Biotechnology for Lignocellulosic Biomass

The scientific objectives of the group are related to the use of microorganisms (mainly filamentous fungi) and their enzymes in industrial processes to obtain fuels, materials and chemicals (White Biotechnology) from renewable plant resources. The final aim is to contribute to the sustainable development of our society and reduce the biosphere warming by a reduced consumption of fossil resources.

Hydrolytic enzymes for industrial and environmental applications

The research line led by Mª Jesús Martinez aims to understand key aspects of the catalytic action of fungal hydrolases involved in the biodegradation or biotransformation of lignocelluloses and lipids, emphasizing on versatile lipases, cellulases and hemicellulases, and includes the laboratories of Alicia Prieto, who has high expertise in carbohydrate chemistry, and Jorge Barriuso working on quorum sensing mechanisms and related topics. These basic aspects entail in-depth biochemical, physic-chemical and structural characterization of the enzymes, structure-function studies, and use of computational and bioinformatics tools.

The outcomes from these experimental approaches are essential to explain and improve the catalytic and/or operational properties of the proteins when subjected to industrial and environmental applications based on the exploitation of residual plant biomass and other wastes as renewable feedstock from agriculture, industry and other human activities. These tasks are currently gathered in two projects, HIDROFUN and RETO-PROSOST.

The most relevant biotechnological applications of our research are related to the enzymatic production of second generation bioethanol and biodiesel and added-value products, as prebiotic oligosaccharides, lipid or sugar derivatives with enhanced solubility and biological activity, flavors and fragrances. In all of them, biocatalysis replaces chemical reagents, sometimes releases products that cannot be synthesized chemically, and contributes to the development of green and sustainable processes.

Engineering of oxidative enzymes

The research line led by Angel T. Martínez is related to protein (redox enzymes) design and their utilization in oxidative chemical reactions of industrial interest, as those explored in the INDOX (www.indoxproject.eu), EnzOx2 (http://enzox2.eu), WoodZymes (https://woodzymes.eu/) and SusBind (https://susbind.eu/) EU projects, and includes the laboratories of Susana Camarero, working on enzyme directed evolution, and Francisco Javier Ruiz-Dueñas, with high expertise in fungal multiomics. Our work in these projects focuses on proteins of the (i) heme-peroxidase, (ii) multicopper oxidases and (iii) flavo-oxidase types, as Green Chemistry catalysts for different oxidation and oxyfunctionalization reactions of industrial interest.

The enzyme engineering work takes advantage from: i) Computational simulations of protein-ligand interactions (computational biophysics) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) to predict the electron transfer (computational biochemistry), in a well-established collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (www.bsc.es); ii) Analytical chemistry at CIB (MS, NMR, etc) and in collaboration with IRNAS in Seville (www.irnas.csic.es); and iii) Genomic information on fungi responsible for "enzymatic combustion" of lignin (the second more abundant macromolecule on earth) including projects with the Joint Genome Institute (http://jgi.doe.gov) like CSP-2015-1609, coordinated from CIB, for analyzing 32 fungal genomes.