Laccases from white-rot fungi catalyze lignin depolymerization, a critical first step to upgrading lignin to valuable biodiesel fuels and chemicals. In this study, a wildtype laccase from the basidiomycete Fomitiporia mediterranea (Fom_lac) and a variant engineered to have a carbohydrate-binding module (Fom_CBM) were studied for their ability to catalyze cleavage of β-O-4′ ether and C–C bonds in phenolic and non-phenolic lignin dimers using a nanostructure-initiator mass spectrometry-based assay. Fom_lac and Fom_CBM catalyze β-O-4′ ether and C–C bond breaking, with higher activity under acidic conditions (pH < 6). The potential of Fom_lac and Fom_CBM to enhance saccharification yields from untreated and ionic liquid pretreated pine was also investigated. Adding Fom_CBM to mixtures of cellulases and hemicellulases improved sugar yields by 140% on untreated pine and 32% on cholinium lysinate pretreated pine when compared to the inclusion of Fom_lac to the same mixtures. Adding either Fom_lac or Fom_CBM to mixtures of cellulases and hemicellulases effectively accelerates enzymatic hydrolysis, demonstrating its potential applications for lignocellulose valorization. We postulate that additional increases in sugar yields for the Fom_CBM enzyme mixtures were due to Fom_CBM being brought more proximal to lignin through binding to either cellulose or lignin itself.
Pham, Le Thanh Mai, et al. "An Engineered Laccase from Fomitiporia mediterranea Accelerates Lignocellulose Degradation." Biomolecules, vol. 14, no. 3, Mar. 2024. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14030324
Pham, Le Thanh Mai, Deng, Kai, Choudhary, Hemant, Northen, Trent R., Singer, Steven W., Adams, Paul D., Simmons, Blake A., & Sale, Kenneth L. (2024). An Engineered Laccase from Fomitiporia mediterranea Accelerates Lignocellulose Degradation. Biomolecules, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14030324
@article{osti_2320293,
author = {Pham, Le Thanh Mai and Deng, Kai and Choudhary, Hemant and Northen, Trent R. and Singer, Steven W. and Adams, Paul D. and Simmons, Blake A. and Sale, Kenneth L.},
title = {An Engineered Laccase from Fomitiporia mediterranea Accelerates Lignocellulose Degradation},
annote = {Laccases from white-rot fungi catalyze lignin depolymerization, a critical first step to upgrading lignin to valuable biodiesel fuels and chemicals. In this study, a wildtype laccase from the basidiomycete Fomitiporia mediterranea (Fom_lac) and a variant engineered to have a carbohydrate-binding module (Fom_CBM) were studied for their ability to catalyze cleavage of β-O-4′ ether and C–C bonds in phenolic and non-phenolic lignin dimers using a nanostructure-initiator mass spectrometry-based assay. Fom_lac and Fom_CBM catalyze β-O-4′ ether and C–C bond breaking, with higher activity under acidic conditions (pH },
doi = {10.3390/biom14030324},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/2320293},
journal = {Biomolecules},
issn = {ISSN 2218-273X},
number = {3},
volume = {14},
place = {Switzerland},
publisher = {MDPI AG},
year = {2024},
month = {03}}