Enzymology
Coupled chemistry kinetics demonstrate the utility of functionalized Sup35 amyloid nanofibrils in biocatalytic cascades
Concerns over the environment are a central driver for designing cell-free enzymatic cascade reactions that synthesize non–petrol-based commodity compounds. An often-suggested strategy that would demonstrate the economic competitiveness of this technology is recycling of valuable enzymes through their immobilization. For this purpose, amyloid nanofibrils are an ideal scaffold to realize chemistry-free covalent enzyme immobilization on a material that offers a large surface area. However, in most instances, only single enzyme–functionalized amyloid fibrils have so far been studied.Improving the thermal stability of cellobiohydrolase Cel7A from Hypocrea jecorina by directed evolution
Secreted mixtures of Hypocrea jecorina cellulases are able to efficiently degrade cellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars at large, commercially relevant scales. H. jecorina Cel7A, cellobiohydrolase I, from glycoside hydrolase family 7, is the workhorse enzyme of the process. However, the thermal stability of Cel7A limits its use to processes where temperatures are no higher than 50 °C. Enhanced thermal stability is desirable to enable the use of higher processing temperatures and to improve the economic feasibility of industrial biomass conversion.
