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Content Tagged "enzyme"

On the hunt for industrial enzymes

Researchers mined DOE JGI’s database of fungal genomes for candidate enzymes for use in a variety of industrial processes. The Science By screening genomes of fungi made publicly available by the DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers identified new versions of enzymes called lipases and sterol esterases. To further study the most promising enzymes, they created… [Read More]

Button Mushroom Marks Niche in Forest Carbon Storage

Many people know the button mushroom (Agaricusbisporus) as a tasty ingredient in their food. In the forest, though, this mushroom helps break down leaf litter in environments rich with humus, a mixture of soil and compost that contributes to the health of the microbial communities in, on and around the plant as well as the… [Read More]

Revisiting the importance of studying the microbes in termite guts

According to Leadbetter, the termite holds the key to unlocking all of this potential. But understanding how to do it won’t be easy.People have enlisted the help of microbes before, but never with this degree of complexity. “For 6,000 years,” he said, “we’ve been making beer, wine and bread using yeast,” which is a single-cell… [Read More]

White rot fungal genomics for biopulping in Biomass Magazine

Something special is happening with a research project focused on two white rot fungi genomes. Led by the U.S. DOE’s Joint Genome Institute, a team of international researchers is collaborating on a project to sequence and analyze the fungi strains to understand how enzymes present in the fungi break down plant biomass. It’s not the research… [Read More]

White rot fungal genomics analysis on EcoSeed

Scientists at the Energy Department’s Joint Genome Institute are comparing the genetic structure of two strains of white rot fungi in order to develop better enzymes for biofuel production.White rot fungi digest moist wood, causing it to rot and decay. These fungi possess natural enzymes that break down the cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin of plant… [Read More]

Searching for the basis of ligninolytic selectivity

Many fungal genome projects being carried out at the DOE JGI focus on understanding how enzymes can break down cellulose and lignin, the two most abundant biopolymers on Earth, in order to harness these capabilities for industrial applications such as biofuels production. Scanning electron micrograph of Ceriporiopsissubvermispora mycelium on wood.  (Robert Blanchette, University of Minnesota)… [Read More]

Elucidating bacteria’s roles in ant fungal gardens

Leafcutter ants cultivate fungal gardens that serve as their primary food source. Working toward the goal of harnessing novel enzymes for breaking down plant biomass to produce cellulosic biofuels, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) researchers have been studying the process by which the fungi break down the plant leaves harvested by the ants and… [Read More]

Analyzing enzymes for a PAH degradation pathway

Microbial activity is crucial for breaking down compounds, removing pollutants and chemically transforming organic compounds. Some of these pollutants are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in contaminated soils. The PAH phenanthrene, for example, can be broken down by the bacterium Arthobacterphenanthrenivorans, which was isolated from a creosote-polluted site in Greece, and used by the microbe… [Read More]

Fungal enzymes to improve biomass pretreatment processes

Many of the enzymes currently being used in the pretreatment processes for cellulosic biofuels production come from species that thrive at temperatures comfortable to humans (68°F-95°F). To speed up this process of converting polysaccharides to fermentable sugars, a goal driven by the nation’s Renewable Fuels Standard requirement that calls for the annual production of 36… [Read More]

Thermophilic fungi in Scientific American

Heat-loving fungi could provide a key enzyme for making low cost biofuel, and a team of “mushroom detectives” from the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute think they’ve just nailed their man – er, fungus. Read more at Scientific American  [Read More]