(421ax) Effect of Plant Expressed Cell Wall Degrading (CWD) Enzymes On Biomass Hydrolysis

Agrivida Inc has developed a technology to produce cell wall degrading (CWD) enzymes in planta. To evaluate the effects of plant expressed CWD enzymes on biomass hydrolysis, a consolidated process with moderate chemical pretreatment followed by an enzymatic hydrolysis without inter-stage washing was used for the initial plant stover screening.  The transgenic plants expressing one or more enzymes were processed against wild-type and transgenic control plants to identify top hydrolysis plant performers. Following that, a time course enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated plant stover was run to examine the dynamic change of sugar production through the time course. Our experimental data show that the maize stover expressing single xylanase or cellulase, or both can achieve over 50% higher glucan hydrolysis at a faster rate than the control plants under similar processing conditions and enzyme loadings. These results demonstrate the advantages of plant biomass with in-planta expression of cell wall degrading enzymes in bioconversion of biomass into cheap sugars.