Actions of Cellulase Isolated from the Hemolymph of Giant African Snail (Archachatina marginata) on Solid Wastes

Abstract

Solid wastes generation is a ginormous and ever-expanding problem affecting the world, majorly developing countries. This is because the world populace produces million tonnes of municipal solid wastes each day and this number has been projected to triple in the next few years. Drastic increase in wastes especially solid wastes could be directly proportional to increase in pollution and this could pose deleterious effect to mankind in general. Cellulose which is a chief constituent of solid wastes could be degraded by cellulase, a hydrolytic enzyme presents in the genetic make-up of giant African snail. In this study, cellulase was isolated from the hemolymph of Archachatina marginata and partially purified by draining the hemolymph into a sterilized beaker. The drained hemolymph was centrifuged at 4000g for 20 min to obtain a crude fraction of the enzyme. The actions of isolated cellulase on different agricultural and industrial wastes were examined using standard procedure. The enzyme had a specific activity of 1.39U/mg. Biodegradation study showed that the enzyme has highest activities on agricultural and industrial wastes such as; Leaves (approximately 125.32-426.40%), Plastics (2.95-91.14%), Wrappers (21.29-72.65%), Kitchen wastes (3.89-65.71%), Woods (12.34-40.77%) and the lowest activity was recorded on Nylons (3.26-9.64%). The degree of biodegradation of solid wastes signifies that the enzyme could play a key role in efficient, reliable and non-hazardous means of waste management and material recycling.