The growth of wood-destroying fungi on ligno-cellulosic materials depends on the production of many enzymes, of which probably the most important is the multi component cellulase system. Within this system, at least three different kinds of enzym are believed to be involved in crystalline cellulose decomposition. These are endo-1,4-glucanase, exo-1,4-ß glucanase and ß-glucosidase. Most of the recent research on cellulases has concerned isolation, purification and characterisation of the enzymes and their application in the utilisation of cellulosic waste. Information on the chemical inhibition of cellulases is available but there is little reference to the interaction of wood-attacking cellulases and the preservatives which are used to protect wood. The objective of this work is to study the production and activity of cellulases of selected basidiomycetes and to observe the effect of wood-preservatives on these enzymes. Preliminary studies with copper-chrome-arsenate (CCA) are reported here

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