The structural and biochemical basis for cellulose biodegradation

Abstract

The increasing petroleum price and the foreseeable depletion of fossil fuels has prompted research on bioenergy, particularly bioethanol and biobutanol from renewable lignocellulosic biomass, the primary component of which is cellulose. One key requirement of lignocellulose degradation is to improve the efficiency of a group of enzymes with general name cellulase, the collaboration of which degrades cellulose to glucose. Significant progress has been made in the last decade on understanding the structural and chemical properties of the substrate cellulose, the structural and biochemical properties of cellulases, their enzymatic mechanisms and the mechanism of synergistic catalysis by cellulases. This manuscript reviews the progress in the aforementioned fields, particularly the structural basis and enzymatic mechanisms of reactions leading to the degradation of cellulose. Based on these discoveries, popular models of enzymatic cellulose degradation are discussed, in the hope of benefiting further in‐depth investigations of this complex, multi‐component enzymatic reaction.© 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

Terracidiphilus gabretensis gen. nov., sp. nov., an Abundant and Active Forest Soil Acidobacterium Important in Organic Matter Transformation

“…Cellulases have been identified in 18 GH families (58). The large number of CDSs belonging to GH families representing endocellulases, ␤-glucosidases, and CBMs found in the genome of T. gabretensis S55 T , along with the ability to grow with carboxymethyl cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose as sole C sources and the in vitro production of ␤-glucosidase and cellobiohydrolase, confirmed its metabolic potential to degrade cellulose.…”

Docking Study of β-glucosidase B (BglB) from P. Polymyxca with Cellobiose and Cellotetrose

“…1. The cellobiose unit in cellulose structure can be further degraded into glucose monomer unit through enzymatic hydrolysis which is performed by cellulases [2]. There are three enzymes in cellulase system that work in synergy to hydrolyze cellulose into glucose monomer which are endocellulase (endo-1, 4-β-glucanohydrolase,…”

A Weibull statistics‐based lignocellulose saccharification model and a built‐in parameter accurately predict lignocellulose hydrolysis performance

“…Out of these renewable 3,4 , Soh Kheang Loh 5 , Xiaomin Sun 6 , Chenxi Zhang 7 and Xu Fang 1 energy sources, biomass energy, in particular energy produced from lignocellulosic biomass, received special attention for its advantages over other energy sources: less pollution, better reliability, no competition with other resources like space or food, and compatibility to existing liquefied fuels [2,3].…”

“…J. -1433 energy sources, biomass energy, in particular energy produced from lignocellulosic biomass, received special attention for its advantages over other energy sources: less pollution, better reliability, no competition with other resources like space or food, and compatibility to existing liquefied fuels [2,3].Lignocellulose is a complicated substrate that is composed of entangled polymeric substances: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin [4]. Out of these three polymers, cellulose is the primary target for enzyme/microbe-assisted degradation to biofuels such as bioethanol, biobutanol or biohydrogen [5,6].…”