| Macromolecules such as proteins and polysaccharides can constitute a significant portion of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in wastewater, but limited information is available on how these compounds are degraded in biological wastewater treatment systems. Bacteria cannot assimilate intact macromolecules but must first hydrolyze them to monomers or small oligomers. To better understand the mechanism of macromolecule degradation in wastewater treatment systems this study investigates two important questions of macromolecule metabolism. First, does hydrolysis occur in close proximity to the cell or are the hydrolytic enzymes released into bulk solution, and second, if hydrolysis is cell-associated, are hydrolyzed fragments directly assimilated into the cell or are they released back into solution? Fluorescent model substrate analogs were used to determine the location of leucine aminopeptidase and ;A separate, but related, part of this study adapted pre-column ortho-phthaldialdehyde derivatization, reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic separation and fluorometric detection to measure free and combined amino acids in unconcentrated wastewaters and to assess their treatability in wastewater treatment systems. |
