April 30 : Cornell University researchers have discovered a new plant enzyme that could make the production of cellulosic ethanol less expensive.

Scientists say the enzyme could potentially allow plant materials used to make ethanol to be broken down more efficiently than is possible using current technologies.

Current technologies use microbial enzymes called “cellulases” to digest the cellulose in grasses and such rapidly growing trees as poplars. The microbial enzymes have a structure that makes them very efficient at binding to and digesting plant cell wall material called lignocellulose (a combination of lignin and cellulose).

The new class of plant enzymes has a structure similar to these, researchers say.

According to Jocelyn Rose, Cornell assistant professor of plant biology, a critical step in producing cellulosic ethanol involves breaking down a plant’s cell wall material and fermenting the sugars that are released.

“This is the first example of a cellulose-binding domain in a plant cell wall enzyme. The bottleneck for conversion of lignocellulose into ethanol is efficient cellulose degradation. The discovery of these enzymes suggests there might be sets of new plant enzymes to improve the efficiency of cellulose degradation,” said Rose.

Rose said while they found the new enzyme in a tomato plant, they have evidence to suggest that such proteins are present in other species as well, which could be used for biofuel production.

The findings appear in the April 20 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. (ANI)