Discovery And Use Of Enzymes

Our team has years of experience in discovery and use of enzymes for deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass and, with Celignis participation in EU projects like EnXylaScope, this experience is expanded to enzymes useful for modification of the xylan fraction of lignocellulosic biomass.

The discovery of enzymes needs rapid analysis methods and, by understanding the action of enzymes and the changes that occur in the substrate, the Celignis team can develop simple high-throughput screening methods for the discovery of enzymes. This is currently being undertaking in EnXylaScope for xylan side-chain acting enzymes.

Celignis is also discovering enzymes and designing enzyme cocktails for lignocellulose deconstruction aiming at production of monomeric and oligomeric sugars and for generating clean lignin for lignin valorisation purposes. We are also isolating the microbes that have the ability to produce a cocktail of enzymes for increasing the productivity and yields of biogas from complex recalcitrant streams such as late cut grass, wheat straw and garden waste.

Celignis follows traditional methods in enzyme screening allowing the isolation of natural enzyme producers which means that enzyme cocktails developed by Celignis are non-recombinant in nature. The enzymes discovered are studied for various characteristics such as nature of protein (Molecular weight, hydrophobicity); kinetics (reaction and inhibition); optimum reaction conditions etc. Celignis has a collection of close to 100 strains capable of producing a range of enzymes that act on a variety of substrates.

Our expertise in enzymes is particularly relevant to the following topics of the 2022 CBE-JU Work Programme: JU-CBE-2022-R-01 (High performance bio-based polymers for market applications with stringent requirements), JU-CBE-2022-R-02 (Bio-based coatings, barriers, binders, and adhesives), JU-CBE-2022-R-05 (Sustainable fibres biorefineries feedstock), JU-CBE-2022-R-03 (Circular by-design bio-based materials to improve the circularity of complex structures), and JU-CBE-2022-IA-04 (Co-processing of mixed bio-based waste streams).