Investigating the Yet-Unknown Biomass Degrading and Modifying Enzymes of Aspergillus oryzae

Conference poster, 2012

The association of plant cell wall components with A. oryzae’s extracellular enzyme machinery was investigated by analyzing the transcriptome profile in relation to the chemical structure of the carbon sources. Strain RIB40 of A. oryzae was cultured on various carbon sources, namely cellohexaose, mannohexaose, xylopentaose, arabinoheptaose, glucohexaose, glucosyl maltotriosyl maltotriose, galactosyl mannotriose, turanose and sophorose, and the transcribed genes were determined with DNA microarrays. The statistically significant genes were selected and potential novel hydrolases were identified. Presently, we aim at the heterologous expression and characterization of seven different hypothetical and non classified proteins of A. oryzae, which could prove to be useful tools in the wood biomass separation and modification process. This work represents a novel way of integrating computational chemical biology and classical enzyme research for improving lignocellulose bioconversion.