Development of an Economical Process for the High Yield Production of Cellulase

70415 The enzymatic depolymerization of cellulose, a major biomass component, is required for the economical and environmentally sound conversion of plant matter into bio-based products and energy. However, the prohibitive costs of current enzyme microbial production processes prevent the application of biomass enzymatic hydrolysis. This project will investigate the possibility of dramatically increasing cellulase yields by inducing the enzyme complex expression in the producing organism. The technology will be developed for culture induction and enzyme-yield improvement by incorporation in the medium of sophorose lipids, a low-cost, industrially available source of sophorose (easily biodegradable fatty acid modified sophorose). In Phase I, the inducing effect of sophorose lipids on the cellulase producing cultures grown in the presence of natural sophorose lipids will be evaluated in small-scale flask cultures. Enzyme production will be scaled up in bioreactor cultivations, and the enzyme properties will be tested. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: A low cost process for the production of sugar from plant biomass should lead to a wider availability of bioproducts, namely, fuels, food products, industrial enzymes, solvents, and chemical intermediates