Oral Presentation 5-07

 

Screening and Identification of Enzymes Degrading Corn Stover

to Yield Commercially Useful Products

 

Brian Vande Berg, Brian Carr, Duncan Taylor, Nick Duck, Mike Koziel

 

Athenix Corporation

P.O. Box 110347

Research Triangle Park, NC  27709

 

Telephone:  (919) 281-0900; Fax:  (919) 281-0901; e-mail:  BCarr@athenixcorp.com

 

 

 

Athenix is a leading industrial biotechnology company developing enzymes, microbes, plant-based products and processes for efficient biomass conversion.  We have assembled a core technology platform consisting of microbial strain isolation, high throughput biochemical assays, gene cloning and characterization, and plant transformation.  To obtain microbes with useful activities, we have assembled a diverse microbial strain collection from environmental samples and are characterizing these microbes for their biomass conversion activities.  We are isolating microbes that perform specific conversions at extremes of temperature and pH, as these may have value in industrial processes that produce fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic waste.  We have developed high throughput assays designed to model the release of sugars from corn stover. These assays are capable of quantifying the release of sugar from corn stover over time.  Utilizing these assays we are screening our strain collections to identify microbes and enzymes that facilitate stover degradation under moderate conditions.  High throughput procedures allow us to quickly identify, clone, and characterize the key enzymes.  The resulting enzymes allow development of efficient biomass conversion procedures and will substantially reduce the cost of sugar generation from corn stover.  Sugars generated from degradation of stover are useful in generating low cost ethanol and other fermentation-based products.