Publication – Lowering the cost of cellulase
There is a new publication that was just accepted for print regarding the production of cellulase. This article is entitled “Nutrient control for stationary phase cellulase production in Trichoderma reesei Rut C-30″ and will appear in the journal Enzyme and Microbial Technology.
Cellulase is normally produced by a fungus, Trichoderma ressei. Most of the time the cells continually grow and make enzymes needed to consume cellulose (what trees are made of – think mold growing on a dead log). In this study, we show that by using phosphorus limitation, we can keep the fungal cells from growing and yet remain healthy. This condition allows them to produce cellulase enzyme without growing in size. For industrial cellulase production with less growth, there are less cells that need to be sent to a waste stream and less nutrient is used to make wasted biomass. These improvements allow us to cut the costs of cellulase production by 60% and make the process more efficient.
The full article and results will appear in Enzyme and Microbial Technology, you can view the pre-print edition here.
