Süd-chemie IP Gmbh & Co Kg

Basf Se Corporation

Markus Rarbach

Birgitta Leuthner

Oliver Kensch

Andre Koltermann

Ulrich Kettling

Isabel Unterstrasser

Christoph Reisinger

Jochen Gerlach

Gudmundur Oli Hreggvidsson

Ulrich Haupts

Andreas Scheidig

Andreas Kohl

Thomas Brück

Olafur H Fridjonsson

Zdravko Dragovic

Jörg Claren

Jan Carsten Pieck

Dominik Schlosser

Lutz Röcher

André Koltermann

Lutz RÖCHER

Isabel Unterstraßer

Ute Solloch

The invention discloses cellulase enzymes with optimized properties for processing of cellulose- and lignocellulose-containing substrates. In particular, cellobiohydrolase enzymes with preferred characteristics are disclosed. The present invention provides fusion, insertion, deletion and/or substitution variants of such enzymes. Enzyme variants have enhanced thermostability, proteolytic stability, specific activity and/or stability at extreme pH. Nucleic acid molecules encoding said enzymes, a composition comprising said enzymes, a method for preparation, and the use for cellulose processing and/or for the production of biofuels are disclosed.

Optimized cellulase enzymes

The invention is directed to a liquefied sugar beet and/or sugar cane biomass material as well as production methods and uses thereof. The liquefied biomass is storage stable and can be used for the production of a product resulting from fermentation.

Liquefied biomass

The present invention relates to polypeptides having xylanase activity and nucleic acid sequences encoding such polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the nucleic acid constructs as well as methods for producing and using the polypeptides. One specific application of the xylanase is the selective hydrolysis of pentose sugar components of hemicellulose-containing plant biomass. The nucleotide sequence may be used for the production of the xylanase or optimized mutants thereof.

Thermostable xylanase for the selective hydrolysis of pentose-containing polysaccharides

The invention concerns a method for the enzymatic treatment of raw polymeric feedstock comprising the following steps: (a) preferably separation of soluble components from the raw polymeric feedstock, (b) treating the raw polymeric feedstock with an enzyme system in order to liberate defined soluble monomeric or oligomeric building blocks from the insoluble raw polymeric feedstock; and (c) separating the defined monomeric or oligomeric building blocks produced in step b) from the remainder of the raw polymeric feedstock. Preferably, the enzyme system used in step b) contains not more than 50%, preferably not more than 20%, more preferably not more than 10%, more preferably not more than 5%, more preferably not more than 2%, more preferably not more than 1% of other enzyme activities apart from the enzyme activity resulting in liberation of said defined monomeric or oligomeric building blocks from the raw polymeric feedstock according to step b). Further aspects of the invention concern the use of 'less pure' and thus less costly enzyme systems in subsequent enzymatic treatment steps and methods for determining the optimum sequence of enzymatic treatment steps by analysis of the raw polymeric feedstock used.

Generation of chemical building blocks from plant biomass by selective depolymerization

Growing community of inventors

Munich, Germany

Markus Rarbach