Production of recombinant beta-xylosidase for application on bioethanol production line

• Grant number: 12/02017-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: May 19, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Biochemistry of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Maria de Lourdes Teixeira de Moraes Polizeli
• Grantee: Gabriela Leal Vitcosque
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The main strategy to make the bioethanol process feasible and economically competitive is to reduce the production cost of enzymes that hydrolyze lignocellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars. One way to substantially reduce the production cost of these enzymes is the use of recombinant DNA technology, which allows the expression of lignocellulolytic enzymes in large scale, both for homologous and heterologous hosts. Filamentous fungi are attractive hosts for heterologous protein expression due to their ability to secrete large amounts of protein into the extracellular environment where they can be easily purified. In this context, the objective of this work is the recombinant beta-xylosidase production, an essential xylanolytic enzyme in the saccharification process of biomass, as well as in many other industrial processes. The gene encoding this enzyme is isolated from the Aspergillus clavatus genome, cloned and expressed in Aspergillus nidulans. The proposal of enzyme production by heterologous expression in filamentous fungi, using an expression vector designed for the purpose of overexpression these proteins, is an innovation in the production of second generation ethanol, and it is also an innovative line of research of our group, which contributes to the scientific improvement of our laboratory. This work is part of the SISBiota project, 2010/52322-3 supported by FAPESP and CNPq 563260/2010-6, as well as the INCT of Bioethanol project 2008/57908-6. It aims to contribute to the theme of both projects, as well as collaborating with other works of our laboratory in order to prepare an enzyme cocktail which hydrolyzes lignocellulosic biomass. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RIBEIRO, LILIANE F. C.; DE LUCAS, ROSYMAR C.; VITCOSQUE, GABRIELA L.; RIBEIRO, LUCAS F.; WARD, RICHARD J.; RUBIO, MARCELO V.; DAMASIO, ANDRE R. L.; SQUINA, FABIO M.; GREGORY, REBECCA C.; WALTON, PAUL H.; et al. A novel thermostable xylanase GH10 from Malbranchea pulchella expressed in Aspergillus nidulans with potential applications in biotechnology. BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS, v. 7, JUL 29 2014. (10/18850-2, 12/12859-3, 13/18910-3, 10/07133-8, 10/10184-3, 12/02017-5, 08/57908-6)