Engineering topics

Taylor, Larry E.

Publications and source records attributed to Taylor, Larry E..

5 records

DOE OSTI2018

Engineering enhanced cellobiohydrolase activity

Glycoside Hydrolase Family 7 cellobiohydrolases (GH7 CBHs) catalyze cellulose depolymerization in cellulolytic eukaryotes, making them key discovery and engineering targets. However, there remains a lack of robust structure–activity relationships for these industrially important cellulases. Here, we compare CBHs from Trichoderma reesei (TrCel7A) and Penicillium funiculosum (PfCel7A), which exhibit a multi-modular architecture consisting of catalytic domain (CD), carbohydrate-binding module, and linker. We show that PfCel7A exhibits 60% greater performance on biomass than TrCel7A. To understand the contribution of each domain to this improvement, we measure enzymatic activity for a library of CBH chimeras with swapped subdomains, demonstrating that the enhancement is mainly caused by PfCel7A CD. We solve the crystal structure of PfCel7A CD and use this information to create a second library of TrCel7A CD mutants, identifying a TrCel7A double mutant with near-equivalent activity to wild-type PfCel7A. Overall, these results reveal CBH regions that enable targeted activity improvements.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Enzymes in Commercial Cellulase Preparations Bind Differently to Dioxane Extracted Lignins

Commercial fungal cellulases used in biomass-to-biofuels processes can be grouped into three general classes: native, augmented, and engineered. To evaluate lignin binding affinities of different enzyme activities in various commercial cellulase formulations in order to determine if enzyme losses due to lignin binding can be modulated by using different enzymes of the same activity We used water:dioxane (1:9) to extract lignin from pretreated corn stover. Commercial cellulases were incubated with lignin and the unbound supernatants were evaluated for individual enzyme loss by SDS=PAGE and these were correlated with activity loss using various pNP-sugar substrates. Colorimetric assays for general glycosyl hydrolase activities showed distinct differences in enzyme binding to lignin for each enzyme activity. Native systems demonstrated low binding of endo- and exo-cellulases, high binding of xylanase, and moderate ..beta..-glucosidase binding. Engineered cellulase mixtures exhibited low binding of exo-cellulases, very strong binding of endocellulases and ..beta..- glucosidase, and mixed binding of xylanase activity. The augmented cellulase had low binding of exocellulase, high binding of endocellulase and xylanase, and moderate binding of ..beta..-glucosidase activities. Bound and unbound activities were correlated with general molecular weight ranges of proteins as measured by loss of proteins bands in bound fractions on SDS-PAGE gels. Lignin-bound high molecular weight bands correlated with binding of ..beta..-glucosidase activity. While ..beta..-glucosidases demonstrated high binding in many cases, they have been shown to remain active. Bound low molecular weight bands correlated with xylanase activity binding. Contrary to other literature, exocellulase activity did not show strong lignin binding. The variation in enzyme activity binding between the three classes of cellulases preparations indicate that it is certainly possible to alter the binding of specific glycosyl hydrolase activities. It remains unclear whether loss of endocellulase activity to lignin binding is problematic for biomass conversion.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2014

High temperature pre-digestion of corn stover biomass for improved product yields

Introduction: The efficient conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks remains a key step in the commercialization of biofuels. One of the barriers to cost-effective conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to sugars remains the enzymatic saccharification process step. Here, we describe a novel hybrid processing approach comprising enzymatic pre-digestion with newly characterized hyperthermophilic enzyme cocktails followed by conventional saccharification with commercial enzyme preparations. Dilute acid pretreated corn stover was subjected to this new procedure to test its efficacy. Thermal tolerant enzymes from Acidothermus cellulolyticus and Caldicellulosiruptor bescii were used to pre-digest pretreated biomass at elevated temperatures prior to saccharification by the commercial cellulase formulation. Results: We report that pre-digestion of biomass with these enzymes at elevated temperatures prior to addition of the commercial cellulase formulation increased conversion rates and yields when compared to commercial cellulase formulation alone under low solids conditions. In conclusion, Our results demonstrating improvements in rates and yields of conversion point the way forward for hybrid biomass conversion schemes utilizing catalytic amounts of hyperthermophilic enzymes.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Engineering towards a complete heterologous cellulase secretome in Yarrowia lipolytica reveals its potential for consolidated bioprocessing

Background: Yarrowia lipolytica is an oleaginous yeast capable of metabolizing glucose to lipids, which then accumulate intracellularly. However, it lacks the suite of cellulolytic enzymes required to break down biomass cellulose and cannot therefore utilize biomass directly as a carbon source. Toward the development of a direct microbial conversion platform for the production of hydrocarbon fuels from cellulosic biomass, the potential for Y. lipolytica to function as a consolidated bioprocessing strain was investigated by first conducting a genomic search and functional testing of its endogenous glycoside hydrolases. Once the range of endogenous enzymes was determined, the critical cellulases from Trichoderma reesei were cloned into Yarrowia. Results: Initially, work to express T. reesei endoglucanase II (EGII) and cellobiohydrolase (CBH) II in Y. lipolytica resulted in the successful secretion of active enzymes. However, a critical cellulase, T. reesei CBHI, while successfully expressed in and secreted from Yarrowia, showed less than expected enzymatic activity, suggesting an incompatibility (probably at the post-translational level) for its expression in Yarrowia. This result prompted us to evaluate alternative or modified CBHI enzymes. Our subsequent expression of a T. reesei-Talaromyces emersonii (Tr-Te) chimeric CBHI, Chaetomium thermophilum CBHI, and Humicola grisea CBHI demonstrated remarkably improved enzymatic activities. Specifically, the purified chimeric Tr-Te CBHI showed a specific activity on Avicel that is comparable to that of the native T. reesei CBHI. Furthermore, the chimeric Tr-Te CBHI also showed significant synergism with EGII and CBHII in degrading cellulosic substrates, using either mixed supernatants or co-cultures of the corresponding Y. lipolytica transformants. The consortia system approach also allows rational volume mixing of the transformant cultures in accordance with the optimal ratio of cellulases required for efficient degradation of cellulosic substrates. In Conclusion: Taken together, this work demonstrates the first case of successful expression of a chimeric CBHI with essentially full native activity in Y. lipolytica, and supports the notion that Y. lipolytica strains can be genetically engineered, ultimately by heterologous expression of fungal cellulases and other enzymes, to directly convert lignocellulosic substrates to biofuels.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Identification and characterization of core cellulolytic enzymes from Talaromyces cellulolyticus (formerly Acremonium cellulolyticus) critical for hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass

Background: Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass is an essential process for the production of fermentable sugars for industrial use. A better understanding of fungal cellulase systems will provide clues for maximizing the hydrolysis of target biomass. Talaromyces cellulolyticus is a promising fungus for cellulase production and efficient biomass hydrolysis. Several cellulolytic enzymes purified from T. cellulolyticus were characterized in earlier studies, but the core enzymes critical for hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass remain unknown. Results: Six cellulolytic enzymes critical for the hydrolysis of crystalline cellulose were purified from T. cellulolyticus culture supernatant using an enzyme assay based on synergistic hydrolysis of Avicel. The purified enzymes were identified by their substrate specificities and analyses of trypsin-digested peptide fragments and were classified into the following glycosyl hydrolase (GH) families: GH3 (β-glucosidase, Bgl3A), GH5 (endoglucanase, Cel5A), GH6 (cellobiohydrolase II, Cel6A), GH7 (cellobiohydrolase I and endoglucanase, Cel7A and Cel7B, respectively), and GH10 (xylanase, Xyl10A). Hydrolysis of dilute acid-pretreated corn stover (PCS) with mixtures of the purified enzymes showed that Cel5A, Cel7B, and Xyl10A each had synergistic effects with a mixture of Cel6A and Cel7A. Cel5A seemed to be more effective in the synergistic hydrolysis of the PCS than Cel7B. The ratio of Cel5A, Cel6A, Cel7A, and Xyl10A was statistically optimized for the hydrolysis of PCS glucan in the presence of Bgl3A. The resultant mixture achieved higher PCS glucan hydrolysis at lower enzyme loading than a culture filtrate from T. cellulolyticus or a commercial enzyme preparation, demonstrating that the five enzymes play a role as core enzymes in the hydrolysis of PCS glucan. In Conclusion: Core cellulolytic enzymes in the T. cellulolyticus cellulase system were identified to Cel5A, Cel6A, Cel7A, Xyl10A, and Bgl3A and characterized. The optimized mixture of these five enzymes was highly effective for the hydrolysis of PCS glucan, providing a foundation for future improvement of the T. cellulolyticus cellulase system.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗