Fungal Glycoside Hydrolases of White-Rot Fungi for Cellulosic Biofuels Production : A Review

Abstract

The second generation bioethanol production from lignocellulose materials through environmental friendly methods is one of the biggest challenges on industrial application. Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose has more benefits compared with the acid hydrolysis. This method has the good specificity, low consumption of energy and chemicals and is more environmental friendly. However, the utilization of lignocellulose for bioethanol production through enzymatic methods is still confronting several difficulties for commercialization. Cellulose hydrolysis step has been reported to be the bottleneck of bioethanol production by enzymatic process, and the major barrier of this process is high price of enzymes, which making the process less economically feasible. For this reason, many developments are still needed in cellulase production from various organisms for cellulose saccharification. White-rot fungi have received much consideration for their valuable enzyme systems which can effective degrade lignocellulose biomass. These fungi could secrete extracellular oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes that degrade lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose. This review provides a complete overview of the glycoside hydrolases enzymes production by white-rot fungus, such as endoglucanase, exoglucanase, β-glucosidase, cellobiose dehydrogenase and lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase. The use of white-rot fungus for low cost glycoside hydrolases enzymes production might be fascinating for second generation bioethanol production.