Crudc enzymc extracts were prepared from several brown algae, and incubated with M C-alginatos, non-radioactivc alginates, short polymannuronide (SM) and -guluronide (SG), short mixed residue-polyuronide (SMG). The reuction products positive to TBA analysis werc fractionated by gcl-filtration. 1t was then found that unsaturated monomcr and dimer are the major products from SM whiJe mono-, di-and trimer consist mainly of the products from SG, suggosting the cxistcnce of two differcnt kinds of alginate lyases m the alga] extracts, The lyase activitics were hightr in old tissucs of the frond and lower in young ones, and in addition higher in st-asons when alga] fronds cmbedcd zoosporangia than in othcr seasons, Carbazolc analysis for reaction products showed thai absorbancc incrcased rcmurkably at carlicr stages of incubation while absorbance in TBA analysis incrcased almost in parallel with incubution time.(n a previous paper (Abe et aL, 1973), it was reported that mannuronic acid residue(M)-rich alginates are synthesized and metabolized in the frond more rapidly than guluronic acid residue(G)-rich alginates and MG-alginates, on the basis of results from 14 C-photoassimilation experiments. It seemed, therefore, to be of interest for us to elucidate these facts on an enzymic level.In regard to the enzymes which degrade alginates, at least two kinds of lyases have been known to exist in a mollusc, Dolabella auricula Solander and a few pseudomonads isolated from decayed fronds of brown algae and sea sand; poly-mannuronide (Nisizawa et #/., 1968) and ^guluronide (Kashiwabara et aL, 1969) lyases.On the other hand, it was recently reported that M-residues of the alginate chain are converted into G-residues without Splitting their glycosidic linkages by the action of an enzyme from Azotobacter vinelandi^ and äs a result alginates containing both uronic acid residues are formed (Haug and Larsen, 1972). It may then be postulated that there exist such kinds of epimerase in brown algae to play a part of the alginate metabolism. The present authors, therefore, attempted to obtain any enzyme preparation which participate in the alginate metabolism.Thus> they first prepared crude alginate lyase extracts from several brown algae and carried out some investigations at an enzymic level. This paper deals mainly with the results obtained for alginate lyases.Algae for experiments were collected at several coves in the vicinity of Shimoda Bay, and quickly transported to the laboratory to prepare crude enzyme solution. Algal species used were Spatoglosmm pacificum Yendo, Colpomenia sinuosa (Roth) Derbes et Solier, Endarachne binghamiae L Agarth,£/OT7M bicyclls (Kjellman) Setchell, Vndaria pinnatifida (Harvey) Suringes, Sargassum sagamianttrn Yendo, hhige okamurai Yendo, and hhige foliacea Okamura.
Preparation of Crude Enzyme SolutionsFresh algal fronds (200 g) were made free from all macroscopic epiphytes by forceps in running sea water, and then shortly washed with tap water. They were mechanically ground on the folding surface of an ...