Researchers Discover New Enzyme to Upscale Renewable Chemicals’ Production

 The discovery of a novel enzyme that releases a valuable chemical from agricultural waste could provide an important breakthrough in the upscaling of renewable fuels and chemicals, a new study shows.

Researchers – led by the University of York - have discovered an enzyme in a fungus that can act as a catalyst to bring about a biochemical reaction that breaks down lignocellulose to produce chemicals and fuels.

Lignocellulose as Renewable Resource:

Professor Neil Bruce from the Department of Biology and Director of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) said: “We believe this discovery is important as there is much interest in using lignocellulose as a renewable and sustainable resource for the production of liquid fuels and chemicals.”

Although lignocellulose is one of the most abundant forms of fixed carbon in the biosphere, the use of lignocellulose as a material to supply bioindustry has been hampered by its composition and structure, which renders it highly obstinate to degradation. This is, in part, due to the presence of lignin, a complex aromatic polymer that encases the structure to block enzyme accessibility.

There are currently no industrial biocatalytic processes for breaking down lignin.

Lignin Degradation for Chemical Production:

But researchers found that an enzyme produced by a fungus called, Parascedosporium putredinis NO1, can break through the lignin to begin the essential process of degradation needed to ultimately produce chemicals.

P. putredinis NO1 is able to dominate cultures in the latter stages of wheat straw degradation in a mixed microbial community when easily accessible polysaccharides have been exhausted. Treatments with this enzyme can increase the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass, offering the possibility of producing a valuable product from lignin while decreasing processing costs.

The research was in collaboration with the Department of Energy’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at the Wisconsin Energy Institute, and the University of Wisconsin, USA.

Source: University of York