Lignocellulolytic enzymes from fungi: functional and structural studies

Abstract

Lignocellulose, the major component of readily available materials such as wood and agricultural residues, forestry and urban, is present in plant cell walls and consists mainly of three types of polymers: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. In order to be harnessed and used in the production of biofuels, must be chemically modified lignocellulose. Some microorganisms, especially fungi, lignocellulolytic produce enzymes capable of degrading lignocellulose and breaks through the provision of the constituent polymer chains, allowing the subsequent conversion of the molecules originated in materials of interest (bioconversion). The use of these fungi and enzymes produced by them in the optimization of processes of transformation of lignocellulosic materials is of great industrial interest, which justifies the study in the search for organisms and enzymes capable of operating with high efficiency under the conditions imposed by industrial processes in large scale. Studies to search for bodies and lignocellulosic enzymes with greater potential for catalysis and / or more resistant to severe conditions such as high temperature, are of great importance in the development of technologies that aim to make bioethanol more competitive with the fuels fossil.The purpose of this project has two approaches: 1) screening study of ten (10) for selection of different fungi (s) best (s) for production of thermostable lignocellulolytic enzymes (cellulases, hemicellulases and peroxidases). Fungi have not been characterized selected (or this characterization is still incomplete) and its ability to lignocellulose degradation, but due to the environment in which they are or because they belong to the genus, have great potential in the enzymatic degradation these materials, 2) Study of a recombinant fungal xylanase Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, symbiont-cutter ant. In this project we propose to obtain the recombinant enzyme and studies of crystallization of the pure molecule for subsequent structural studies of xylanase by X-ray diffraction. (AU)