Insect Science (2010) 17, 245-252

Dunhua Zhang, Alan R. Lax, John M. Bland, Jiujiang Yu, Natalie Fedorova and William C. Nierman (2010)
Hydrolysis of filter-paper cellulose to glucose by two recombinant endogenous glycosyl hydrolases of Coptotermes formosanus
Insect Science 17 (3), 245-252
Abstract: Genes encoding for glycosyl hydrolases (GH) in multiple families were recovered from an expression sequence tag library of Coptotermes formosanus, a xylophagous lower termite species. Functional analyses of these genes not only shed light on the mechanisms the insect employs to successfully use cellulosic materials as energy sources, which may serve as strategic targets for designing molecular-based bio-pesticides, but also enrich discoveries of new cellulolytic enzymes for conversion of biomass into biofuel. Our study demonstrated that cellulose could be converted to glucose by two recombinant endogenous glycosyl hydrolases (endo-ß-1,4 glucanase in GH9 and ß-glucosidase in GH1). While the former cleaved cellulose to cellobiose and cellotriose, the resulting simple cellodextrins were digested to glucose. Both of the Escherichia coli-expressed recombinant proteins showed properties that could be incorporated in a glucose-based ethanol production program.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Dunhua Zhang, John M. Bland

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Coptotermes formosanus