How do different biomass-degrading enzymes work together as a synergistic system?
Cellulases and hemicellulases are secreted from cells as free enzymes or as large, extracellular complexes known as cellulosomes. The collective activity of these enzyme systems is much more efficient than the individual activity of any isolated enzyme; therefore, to truly understand how these enzymes function, they must be studied as systems rather than individually or a few at a time. In addition, these systems eventually must be analyzed under laboratory conditions more representative of real-world environments. For example, laboratories often use purified cellulose as the substrate for enzyme analysis rather than more heterogeneous, natural lignocellulosic materials, and this can provide erroneous conclusions about natural enzyme activity. • Why are ethanologenic organisms less efficient at using certain sugar substrates? A varied mix of hexoses (e.g., glucose, mannose), pentoses (e.g., xylose, arabinose), and oligosaccharides is released from the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic mate
