They are produced by microorganisms for efficient degradation of plant cell wall polysaccharides, notably cellulose, the most abundant organic polymer on Earth.
Within a cellulosome, multiple endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, xylanases and other degradative enzymes work synergistically to attack heterogeneous, insoluble cellulose substrates.
[2][3][4][5] In the early 1980s, Raphael Lamed and Ed Bayer met at Tel Aviv University,[6] Israel and commenced their work that led to the discovery of the cellulosome concept.
They employed a then unconventional experimental approach, in which they isolated an adherence-defective mutant of the bacterium and prepared a specific polyclonal antibody for detection of the functional component.
A combination of biochemical, biophysical, immun-ochemical and ultra-structural techniques, followed by molecular biological verification, led to the definition and proof of the cellulosome concept.