CAREER: Integrating Chemical Biology into Research and Education: Studying Glycosylation of Cellulolytic Enzymes

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With this award, the Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Chemistry Division is funding Dr. Zhongping Tan from the University of Colorado at Boulder to investigate the glycosylation of cellulases, a class of important enzymes that are widely used in industry for the production of fuels derived from renewable biological materials (biofuels). In order to reduce the costs of producing biofuels, it is paramount to enhance the performance of cellulases and glycosylation, i.e., the attachment of carbohydrates to proteins, appears to be a promising way to achieve such a task. The proposed research seeks to establish a link between glycosylation and cellulase performance and provide clear guidelines to develop more efficient cellulase enzymes. By working on this project, students will gain a diverse range of skills and experiences across chemistry and biology. This project includes plans to educate elementary and secondary school science teachers on the production of renewable biofuels. Through the combined use of chemical synthesis, enzymatic biotransformation, and biochemical characterization, this research project seeks to unveil the molecular level impact of cellulase glycosylation. The proposed approach will use both chemical and enzymatic synthesis to prepare a library of homogeneous glycosylated protein isoforms (glycoforms) with control of the number of occupied glycosylation sites and of glycan composition. The effects of glycosylation on stability and function will be quantified by comparing the characteristics across these well defined glycoform arrays. This type of systematic knowledge is anticipated to not only shed light on the possible roles of glycosylation on industrially important enzymes, but also lead to the identification of cellulase glyco-variants with enhanced efficiency relative to those currently used in industrial processes.