The present invention relates to recombinant Trichoderma host cells producing Aspergillus fumigatus cellulolytic enzyme compositions and methods of producing and using the compositions.

Methods for expressing multiple proteins by constructing transformation vectors that include multiprotein expression cassettes and transforming hosts with vectors and by engineering hosts expressing multiprotein units are provided. Multiprotein units that include multiple proteins fused to modified inteins capable of effecting splicing of the multiprotein units are described. Expression cassettes that include nucleic acids encoding multiprotein units and hosts including the expression cassettes are also provided.

The present invention is directed to enzyme based methods for removing water insoluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) and/or water soluble or insoluble oligosaccharides from soy products without significantly damaging the proteins contained therein This removal is facilitated by the enzymatic hydrolysis of poly- and oligomeric carbohydrates into monosaccharides and other water soluble sugars. The present invention provides for the production of three streams of useful materials. The first is an enriched protein material comparable to the known SPCs but without significant quantities of undigestible oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. The second is an SPI made from the soluble protein in the hydrolysate which is valuable for high-quality feed, food and industrial uses. The third is the soluble saccharides and hydrolyzed carbohydrates (releasing sugars) that can be converted by fermentation to various valuable bioproducts.

The present invention relates to methods of recombinantly producing a natively secreted polypeptide, the method comprising the steps of providing a microorganism host cell comprising an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a natively secreted polypeptide without a translationally fused signal peptide; cultivating the microorganism host cell under conditions conducive to the expression of the polypeptide and, optionally, recovering the polypeptide, as well as microorganisms, certain polynucleotides, expression constructs and protease substitution variants.

The invention relates to enzymes having xylanase, mannanase and/or glucanase activity, e.g., catalyzing hydrolysis of internal -1,4-xylosidic linkages or endo--1,4-glucanase linkages; and/or degrading a linear polysaccharide beta-1,4-xylan into xylose. Thus, the invention provides methods and processes for breaking down hemicellulose, which is a major component of the cell wall of plants, including methods and processes for hydrolyzing hemicelluloses in any plant or wood or wood product, wood waste, paper pulp, paper product or paper waste or byproduct. In addition, methods of designing new xylanases, mannanases and/or glucanases and methods of use thereof are also provided. The xylanases, mannanases and/or glucanases have increased activity and stability at increased pH and temperature.

Isolated and/or purified polypeptides and nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius are provided. Further provided are methods of at least partially degrading, cleaving, or removing polysaccharides, lignocellulose, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, starch, chitin, polyhydroxybutyrate, heteroxylans, glycosides, xylan-, glucan-, galactan-, or mannan-decorating groups using isolated and/or purified polypeptides and nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius.

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having xylanase 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.

Provided herein are methods for enhancing enzymatic activity using certain polymers that may be optionally attached to an enzyme. The polymers may be thermally-responsive polymers, including poly N-isopropylacrylamide or poly N-isopropylmethacrylamide. The polymer may also be a copolymer with at least two different monomer residues. The monomer residues may have a structure of formula (I): ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1, R.sup.A and R.sup.B are as described herein. Examples of such monomer residues may include N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm) or N-isopropylmethacrylamide (NIPMa). The polymer may include additional monomer residues, such as aminooxy-bearing methacrylamide monomer residues that can be modified to vary the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymer.

The present invention relates to xylanase variants. The present invention also relates to polynucleotides encoding the variants; nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides; and methods of using the variants.

The present invention is directed to a yeast strain, or strains, secreting a full suite, or any subset of that full suite, of enzymes to hydrolyze corn starch, corn fiber, lignocellulose, (including enzymes that hydrolyze linkages in cellulose, hemicellulose, and between lignin and carbohydrates) and to utilize pentose sugars (xylose and arabinose). The invention is also directed to the set of proteins that are well expressed in yeast for each category of enzymatic activity. The resulting strain, or strains can be used to hydrolyze starch and cellulose simultaneously. The resulting strain, or strains can be also metabolically engineered to produce less glycerol and uptake acetate. The resulting strain, or strains can also be used to produce ethanol from granular starch without liquefaction. The resulting strain, or strains, can be further used to reduce the amount of external enzyme needed to hydrolyze a biomass feedstock during an Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF) process, or to increase the yield of ethanol during SSF at current saccharolytic enzyme loadings. In addition, multiple enzymes of the present invention can be co-expressed in cells of the invention to provide synergistic digestive action on biomass feedstock. In some aspects, host cells expressing different heterologous saccharolytic enzymes can also be co-cultured together and used to produce ethanol from biomass feedstock.