The enzymatic maceration of plant tissue

A new technique was developed for measuring the enzymatic maceration of plant tissue. When potato tissue disks were subjected to constant agitation in the presence of a “macerating enzyme” they were reduced to a suspension of single cells. the maceration process was followed by determining the increase in turbidity of reaction mixtures at 475 mμ due to the release of free cells. The process of tissue maceration as measured by this turbidimetric procedure was observed to consist of a lag phase followed by a linear phase of cell release; the length of the lag phase and the slope of the linear phase of cell release were both related to the log of the “macerating enzyme” concentration. The “macerating enzyme” ofSclerotium rolfsii was purified and identified as an endo-polygalacturonase.