Four bacteria with degrading activity against the cell walls of Pythium porphyrae
were successfully isolated from Porphyra‐culturing environments. The crude
enzymes from these bacterial isolates, Bacillus sp. BE1, Bacillus sp.
FE1, Pseudomonas sp. PE1, and Pseudomonas sp. PE2, degraded the mycelial
cell walls of Pythium sp. N‐Acetylglucosamine and glucose were detected
in the supernatants of Pythium cell walls treated with the enzymes from Bacillus
sp. BE1, Bacillus sp. FE1, and Pseudomonas sp. PE2 as the final degrading
products by high‐performance liquid chromatography, whereas only glucose was detected
in the supernatant of the cell walls treated with the enzyme from Pseudomonas
sp. PE1. Moreover, the activities of β‐1,3‐glucanase, β‐1,3‐1,4‐glucanase,
and chitinase were observed by polysaccharolytic analysis using the enzymes from
Bacillus sp. BE1, Bacillus sp. FE1, and Pseudomonas sp. PE2,
whereas only the activities of β‐1,3‐glucanase and β‐1,3‐1,4‐glucanase were
found during analysis using Pseudomonas sp. PE1. β‐1,4‐Glucanase, β‐1,6‐glucanase,
and mannanase activities were not detected in any of the crude enzymes obtained from
these isolates. From the four isolates, the molecular weights (MW) of β‐1,3‐glucanase
and chitinase were estimated to be approximately 50 000–100 000 by the ultrafiltration
method. Two Pseudomonas spp. were also suggested to have β‐1,3‐1,4‐glucanases
with MW of 50 000–100 000. However, the MW of β‐1,3‐1,4‐glucanases from
the two Bacillus spp. might be close to 50 000 or they produce at least two β‐1,3‐1,4‐glucanases with MW of 30 000–50 000 and 50 000–100 000, respectively.