CAREER: Fundamental studies of enzyme-polysaccharide interactions towards improving the kinetics of biomass conversion

职业：酶-多糖相互作用的基础研究，以改善生物质转化的动力学

• 批准号: 1055518
• 负责人: Tina Jeoh
• 金额: $ 37.74万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-04-15 至 2017-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1055518&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Fundamental; studies; enzyme; polysaccharide

In the realm of biomass conversion to biofuels, many thermoconversion catalytic routes are under study, while far fewer bioconversion catalytic routes receive the same study. This is reflective of the difficulty of the problem. One of the challenging technological barriers to the large scale bioconversion of plant biomass to advanced biofuels is the limited understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of cell wall polysaccharide hydrolysis by individual and synergistic hydrolytic enzymes. Therefore, saccharification reaction outcomes are not predictable over variables of reaction scale, feedstock variability and enzyme systems. PI Tina Jeoh, of the University of California Davis proposes to understand cellulase-cellulose interactions that impact the kinetics of hydrolysis, and relate studies of fundamental interfacial interactions at the molecular-scale to saccharification rates on the bulk-scale as the research objective of her CAREER project. Specific tools to be used to study the effect of cellulose surface chemistry of native, never-dried cellulose microfibrils on interfacial interactions with water and enzymes include atomic force microscopy, confocal microscopy and in vitro biochemical assays. The experimental capabilities will be further enhanced during this project by chemical force spectroscopy using scanning probes conjugated to specific chemistries or protein to directly probe cellulose surface chemistry at the nanometer scale. These approaches represent significantly comprehensive attacks on the problem of enzymatic cell wall degradation, and promise to increase the fundamental understanding of this area.An equally aggressive approach has been proposed for the educational component of the CAREER award, with emphasis on increasing the representation of women in engineering. PI Jeoh believes women are under-represented in the STEM workforce largely due to insufficient environmental and nurturing factors throughout their education. One of the educational approaches of this CAREER proposal is to engage K-12 girls in surrounding communities in an annual WISTEM for girls fair where 50-60 girls from Yolo county schools will be invited to the UC Davis campus for a day of STEM activities and lab tours, co-hosted by the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) campus group and ISIS Education, a local non-profit group in Davis aiming to increase girls participation in STEM. The broader impacts of the research from this project include the overcoming of key technological challenges standing in the way of the successful establishment of a viable advanced biofuels industry, which is currently the most promising and sustainable transportation fuel alternative to fossil fuels. The broader impact of the education plan of this project is to help increase the numbers of women in the STEM workforce by engaging school-aged girls in STEM activities.

在生物质转化为生物燃料领域，许多热转化催化路线正在研究中，而接受相同研究的生物转化催化路线却少得多。这反映了问题的难度。将植物生物质大规模生物转化为先进生物燃料的具有挑战性的技术障碍之一是对单个和协同水解酶水解细胞壁多糖的基本机制的了解有限。因此，糖化反应结果无法根据反应规模、原料变异性和酶系统的变量进行预测。 加州大学戴维斯分校的 PI Tina Jeoh 提议了解影响水解动力学的纤维素酶-纤维素相互作用，并将分子尺度的基本界面相互作用研究与大规模糖化速率联系起来，作为她的研究目标职业项目。 用于研究天然的、从未干燥的纤维素微纤维的纤维素表面化学对与水和酶的界面相互作用的影响的具体工具包括原子力显微镜、共聚焦显微镜和体外生化测定。在该项目中，化学力光谱法将进一步增强实验能力，使用与特定化学物质或蛋白质结合的扫描探针直接探测纳米尺度的纤维素表面化学。这些方法代表了对酶促细胞壁降解问题的显着全面的攻击，并有望增加对该领域的基本了解。针对职业奖的教育部分提出了同样积极的方法，重点是增加女性的代表性在工程领域。 PI Jeoh 认为，女性在 STEM 劳动力中的代表性不足，很大程度上是由于她们整个教育过程中的环境和培养因素不足。该职业提案的教育方法之一是让周边社区的 K-12 女孩参加一年一度的 WISTEM 女孩博览会，来自约洛县学校的 50-60 名女孩将被邀请到加州大学戴维斯分校校园参加一天的 STEM 活动，实验室参观，由科学与工程女性 (WISE) 校园团体和 ISIS Education 共同主办，ISIS Education 是戴维斯当地的一个非营利组织，旨在增加女孩对 STEM 的参与。该项目研究的更广泛影响包括克服阻碍成功建立可行的先进生物燃料产业的关键技术挑战，生物燃料产业是目前最有前途和可持续的化石燃料替代品。该项目教育计划的更广泛影响是通过让学龄女孩参与 STEM 活动来帮助增加 STEM 劳动力中的女性人数。