Natural and Engineered Biomass Polysaccharide Degrading Nanomachines

植物细胞壁中的糖成分是自然界中最丰富的碳源之一。它们还代表了一种巨大的、基本上未开发的用于生产生物燃料的可再生能源，并且特别有吸引力，因为它们否则将被视为有机堆肥，从而避免“燃料与粮食”的辩论。植物细胞壁的正常分解是细菌和真菌的责任，它们产生称为酶的生物分子，这些酶切断了驻留糖中的各种键。细菌的一个子集不仅产生这些酶，而且它们将它们组装在一起作为一个单一的实体，在那里它们可以以合作的方式一起工作以分解植物细胞壁糖。这种复合物被命名为纤维素体。考虑到它在分解植物细胞壁糖方面的效率，工业界对利用多纤维素酶体的力量生产替代燃料产生了浓厚的兴趣。为了理解为什么多纤维素酶体的功能如此有效，我们需要详细了解多纤维素酶体的所有组成部分的结构以及它们如何组装成一个单一的功能实体。这项研究计划在加拿大是独一无二的，它使用分子生物学和生物化学方法来研究这些结构。这些研究的结果将使我们能够产生一个详细的多纤维素酶体的分子模型。我们还将利用这些信息来创造合成酶复合物，这种复合物可以比单独的酶更有效地降解海藻中的糖成分。我们的研究结果将促进对多纤维素酶体系统和酶复合物的基本认识。它将提供有价值的信息，可用于未来一代的工程糖降解系统，可用于在生物燃料生产中使用可再生能源。HQP将开发一个多样化和全面的研究技能，在生物信息学，分子和合成生物学，蛋白质工程，结构生物学，糖生物学和酶学的专业知识。

The sugar components of plant cell walls are one of the richest sources of carbon in Nature. They also represent a vast, largely untapped renewal energy resource for the generation of biofuels, and are particularly attractive since they would otherwise be considered organic compost and thus avoid the "fuel vs. food" debate. The normal breakdown of plant cell walls is the responsibility of bacteria and fungi, which produce biomolecules called enzymes that cut the various bonds in the resident sugars. A subset of bacteria not only produce these enzymes but they assemble them together as a single entity, where they can work together in a cooperative manner to decompose the plant cell wall sugars. This complex has been named the cellulosome. Given how efficient it is at breaking down plant cell wall sugars, there has been substantial interest from industry in harnessing the power of the cellulosome towards the alternative fuel production. To understand why the cellulosome functions so efficiently, we need to have a detailed understanding of the structure of all the components of the cellulosome and how they assembly into a single functional entity. This research program, unique in Canada, uses molecular biological and biochemical approaches to study these structures. Results from these studies will allow us to generate a detailed molecular model of the cellulosome. We will also use this information to create synthetic enzyme complexes that can degrade sugar components of seaweed more efficiently than the individual enzymes. Our findings will advance the basic knowledge of cellulosome system, and of enzyme complexes in general. It will provide valuable information that can be employed in future generation of engineered sugar-degrading systems that can be employed in the use of renewal energy resources in biofuel production. HQP will develop a diverse and comprehensive research skill set with expertise in bioinformatics, molecular and synthetic biology, protein engineering, structural biology, glycobiology, and enzymology.