The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having beta-xylosidase activity and polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing and using the polypeptides.

The present invention provides a multi-component enzyme system that hydrolyzes hemicellulose oligomers from hardwood which can be expressed, for example, in yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In some embodiments, this invention provides for the engineering of a series of biocatalysts combining the expression and secretion of components of this enzymatic system with robust, rapid xylose utilization, and ethanol fermentation under industrially relevant process conditions for consolidated bioprocessing. In some embodiments, the invention utilizes co-cultures of strains that can achieve significantly improved performance due to the incorporation of additional enzymes in the fermentation system.

Provided are cells having an increased protein production characterized in that said cell comprises modified SUMOylation, a process for producing such a cell or expression system and the use of such a cell in producing a protein of interest.

A strategy for eliminating or greatly reducing the need for physical/chemical treatments or the use of whole microbes for lignocellulosic biomass and organopollutant degradation is disclosed. The soybean is a practical, cost-efficient and sustainable bioreactor for the production of lignin-degrading and cellulose-degrading enzymes. The use of soybean as a transgenic overexpression platform provides advantages that no other industrial scale enzyme expression system can match. Availability of a battery of related plant biomass degrading enzymes in separate transgenic soybean lines provides unprecedented flexibility in industrial and bioremediation processes. Depending upon the particular application, selected soybean-derived powdered enzyme formulations can be used, and their sequential addition can be orchestrated. Manufacturing enzymes using transgenic soybeans wherein these enzymes are capable of lignocellulose and organopollutant degradation into useful or nontoxic products will dramatically change biomass engineering schemes and environmental remediation practices. This technology has a sum of advantages that other protein expression system cannot duplicate, including the manufacturing of individual enzymes in a cost-effective manner that allows flexibility in cocktail composition, ease of application, and long term storage in the absence of a cold chain.

A thermostable xylanase having a xylanase catalytic domain including: (A) a polypeptide including the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, (B) a polypeptide including an amino acid sequence in which at least one amino acid has been deleted, substituted, or added in the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and having xylanase activity at least under conditions of 85° C. and pH 6.0, or (C) a polypeptide including an amino acid sequence having 80% or greater sequence identity with the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and having xylanase activity at least under conditions of 85° C. and pH 6.0.

The present invention provides nucleotide sequences of Macrophomina phaseolina (“M. phaseolina”) that encodes proteins/enzymes with cellulolytic activity, including a cellulase activity, a endoglucanase, a cellobiohydrolase, a β-glucosidase, a a-glucosidase, a xylanase, a mannanse, a β-xylosidase, a a-xylosidase, a galactosidase, an arabinofuranosidase, a a-fucosidases, a β-galactanase, an unsaturated β-glucuronyl hydrolase and/or oligomerase activity. Vectors, expression constructs and host cells comprising and/or consisting of the nucleotide sequences of the enzyme genes are also provided. The invention further provides methods for producing the enzymes and methods for modifying the enzymes in order to improve their desirable characteristics. The enzymes of the invention can be used in a variety of, but not limited to, pharmaceutical, agricultural, food and feed processing, biofuel, energy efficiency and industrial contexts. These enzymes are also useful for complete hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass into simple sugar that can then be fermented to liquid fuels and chemical feedstocks.

Yeast cells are transformed with an exogenous xylose isomerase gene. Additional genetic modifications enhance the ability of the transformed cells to ferment xylose to ethanol or other desired fermentation products. Those modifications include deletion of non-specific or specific aldose reductase gene(s), deletion of xylitol dehydrogenase gene(s) and/or overexpression of xylulokinase.

Disclosed is a use of the BXL gene or a protein encoded thereby. Specifically, when the expression of the BXL gene or a protein encoded thereby is inhibited, traits of plants can be significantly improved, comprising: (i) enhancing the stress resistance of plants; and/or (ii) the resistance to pathogens; and/or (iii) reducing lignin content and increasing fiber and pectin content. In addition, inhibitors of the BXL gene or a protein encoded thereby can also be used in feed compositions, and are used for improving feed palatability.

The present invention relates to recombinant filamentous fungal host cells producing cellulolytic enzyme compositions and methods of producing and using the compositions.

The present invention relates to enzyme compositions and processes of producing and using the compositions for the saccharification of lignocellulosic material.