| The myxobacteria are a special kind of Gram-negative unicellular bacteria with rod-shaped vegetative cells. Because of their gliding movement, complicated multicellular behavior and morphogenesis process, the myxobacteria are generally considered as advanced prokaryotes, which may live on the edge of eukaryotes. Another outstanding trait of the myxobacteria is that they can produce a large number of bioactive secondary metabolites with some novel structures and unique mechanism of action. Based on their specialization in degradation of biomacromolecules, they are divided into two groups, one is bacteriolytic, and the other is cellulolytic. Within cellulolytic group, there is only one genus named Sorangium, in which Sorangium cellulosum is the type species in this genus. As an important medicine microbial producer (e.g. the famous antitumor drug epothilone), S. cellulosum draws worldwide attention. However, very few studies have been focused on the activity of degrading biomacromolecular materials, such as cellulose and hemicellulose, which is the unique and basic property of S. cellulosum among the myxobacteria. In virtue of the biggest domestic myxobacteria strain bank established by our laboratory, this paper tried to explore the characteristics and mechanism of Sorangium's cellulolytic activity.Cellulose is the most abundant and renewable organic biopolymer on earth and the degradation of cellulose is mainly carried out by microorganisms. Different microorganisms select different strategies to hydrolyze cellulose, represented by the organization and mechanism of action of their cellulolytic enzymes. Sorangium strains can grow on simple inorganic salt medium (e.g. CNST medium) with cellulose as the only carbon source by producing cellulases and hemicellulases. Accordingly, to elucidate basic property of cellulases produced by S. cellulosum was set as our research starting point. The morphologies, cellulolytic characteristics and...
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