Biological pretreatment of cellulose: enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis rate using cellulose-binding domains from cellulases.
In this study, cellulose-binding domains (CBDs) of cellulases from Trichoderma reesei were used in a pretreatment step and were found to effectively reduce the crystallinity of cellulose (both Avicel and fibrous cellulose). This, in turn, led to higher glucose concentrations (up to 25% increase) in subsequent hydrolysis of cellulose using a mixture of cellulases and without the need for any intermediate purification step. CBDs were shown to be active in a range of temperatures (up to 50°C), while cellulase hydrolytic activity was greatly reduced after incubation at 50°C. This was explained by retention of full binding capacity after incubation at 50°C for 15 h. Our findings suggest that CBDs may be a valuable tool in pretreating cellulose and eventually afford faster enzymatic conversion of cellulose to glucose, thus contributing to more affordable processes in the production of biofuels.
Department of Chemistry, Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry, Heinrichstraße 28, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Mélanie
M
Hall
Prabuddha
P
Bansal
Jay H
JH
Lee
Matthew J
MJ
Realff
Andreas S
AS
Bommarius
D044602:Cellulases / Q000737:chemistry*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D005947:Glucose / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D014242:Trichoderma / Q000201:enzymology*
D002482:Cellulose; D044602:Cellulases; D005947:Glucose