The NILE Project — Advances in the Conversion of Lignocellulosic Materials into Ethanol

NILE ("New Improvements for Lignocellulosic Ethanol") was an integrated European project (2005-2010) devoted to the conversion of lignocellulosic raw materials to ethanol. The main objectives were to design novel enzymes suitable for the hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose and new yeast strains able to efficiently converting all the sugars present in lignocellulose into ethanol. The project also included testing these new developments in an integrated pilot plant and evaluating the environmental and socio-economic impacts of implementing lignocellulosic ethanol on a large scale. Two model raw materials – spruce and wheat straw – both preconditioned with similar pretreatments, were used. Several approaches were explored to improve the saccharification of these pretreated raw materials such as searching for new efficient enzymes and enzyme engineering. Various genetic engineering methods were applied to obtain stable xylose- and arabinose-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that tolerate the toxic compounds present in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. The pilot plant was able to treat 2 tons of dry matter per day, and hydrolysis and fermentation could be run successively or simultaneously. A global model integrating the supply chain was used to assess the performance of lignocellulosic ethanol from an economical and environmental perspective. It was found that directed evolution of a specific enzyme of the cellulolytic cocktail produced by the industrial fungus, Trichoderma reesei, and modification of the composition of this cocktail led to improvements of the enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated raw material. These results, however, were difficult to reproduce at a large scale. A substantial increase in the ethanol conversion yield and in specific ethanol productivity was obtained through a combination of metabolic engineering of yeast strains and fermentation process development. Pilot trials confirmed the good behaviour of the yeast strains in industrial conditions as well as the suitability of lignin residues as fuels. The ethanol cost and the greenhouse gas emissions were highly dependent on the supply chain but the best performing supply chains showed environmental and economic benefits. From a global standpoint, the results showed the necessity for an optimal integration of the process to co-develop all the steps of the process and to test the improvements in a flexible pilot plant, thus allowing the comparison of various configurations and their economic and environmental impacts to be determined. <br> Le projet NILE, acronyme de "New Improvements for Lignocellulosic Ethanol", était un projet européen (2005-2010) consacré à la conversion des matières premières lignocellulosiques en éthanol. Ses principaux objectifs étaient de concevoir de nouvelles enzymes adaptées à l’hydrolyse de la cellulose en glucose et de nouvelles souches de levure capables de convertir efficacement tous les sucres présents dans la lignocellulose en éthanol. Une autre partie du projet consistait à tester ces nouveaux systèmes dans une installation pilote et à évaluer les impacts environnementaux et socio-économiques de la production et utilisation à grande échelle d’éthanol lignocellulosique. Deux matières premières modèles (l’épicéa et la paille de blé) prétraitées de façon semblable, ont été étudiées. Différentes approches ont été tentées pour améliorer la saccharification de ces matières premières, par exemple, la recherche de nouvelles enzymes efficaces ou l’ingénierie d’enzymes. Plusieurs stratégies d’ingénierie génétique ont été utilisées pour obtenir des souches stables de Saccharomyces cerevisiae capables de fermenter le xylose et l’arabinose, et de tolérer les composés toxiques présents dans les hydrolysats lignocellulosiques. L’installation pilote pouvait traiter 2 tonnes de matières sèches par jour, et l’hydrolyse et la fermentation pouvaient être menées successivement ou simultanément. Un modèle global intégrant la chaîne d’approvisionnement en matière première a servi à évaluer les performances économiques et environnementales de la production d’éthanol lignocellulosique. L’évolution dirigée d’une enzyme du cocktail cellulolytique produit par le champignon Trichoderma reesei, et la modification de la composition de ce cocktail améliorent l’hydrolyse enzymatique des matières premières prétraitées. Cependant, ces résultats n’ont pu être reproduits à grande échelle. Le rendement de conversion et la productivité spécifique en éthanol ont été sensiblement augmentés grâce à l’ingénierie métabolique des souches de levure et au développement d’un procédé optimal de fermentation. Les essais en pilote ont confirmé le bon comportement de ces souches de levure en conditions industrielles ainsi que la possibilité d’utiliser les résidus riches en lignine comme combustible. Le coût de production de l’éthanol et le bilan des émissions de gaz à effet de serre étaient très dépendants des sources d’énergie utilisées. D’un point de vue plus global, les résultats ont montré que l’optimisation du procédé nécessite de codévelopper toutes les étapes de façon intégrée et de valider les améliorations dans une installation pilote, afin notamment de pouvoir comparer différentes configurations et d’en déterminer les effets sur l’économie du procédé et ses impacts environnementaux

The CRE1 carbon catabolite repressor of the fungus Trichoderma reesei: a master regulator of carbon assimilation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The identification and characterization of the transcriptional regulatory networks governing the physiology and adaptation of microbial cells is a key step in understanding their behaviour. One such wide-domain regulatory circuit, essential to all cells, is carbon catabolite repression (CCR): it allows the cell to prefer some carbon sources, whose assimilation is of high nutritional value, over less profitable ones. In lower multicellular fungi, the C2H2 zinc finger CreA/CRE1 protein has been shown to act as the transcriptional repressor in this process. However, the complete list of its gene targets is not known.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we deciphered the CRE1 regulatory range in the model cellulose and hemicellulose-degrading fungus <it>Trichoderma reesei </it>(anamorph of <it>Hypocrea jecorina</it>) by profiling transcription in a wild-type and a delta-<it>cre1 </it>mutant strain on glucose at constant growth rates known to repress and de-repress CCR-affected genes. Analysis of genome-wide microarrays reveals 2.8% of transcripts whose expression was regulated in at least one of the four experimental conditions: 47.3% of which were repressed by CRE1, whereas 29.0% were actually induced by CRE1, and 17.2% only affected by the growth rate but CRE1 independent. Among CRE1 repressed transcripts, genes encoding unknown proteins and transport proteins were overrepresented. In addition, we found CRE1-repression of nitrogenous substances uptake, components of chromatin remodeling and the transcriptional mediator complex, as well as developmental processes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study provides the first global insight into the molecular physiological response of a multicellular fungus to carbon catabolite regulation and identifies several not yet known targets in a growth-controlled environment.</p

Biogenesis and Dynamics of Mitochondria during the Cell Cycle: Significance of 3′UTRs

Nowadays, we are facing a renaissance of mitochondria in cancer biology. However, our knowledge of the basic cell biology and on the timing and mechanisms that control the biosynthesis of mitochondrial constituents during progression through the cell cycle of mammalian cells remain largely unknown. Herein, we document the in vivo changes on mitochondrial morphology and dynamics that accompany cellular mitosis, and illustrate the following key points of the biogenesis of mitochondria during progression of liver cells through the cycle: (i) the replication of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes is synchronized during cellular proliferation, (ii) the accretion of OXPHOS proteins is asynchronously regulated during proliferation being the synthesis of β-F1-ATPase and Hsp60 carried out also at G2/M and, (iii) the biosynthesis of cardiolipin is achieved during the S phase, although full development of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) is attained at G2/M. Furthermore, we demonstrate using reporter constructs that the mechanism regulating the accretion of β-F1-ATPase during cellular proliferation is controlled at the level of mRNA translation by the 3′UTR of the transcript. The 3′UTR-driven synthesis of the protein at G2/M is essential for conferring to the daughter cells the original phenotype of the parental cell. Our findings suggest that alterations on this process may promote deregulated β-F1-ATPase expression in human cancer

How Molecular Evolution Technologies can Provide Bespoke Industrial Enzymes: Application to Biofuels Comment les technologies d’évolution moléculaire peuvent fournir des enzymes industrielles sur mesure : application aux biocarburants

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose is one of the major bottlenecks in the development of biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels. One of the most efficient organisms for the production of cellulolytic enzymes is the fungus Trichoderma reesei, mainly thanks to its high secretion capacity. The conversion of cellulose to glucose involves three types of cellulases working in synergy: endoglucanases (EC 3.2.1.4) randomly cleave 13-1,4 glycosidic linkages of cellulose, cellobiohydrolases (EC 3.2.1.91) attack cellulose chain ends to produce cellobiose dimers which are converted into glucose by the 13-glucosidases (EC 3.2.1 21). Unexpectedly, the amount of l3-glucosidase (BGLI) from T. reesei hyperproducing strains represents a very low percentage of the total secreted proteins. A suboptimal content of this enzyme limits the performance of commercial cellulase preparations as cellobiose represents the main inhibitor of the cellulolysis reaction by cellobiohydrolases. This bottleneck can be alleviated either by overexpressing the f3-glucosidase in T. reesei or optimized its specific activity. After giving a brief overview of the main available technologies, this example will be used to illustrate the potential of directed evolution technologies to devolop enzymes tailored to fit industrial needs. We describe the L-ShuffiingTM strategy implemented with three parental genes originating from microbial biodiversity leading to identification of an efficient 13-glucosidase showing a 242 fold increase in specific activity for the pNPGIc substrate compared to WT (Wild Type) Cel3a beta-glucosidase of T. reesei. After expression of the best improved 13-glucosidase in T. reesei and secretion of a new enzymatic cocktail, improvement of the glucosidase activity allows a 4-fold decrease of cellulase loading for the saccharification of an industrial pretreated biomass compared to the parental cocktail. L’hydrolyse enzymatique de la lignocellulose est l’un des principaux goulets d’étranglement dans le développement de la conversion biologique de la biomasse lignocellulosique en biocarburants. L’un des organismes les plus efficaces pour la production d’enzymes cellulolytiques est le champignon Trichoderma reesei, principalement grâce à sa capacité importante de sécrétion. La conversion de la cellulose en glucose implique trois types de cellulases travaillant en synergie : les endoglucanases (EC 3.2.1.4) clivant de façon aléatoire les liaisons glycosidiques en (3-1,4, les cellobiohydrolases (EC 3.2.1.91) attaquant la chaîne de cellulose aux deux extrémités afin de produire le cellobiose, dimère qui sera converti en glucose par l’action des (3-glucosidases (EC 3.2.1.21). De façon inattendue, la quantité de 3-glucosidase (BGL1) sécrétée par les souches de T. reesei représente un très faible pourcentage de la quantité totale des protéines sécrétées qui en fait donc une activité limitante du cocktail. Cette faible activité limite d’autant plus les performances du cocktail que le cellobiose représente le principal inhibiteur de la réaction cellulolyse par les cellobiohydrolases. Ce goulot d’étranglement peut être atténué soit par une surexpression de la (3-glucosidase chez T. reesei, soit par une amélioration de son activité spécifique. Après un bref aperçu des principales technologies existantes, cet exemple sera utilisé dans cette revue pour illustrer le potentiel des technologies d’évolution dirigée pour développer des enzymes répondant aux besoins de l’industrie des biotechnologies. Nous décrivons comment la mise en oeuvre d’une stratégie d’évolution dirigée par le L-ShufflingTM avec trois gènes parentaux provenant de la biodiversité microbienne permet d’obtenir des activités (3-glucosidases très améliorées par rapport à la Cel3a (3-glucosidase de T. reesei (activité spécifique 242 fois plus élevée pour le substrat pNPGIc). Cette amélioration de l’activité glucosidasique, après expression du gène codant pour la 3-glucosidase améliorée chez T. reesei et sécrétion du nouveau cocktail, permet une diminution d’un facteur 4 de la quantité de cocktail nécessaire à la saccharification d’une biomasse industrielle prétraitée (paille de blé)

How Molecular Evolution Technologies can Provide Bespoke Industrial Enzymes: Application to Biofuels

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose is one of the major bottlenecks in the development of biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels. One of the most efficient organisms for the production of cellulolytic enzymes is the fungus Trichoderma reesei, mainly thanks to its high secretion capacity. The conversion of cellulose to glucose involves three types of cellulases working in synergy: endoglucanases (EC 3.2.1.4) randomly cleave 13-1,4 glycosidic linkages of cellulose, cellobiohydrolases (EC 3.2.1.91) attack cellulose chain ends to produce cellobiose dimers which are converted into glucose by the 13-glucosidases (EC 3.2.1 21). Unexpectedly, the amount of l3-glucosidase (BGLI) from T. reesei hyperproducing strains represents a very low percentage of the total secreted proteins. A suboptimal content of this enzyme limits the performance of commercial cellulase preparations as cellobiose represents the main inhibitor of the cellulolysis reaction by cellobiohydrolases. This bottleneck can be alleviated either by overexpressing the f3-glucosidase in T. reesei or optimized its specific activity. After giving a brief overview of the main available technologies, this example will be used to illustrate the potential of directed evolution technologies to devolop enzymes tailored to fit industrial needs. We describe the L-ShuffiingTM strategy implemented with three parental genes originating from microbial biodiversity leading to identification of an efficient 13-glucosidase showing a 242 fold increase in specific activity for the pNPGIc substrate compared to WT (Wild Type) Cel3a beta-glucosidase of T. reesei. After expression of the best improved 13-glucosidase in T. reesei and secretion of a new enzymatic cocktail, improvement of the glucosidase activity allows a 4-fold decrease of cellulase loading for the saccharification of an industrial pretreated biomass compared to the parental cocktail

How Molecular Evolution Technologies can Provide Bespoke Industrial Enzymes: Application to Biofuels

International audienceEnzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose is one of the major bottlenecks in the development of biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels. One of the most efficient organisms for the production of cellulolytic enzymes is the fungus Trichoderma reesei, mainly thanks to its high secretion capacity. The conversion of cellulose to glucose involves three types of cellulases working in synergy: endoglucanases (EC 3.2.1.4) randomly cleave b-1,4 glycosidic linkages of cellulose, cellobiohydrolases (EC 3.2.1.91) attack cellulose chain ends to produce cellobiose dimers which are converted into glucose by the b-glucosidases (EC 3.2.1 21). Unexpectedly, the amount of b-glucosidase (BGL1) from T. reesei hyperproducing strains represents a very low percentage of the total secreted proteins. A suboptimal content of this enzyme limits the performance of commercial cellulase preparations as cellobiose represents the main inhibitor of the cellulolysis reaction by cellobiohydrolases. This bottleneck can be alleviated either by overexpressing the b-glucosidase in T. reesei or optimized its specific activity. After giving a brief overview of the main available technologies, this example will be used to illustrate the potential of directed evolution technologies to devolop enzymes tailored to fit industrial needs. We describe the L-ShufflingTM strategy implemented with three parental genes originating from microbial biodiversity leading to identification of an efficient b-glucosidase showing a 242-fold increase in specific activity for the pNPGlc substrate compared to WT (Wild Type) Cel3a beta-glucosidase of T. reesei. After expression of the best improved b-glucosidase in T. reesei and secretion of a new enzymatic cocktail, improvement of the glucosidase activity allows a 4-fold decrease of cellulase loading for the saccharification of an industrial pretreated biomass compared to the parental cocktail