Structural and functional characterization of new cellulases, focusing in the relation between catalytic domains and CBMs

Abstract

Bioethanol has been considered as a promising source of renewable energy not only Brazil, which has high capacity of biofuel production, but in the whole world. This interest has grown thanks to new techniques that produce ethanol by biomass degradation (second generation bioethanol). The key to the success of this technique is to use a set of lignocellulolytic enzymes that, in synergy, are able to degrade biomass releasing fermentable sugars. Many of these enzymes has been characterized, but, as there are a diversity of structural forms and a multitude of functions (with different specificities), it is still far from achieving an efficient and low cost enzyme cocktail. Accordingly , this project aims to study the three-dimensional structure of new cellulases found by the group CTBE in metagenomic lybraries, characterize the function of them, understand the effects of the interaction between the different modules of the enzymes in their activities and to propose and study mutations targeting an improvement in activity, thermostability and specificity. (AU)