extracellular enzymes produced by these microbes; in fact, such enzymatic mobilization and transformation is the key process which regulates the turnover of organic as well as inorganic compounds in aquatic environments. This volume brings together studies on enzymatic degradation processes from disciplines as diverse as water and sediment research, bacterial and algal aquatic ecophysiology, eutrophication, and nutrient cycling and biogeochemistry, in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. Its scope extends from fundamental research exploring the contribution of microbial enzymatic processes to whole ecosystem functioning to practical applications in water biotechnology. The first comprehensive publication providing an overview of this emerging field of enzymology, Microbial Enzymes in Aquatic Environments will be of great interest to ecologists and microbiologists alike.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xviii
Early Studies on Ecto- and Extracellular Enzymes in Aquatic Environments....Pages 1-5
Extracellular Enzymatic Interactions: Storage, Redistribution, and Interspecific Communication....Pages 6-28
Environmental Control of the Synthesis and Activity of Aquatic Microbial Ectoenzymes....Pages 29-59
Microbial Extracellular Enzyme Activity: A New Key Parameter in Aquatic Ecology....Pages 60-83
Ecological Aspects of Enzymatic Activity in Marine Sediments....Pages 84-95
Extracellular Enzyme Activity in Eutrophic and Polyhumic Lakes....Pages 96-122
Protein Degradation in Aquatic Environments....Pages 123-143
Peptidase Activity in River Biofilms by Product Analysis....Pages 144-154
Aminopeptidase Activity in Lakes of Differing Eutrophication....Pages 155-164
Role of Ecto-Phosphohydrolases in Phosphorus Regeneration in Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystems....Pages 165-186
Bacterial Phosphatases from Different Habitats in a Small, Hardwater Lake....Pages 187-205
Phosphatase Activity in an Acid, Limed Swedish Lake....Pages 206-219
Phosphatase Activities in Lake Kinneret Phytoplankton....Pages 220-226
Filtration and Buoyant Density Characterization of Algal Alkaline Phosphatase....Pages 227-238
Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterase Activity in Epilimnetic Lake Water....Pages 239-248
Chitinase Activity in Estuarine Waters....Pages 249-269
Significance of Extracellular Enzymes for Organic Matter Degradation and Nutrient Regeneration in Small Streams....Pages 270-285
Enzyme Activities in Billabongs of Southeastern Australia....Pages 286-297
Hydrolytic Activities of Organisms and Biogenic Structures in Deep-Sea Sediments....Pages 298-310
Back Matter....Pages 311-317

✦ Subjects

Ecology; Microbiology