Chimera Enzyme May Make Better Biofuels from Waste

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June 12, 2014

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by Hal Hodson (New Scientist) A chemical chimera may one day help break down stubborn plant matter into biofuel. The feat involves mixing enzymes from two types of plant-munching bacteria that would never have met in nature.
Biofuel producers use the sugars in crops such as corn to create alternative fuel that is more climate friendly than gas or coal. But biofuels that use cheap, widespread plant matter such as leaves and grasses would be even more attractive than food crops. Trouble is, those parts of plants are high in cellulose, a sturdy structural compound that is hard to break down.
Microbes living in oxygen-rich environments use enzymes floating free inside their cells to digest such plant matter. Bacteria that live in places with low or no oxygen – in a cow’s stomach, say – instead use complex scaffolds of enzymes known as cellulosomes. Free enzymes are fast-acting, while cellulosomes are slower but highly efficient.
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Yonathan Arfi and Ed Bayer at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, designed a chemical reaction that fused a free-floating enzyme particularly effective against cellulose onto a cellulosome. The resulting hybrid is quick and efficient at turning cellulose into useful sugars. READ MORE Abstract

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