Optimization of tailor-made enzyme cocktail for deconstruction of agricultural and forest residues

The way to the development of more efficient biomass-degrading enzyme cocktails requires precise knowledge about the specific enzymatic activities involved in the degradation of lignocellulose. Currently used partially defined complex mixtures can offer limited knowledge. Moreover, they are not adapted to efficiently degrade materials with different structure / composition, such as hardwoods and softwoods, leading to the necessity of customizing enzyme mixtures for particular feedstocks in order to optimize hydrolysis (1). In this study, four core cellulases, in the presence of other three “accessory” enzymes, all isolated from M. thermophila using various purification and heterologous expression strategies (2-4), were tested against agricultural and forest residues. Synergistic interactions among different enzymes were determined through various mixture optimization experiments. The boosting effect of addition of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase AA9 from M. thermophila was underlined. Optimum combinations were predicted from suitable statistical models which were able to further increase hydrolysis yields, suggesting that tailor-made enzyme mixtures targeted towards a particular feed stock can help maximize hydrolysis yields.

(1) Biotechnol Bioeng. 97:287–296

(2) PeerJ. 1:e46

(3) Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 98:231-42

(4) Bioresour Technol. 110:480-7