Fundamental features of microbial cellulose utilization are examined at successively higher levels of aggregation encompassing the structure and composition of cellulosic biomass, taxonomic diversity, cellulase enzyme systems, molecular biology of cellulase enzymes, physiology of cellulolytic microorganisms, ecological aspects of cellulase-degrading communities, and rate-limiting factors in nature. The methodological basis for studying microbial cellulose utilization is considered relative to quantification of cells and enzymes in the presence of solid substrates as well as apparatus and analysis for cellulose-grown continuous cultures. Quantitative description of cellulose hydrolysis is addressed with respect to adsorption of cellulase enzymes, rates of enzymatic hydrolysis, bioenergetics of microbial cellulose utilization, kinetics of microbial cellulose utilization, and contrasting features compared to soluble substrate kinetics. A biological perspective on processing cellulosic biomass is presented, including features of pretreated substrates and alternative process configurations. Organism development is considered for "consolidated bioprocessing" (CBP), in which the production of cellulolytic enzymes, hydrolysis of biomass, and fermentation of resulting sugars to desired products occur in one step. Two organism development strategies for CBP are examined: (i) improve product yield and tolerance in microorganisms able to utilize cellulose, or (ii) express a heterologous system for cellulose hydrolysis and utilization in microorganisms that exhibit high product yield and tolerance. A concluding discussion identifies unresolved issues pertaining to microbial cellulose utilization, suggests approaches by which such issues might be resolved, and contrasts a microbially oriented cellulose hydrolysis paradigm to the more conventional enzymatically oriented paradigm in both fundamental and applied contexts.

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Microbial cellulose utilization: fundamentals and biotechnology.

Enzymes synthesized by hyperthermophiles (bacteria and archaea with optimal growth temperatures of >80°C), also called hyperthermophilic enzymes, are typically thermostable (i.e., resistant to irreversible inactivation at high temperatures) and are optimally active at high temperatures. These enzymes share the same catalytic mechanisms with their mesophilic counterparts. When cloned and expressed in mesophilic hosts, hyperthermophilic enzymes usually retain their thermal properties, indicating that these properties are genetically encoded. Sequence alignments, amino acid content comparisons, crystal structure comparisons, and mutagenesis experiments indicate that hyperthermophilic enzymes are, indeed, very similar to their mesophilic homologues. No single mechanism is responsible for the remarkable stability of hyperthermophilic enzymes. Increased thermostability must be found, instead, in a small number of highly specific alterations that often do not obey any obvious traffic rules. After briefly discussing the diversity of hyperthermophilic organisms, this review concentrates on the remarkable thermostability of their enzymes. The biochemical and molecular properties of hyperthermophilic enzymes are described. Mechanisms responsible for protein inactivation are reviewed. The molecular mechanisms involved in protein thermostabilization are discussed, including ion pairs, hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, disulfide bridges, packing, decrease of the entropy of unfolding, and intersubunit interactions. Finally, current uses and potential applications of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic enzymes as research reagents and as catalysts for industrial processes are described.

Hyperthermophilic Enzymes: Sources, Uses, and Molecular Mechanisms for Thermostability

Information pertaining to enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose by noncomplexed cellulase enzyme systems is reviewed with a particular emphasis on development of aggregated understanding incorporating substrate features in addition to concentration and multiple cellulase components. Topics considered include properties of cellulose, adsorption, cellulose hydrolysis, and quantitative models. A classification scheme is proposed for quantitative models for enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose based on the number of solubilizing activities and substrate state variables included. We suggest that it is timely to revisit and reinvigorate functional modeling of cellulose hydrolysis, and that this would be highly beneficial if not necessary in order to bring to bear the large volume of information available on cellulase components on the primary applications that motivate interest in the subject.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/bit.20282

Toward an aggregated understanding of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose: noncomplexed cellulase systems.

In recent years, growing attention has been devoted to the conversion of biomass into fuel ethanol, considered the cleanest liquid fuel alternative to fossil fuels. Significant advances have been made towards the technology of ethanol fermentation. This review provides practical examples and gives a broad overview of the current status of ethanol fermentation including biomass resources, microorganisms, and technology. Also, the promising prospects of ethanol fermentation are especially introduced. The prospects included are fermentation technology converting xylose to ethanol, cellulase enzyme utilized in the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials, immobilization of the microorganism in large systems, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, and sugar conversion into ethanol.

Ethanol fermentation from biomass resources: current state and prospects.

Outlook for cellulase improvement: screening and selection strategies.

Production of fungal xylanases

The hydrolysis of Whatman no. 1 filter paper by purified cellulolytic components from Trichoderma reesei and the synergistic action of binary combinations of these enzymes on the same substrate were investigated. At 20 milligrams filter paper, enzyme concentrations needed to obtain half-maximal hydrolysis rates (KE values) were in the 3-4 microM range for the cellobiohydrolases (CBHs) and 0.05-0.10 microM for the endoglucanases (EGs). Catalytic-core proteins of CBH I and EG III, lacking the cellulose-binding domain, exhibit KE values 2.3 and 5.1 times higher than those of the intact enzymes. In synergistic combinations of two cellulases, the KE value of at least one enzyme was 3-10-fold reduced. CBH I/CBH II and CBH I/EG III combinations showed the most powerful synergism, and optimal ratios were a function of the total protein concentration. Results obtained in activity and adsorption assays using filter paper pretreated with one component, followed by inactivation and subsequent hydrolysis with the same or another cellulase component, point to a sequential enzymic attack of the cellulose and seems consistent with the mathematical model presented.

Cellulose hydrolysis by the cellulases from Trichoderma reesei: a new model for synergistic interaction.

Production of Trichoderma cellulase in laboratory and pilot scale

Separate binding of several purified cellulolytic components of Trichoderma reesei on to filter paper was studied and concomitant hydrolysis rates evaluated. Enhancement of mass transfer from the bulk liquid to the solid substrate by agitation has two different effects on adsorption depending on the type of enzyme: (i) the fraction of cellobiohydrolase II (CBH II) and endoglucanase III (EG III) bound at equilibrium is increased, whereas (ii) the rate but not the extent of cellobiohydrolase I (CBH I) and endoglucanase I (EG I) adsorption is affected. The adsorption of CBH I core, a component lacking the cellulose-binding domain (CBD), is, however, not significantly influenced by mass transfer. The CBH I interdomain peptide (present in CBH I core b) does not participate in adsorption but enhances stability. The adsorption of CBH I core proteins is a fully reversible process whereas that of the intact CBH I is not. Thus, the interaction of the CBD with filter paper apparently accounts for the mass-transfer-limited binding rate and also for the irreversible adsorption of intact CBH I. Adsorption isotherms at 50 degrees C indicate very similar relative association constants for the intact cellulases (0.24-0.30 l/g of cellulose), but drastically reduced values for CBH I core proteins (0.03 l/g of cellulose). The specific activities of adsorbed CBH I and of its core proteins are identical and a linear relationship between adsorption and rates of hydrolysis is found only for these enzymes. Thus, non-productive binding on to cellulose seems evident in the case of CBH II and EG III but not CBH I.

Cellulose hydrolysis by the cellulases from Trichoderma reesei: adsorptions of two cellobiohydrolases, two endocellulases and their core proteins on filter paper and their relation to hydrolysis.

Walter Steiner

Papers

Production of fungal xylanases

Cellulose hydrolysis by the cellulases from Trichoderma reesei: a new model for synergistic interaction.

Production of Trichoderma cellulase in laboratory and pilot scale

Cellulose hydrolysis by the cellulases from Trichoderma reesei: adsorptions of two cellobiohydrolases, two endocellulases and their core proteins on filter paper and their relation to hydrolysis.

Cellulase-free xylanase from Thermomyces lanuginosus: Optimization of production in submerged and solid-state culture