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Cellulases

Cooperative biomass breakdown

Nature Chemical Biology volume 9, pages 350–351 (2013)Cite this article

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The synergistic action of cellulases is critical for the effective saccharification of cellulosic biomass, but the details of this cooperation remain poorly understood. Quantitative analysis at the level of single molecules now unveils a form of 'work sharing' among cellulolytic enzymes based on different adsorption specificities of their carbohydrate-binding modules.

Human beings have used petroleum oil as an industrial source of energy and materials, such as chemicals and polymers, since the 1850s. In contrast, other living organisms have used various biomasses as starting materials for the production of high-energy compounds, such as ATP, as well as a wide variety of polymers, such as DNA, proteins and polysaccharides, for millions of years. Because most biomass is photosynthesized from carbon dioxide and water by plants and then degraded back to carbon dioxide and water mainly by microorganisms, the biochemical reactions by various enzymes form a sustainable, not a one-way, process. Therefore, there is enormous interest in moving from an 'oil refinery' economy to a 'biorefinery' economy. To accomplish this, we need a better understanding of the reactions involved in biomass degradation, many of which occur at surfaces, for example, on insoluble biomass such as cellulose. However, studies of enzymatic reactions at solid surfaces face technical challenges because the vast majority of enzymology methodologies are best suited for the interrogation of soluble substrates; indeed, many general techniques cannot be applied to solid surfaces. Fox et al.1 provide new inroads into this problem in their application of advanced imaging techniques to interrogate cellulase function at cellulosic surfaces.

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Figure 1: Cellulases adopt different strategies to break down cellulose together.

References

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  1. Kiyohiko Igarashi is at the Department of Biomaterial Sciences, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

    Kiyohiko Igarashi

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  1. Kiyohiko Igarashi
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Correspondence to Kiyohiko Igarashi.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Igarashi, K. Cooperative biomass breakdown. Nat Chem Biol 9, 350–351 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1237

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1237

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