Biopulping’s Role in Bioenergy

Biomass Magazine
By Luke Geiver
July 03, 2012

Lignin degradation research is hip, and it could cut costs on biomass processing

Something special is happening with a research project focused on two white rot fungi genomes. Led by the U.S. DOE’s Joint Genome Institute, a team of international researchers is collaborating on a project to sequence and analyze the fungi strains to understand how enzymes present in the fungi break down plant biomass. It’s not the research that is special, however, it’s the number of people working on the project, revealing that the continual quest for super enzymes used to break down biomass is not only a strong trend in the field of bioenergy research, it’s a popular area of research to be in.

“The fact that we have such a large group of people involved in this project is a clear demonstration that there’s certainly interest in enzyme discovery,” says Dan Cullen, senior author of the research study and a member of the USDA’s Agricultural Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory.

In the study, “Comparative genomics of Ceriporiopsis subvermispora and Phanerochaete chrysosporium provide insight into selective ligninolysis,” Cullen and his huge team analyzed C. subvermispora and P. chrysosporium, finding large differences in the way each breaks down lignin. According to Cullen, few fungi have the capability to degrade lignin in the first place, and even fewer have the ability to selectively remove lignin at such an efficient rate. “C. subvermispora is one exception in its ability to do just that,” he said.

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