{"id":11126,"date":"2021-04-28T15:19:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T14:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=11126"},"modified":"2021-07-26T14:09:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T13:09:40","slug":"enzyme-fungus-produce-renewable-fuels-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/enzyme-fungus-produce-renewable-fuels-chemicals\/11126\/","title":{"rendered":"Enzyme from fungus could help produce renewable fuels and chemicals"},"content":{"rendered":"
The enzyme releases a valuable chemical from agricultural waste and can thus act as a catalyst to the biochemical reaction that breaks down lignocellulose, which could potentially be used as a sustainable resource to produce renewable fuels and chemicals.<\/p>\n
Lignocellulose is present in forestry and agricultural waste<\/a> such as wheat straw. Scientists believe that it could be used to produce biofuels and chemicals if a method of breaking it down and processing it affectively is discovered.<\/p>\n Professor Neil Bruce from the Department of Biology and Director of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) said: \u201cWe believe this discovery is important as there is much interest in using lignocellulose as renewable and sustainable resource for the production of liquid fuels and chemicals.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough lignocellulose is one of the most abundant forms of fixed carbon in the biosphere, the use of lignocellulose as a material to supply bioindustry has been hampered by its composition and structure, which renders it highly obstinate to degradation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is, in part, due to the presence of lignin, a complex aromatic polymer that encases the structure to block enzyme accessibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently, there is not an effective industrial biocatalytic process capable of breaking down lignin. However, the researchers discovered that an enzyme produced by a fungus called Parascedosporium putredinis NO1, <\/em>is able to break through the lignin and begin the necessary process of degradation to produce renewable fuels and chemicals.<\/p>\n Professor Bruce added: \u201cP. putredinis NO1<\/em> is able to dominate cultures in the latter stages of wheat straw degradation in a mixed microbial community when easily accessible polysaccharides have been exhausted.<\/p>\n \u201cWe demonstrate that treatments with this enzyme can increase the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass, offering the possibility of producing a valuable product from lignin while decreasing processing costs.\u201d<\/p>\n This research was published in the journal PNAS<\/em>, and was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Energy\u2019s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center<\/a> at the Wisconsin Energy Institute, and the University of Wisconsin, USA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers at the University of York have discovered an enzyme in a fungus could provide a breakthrough in the upscaling of renewable fuels and chemicals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24204],"tags":[3475,763,651,3365],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n