India’s research center awarded US patent for new cellulase preparation

October 3, 2019 |

In India, a new cellulase preparation discovered by scientists at ICGEB, New Delhi has received a US patent award. This discovery is likely to provide a better alternative to the available option on the market for commercial cellulase enzyme to produce ethanol for second generation (G2) biofuel.

While screening vast microbial consortia from nature, the Microbial Engineering Group has discovered a cocktail of enzymes that have been shown to have balanced cellulase and hemicellulase activity and can break down the agricultural biomass into simpler sugar with great efficiency.

The isolated fungal species has been identified as Penicillium funiculosum, which has the ability to produce large amounts of secretary protein in the form of cellulases and hemicellulases in the extracellular medium. These cellulases and hemicellulases are found to be active against a wide variety of agriculture residues, such as rice straw, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse, and cotton stalk, among many others. The simple sugar released by the action of these enzymes can further be fermented to ethanol to produce second generation (2G) biofuel or any other biochemicals.

Category: Research

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