Enzyme production and hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials

Conference poster, 2011

Lignocellulosic materials are critical for the development of the sustainable global economy because they are cheap, abundant and represent a renewable carbon source that can be used in industrial fermentation processes for production of valuable products such as biofuels or chemicals. Hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials is performed by enzymes from microorganisms such as fungi or bacteria. Trichoderma reesei is one of the main industrial source for enzyme production. However, the complex structure of lignocellulose requires a proper pretreatment prior enzymatic hydrolysis because substrate accessibility is low and therefore enzymes cannot work efficiently. The ability of fungi to cope with industrial-like conditions is not well understood. My project addresses the question on how lignocellulosic materials influence the enzyme production and cellular metabolism of the filamentous fungus T. reesei strain Rut C-30.