Customized optimization of cellulase mixtures for differently pretreated rice straw

Abstract

Lignocellulose contains a large amount of cellulose but is recalcitrant to enzymatic hydrolysis, which yields sugars for fuels or chemicals. Various pretreatment methods are used to improve the enzymatic digestibility of cellulose in lignocellulose. Depending on the lignocellulose types and pretreatment methods, biomass compositions and physical properties significantly vary. Therefore, customized enzyme mixtures have to be employed for the efficient hydrolysis of pretreated lignocellulose. Here, using three recombinant model enzymes consisting of endoglucanase, cellobiohydrolase, and xylanase with a fixed amount of beta-glucosidase, the optimal formulation of enzyme mixtures was designed for two differently pretreated rice straws (acid-pretreated or alkali-pretreated rice straw) by the mixture design methodology. As a result, different optimal compositions for the enzyme mixtures were employed depending on the type of pretreatment of rice straw. These results suggest that customized enzyme mixtures for pretreated lignocellulosic biomass are necessary to obtain increased sugar yields and should be considered in the industrial utilization of lignocellulose.