ABSTRACT
A. LEJEUNE and C . COLSON Catholic U niversity o f Louvain, L ouva in-la -N euve , Belgium
D. E. EVELEIGH R u tg e rs U n iversity , New B ru n sw ick , New Jersey
I. INTRODUCTION
The s tu d y of microbial cellulose d eg rad a tio n is re lev an t to bo th eco logical and biotechnological co n ce rn s . Cellulose is a major compo nen t o f v eg e ta tio n , and th e b ioconversion o f th is polym er to o th e r forms is an im portan t asp ec t of th e carb o n cycle an d th u s m erits special a tte n tio n . L ikew ise, th e w idespread in te re s t in th e use of biom ass as a feedstock fo r th e p rod u c tio n of e n e rg y , chem icals, food, and feed s tu ffs has focused fu r th e r s tu d ie s on ce llu lases.
