Review
Metabolic engineering strategies for the improvement of cellulase production by Hypocrea jecorina
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* Corresponding author: Christian P Kubicek ckubicek@mail.zserv.tuwien.ac.at
Research Area Gene Technology and Applied Biochemistry, Institute of Chemical Engineering, TU Vienna, Getreidemarkt, A-1060 Vienna, Austria
Biotechnology for Biofuels 2009, 2:19 doi:10.1186/1754-6834-2-19
Published: 1 September 2009Abstract
Hypocrea jecorina (= Trichoderma reesei) is the main industrial source of cellulases and hemicellulases used to depolymerise plant biomass to simple sugars that are converted to chemical intermediates and biofuels, such as ethanol. Cellulases are formed adaptively, and several positive (XYR1, ACE2, HAP2/3/5) and negative (ACE1, CRE1) components involved in this regulation are now known. In addition, its complete genome sequence has been recently published, thus making the organism susceptible to targeted improvement by metabolic engineering. In this review, we summarise current knowledge about how cellulase biosynthesis is regulated, and outline recent approaches and suitable strategies for facilitating the targeted improvement of cellulase production by genetic engineering.