Future of Engineering

Trichoderma reesei is a remarkably brave fungus. It had challenged America during the second world war. It had given a tough time to the American army's military equipment in the South Pacific Sea. What was once America's headache has now turned out to be a boon.



Trichoderma reesei

Since then it is considered to be the world's most efficient fungus at breaking down the cellulose in plant walls into simple sugars, which it feeds on.In order to learn more about the incredible enzymatic activity of Trichoderma reesei, researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute assayed its genome.

The research proved to be an eye opener. It was known that T. reesei produces massive quantities of degrading enzymes. The surprising revelation was that it produced very few enzyme types. This proved that its protein secretion system is exceptionally efficient.

This was first interpreted as bad news, but the limitations of this model organism are now being seen as something positive. The fungus's enzyme cocktail lends itself to numerous genetic modifications, and researchers are looking into which other enzymes can be added to the fungus's gene sequence in order to make it even more efficient at producing bioethanol.

“The sequencing of the Trichoderma reesei genome is a major step towards using renewable feedstocks for the production of fuels and chemicals,” said Joel Cherry, director of research activities in second-generation biofuels for Novozymes, a collaborating institution in the study. “The information contained in its genome will allow us to better understand how this organism degrades cellulose so efficiently and to understand how it produces the required enzymes so prodigiously. Using this information, it may be possible to improve both of these properties, decreasing the cost of converting cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals.”


Source - Nature.com, Innovations report