No abstract

The molecular mass of esterases usually falls in the range of 20–160 kDa, although an esterase of 5.7 kDa from Candida lipolytica has been described. Three other enzymes smaller than 10 kDa have been reported, all of which were more thermostable than their higher molecular mass counterparts. This paper describes the purification of an extracellular esterase hydrolysing fluorescein dibutyrate from Bacillus stearothermophilus NCIMB 13335. The esterase had a molecular mass of 1.57 kDa when analysed by SDS‐PAGE, gel filtration and MALDI‐TOF spectrometry. This enzyme retained more than 90% of its activity after incubation at 90°C for 2 h.

Bacillus stea~othe~nzophiil4~s has been reported to produce an extracellular esterase with molecular weight of 42-47 kDa. Extracellular esterase activity in Hacil1u.s stearothermophilz4.s (NCIB 13335) was found to reside in protein with a molecular weight less than 10 kDa. This small esterase was responsible for all the esterase activity observed in this strain under the conditions studied.

In 1999 Glasgow is UK City of Architecture and Design, the last in the Arts Council's series of annual awards which have promoted a variety of art forms in provincial British cities. Through a series of exhibitions and educational programmes (including a scheme which allows all the city's schools an 'architect in residence'), the 1999 event is in part directed towards expanding the architectural and design literacy of Glasgow's population. And through a number of actual building projects-the Lighthouse design museum, the Millennium Spaces project, which has provided communities with the opportunity to redesign local environments in five of the most blighted areas of the city, and the Homes for the Future collection of architect-designed apartments in the east of the city-the year aims to leave a lasting legacy for Glasgow's future.Director of the project is Deyan Sudjic, perhaps best known for his role as architecture columnist for The Sunday Times and The Guardian and as editor of the Blueprint design magazine. He is also author of The 100 Mile City (1992), one of the livelier and most commercially successful books on urbanism in recent years. It intrigued us that an established urbanist was director of an urban hallmark event which has been coveted by some of Britain's major cities, Edinburgh and Liverpool among them. We wanted to explore some of the issues which emerged from Sudjic's own experience of grounding his ideas in Glasgow: his journey from being a critic to being an active practitioner; his interpretation of the role of architecture in shaping political identity; and his views on the emerging links between culture and capital.