Screening for cellulase-producing microorganisms is routinely done on carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) plates. The culture plates are flooded either with 1% hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide or with 0.1% Congo red followed by 1 M NaCl. In both cases, it takes a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes to obtain the zone of hydrolysis after flooding, and the hydrolyzed area is not sharply discernible. An improved method is reported herein for the detection of extracellular cellulase production by microorganisms by way of plate assay. In this method, CMC plates were flooded with Gram's iodine instead of the reagents just mentioned. Gram's iodine formed a bluish-black complex with cellulose but not with hydrolyzed cellulose, giving a sharp and distinct zone around the cellulase-producing microbial colonies within 3 to 5 minutes. The new method is rapid and efficient; therefore, it can be easily performed for screening large numbers of microbial cultures of both bacteria and fungi. This is the first report on the use of Gram's iodine for the detection of cellulase production by microorganisms using plate assay.

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Microbial proteases are one of the important groups of industrially and commercially produced enzymes contributing approximately 2/3 of all enzyme sales. Though proteases are produced by many microorganisms, emphasis is on the microorganisms producing proteases with desired characters. As demand for novel proteases is increasing day by day the initial screening methods and assays for protease detection are of utmost importance. This review focuses attention on present status of knowledge on the various methods and protocols available for protease screening, detection, and quantification starting from plate assays to spectrophotometric, fluorometric, and nanoparticles based assays. The review will help in making strategies for exploitation of protease resources and improvement of enzymes to obtain more robust proteases.

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