In the age-old nature versus nurture debate, Douglas Clark, a faculty scientist with Berkeley Lab and the University of California (UC) Berkeley, is not taking sides. In the search for enzymes that can break lignocellulose down into biofuel sugars under the extreme conditions of a refinery, he has prospected for extremophilic microbes and engineered his own cellulases. Speaking at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in San Francisco, Clark discussed research for the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) in which he and his collaborators are investigating ways to release plant sugars from lignin for the production of liquid transportation fuels. Sugars can be fermented into fuels once the woody matter comprised of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin is broken down, but lignocellulose is naturally recalcitrant. “Lignocellulose is designed by nature to stand tall and resist being broken down, and lignin in particular acts like a molecular glue to help hold it together” said Clark, who holds appointments with Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division and UC Berkeley’s Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department where he currently serves as dean of the College of Chemistry. “Consequently, lignocellulosic biomass must undergo either chemical or enzymatic deconstruction to release the sugars that can be
The post Going to Extremes for Enzymes: Researchers Look to Nature and Nurture for Biofuel Cellulases has been published on Technology Org.
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