Multifunctional microbial cellulases
Disclosed herein are methods of making multifunctional microbial cellulases. The engineered multifunctional microbial cellulases disclosed herein exhibit improved activity over native cellulases.
1. A non-naturally occurring enzyme having greater than 85% identity to SEQ ID NO: 6 and having greater than 50% reduction in conversion time for a glucan substrate when compared to a naturally occurring enzyme.
2. An isolated nucleic acid encoding a non-naturally occurring enzyme and having greater than 85% identity to SEQ ID NO: 5 wherein the enzyme has greater than 50% reduction in conversion time for a glucan substrate when compared to a naturally occurring enzyme.
3. The isolated nucleic acid molecule of claim 2 , further comprising a promoter operably linked to the nucleic acid molecule.
4. The isolated nucleic acid molecule of claim 3 , wherein the promoter allows expression of the nucleic acid in a filamentous fungal host cell.
5. An expression vector comprising the nucleic acid molecule of claim 2 .
6. A host cell comprising the expression vector of claim 5 and expressing a recombinant polypeptide encoded by the nucleic acid molecule.
7. The host cell of claim 6 , wherein the cell is a fungal cell.
8. An isolated enzyme polypeptide encoded by the nucleic acid molecule according to claim 2 .
9. A method for degrading cellulose or lignocellulosic biomass, comprising contacting the cellulose or lignocellulosic biomass with the enzyme according to claim 1 .
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the cellulose is degraded by the enzyme in about 50% of the time that it takes the isolated enzymes that comprise the enzyme to degrade the cellulose.
11. A method for producing a biofuel from lignocellulosic biomass, comprising:
a) contacting the lignocellulosic biomass with an enzyme according to claim 1 to generate sugars; and
b) converting the sugars to a biofuel by fermentation.