New insights into using lignocellulose degradation mechanisms for biofuel generation gained by sharing expertise in wood-degrading animals and fungi
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Portsmouth
Department Name: Sch of Biological Sciences
Abstract
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Organisations
- University of Portsmouth (Lead Research Organisation)
- Northeastern University - Boston (Collaboration)
- University of Copenhagen (Collaboration)
- Virginia Tech (Collaboration)
- Kebony AS (Collaboration)
- Novozymes (Collaboration)
- SP Technical Institute of Sweden (Collaboration)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (Collaboration)
- U.S. Department of Energy (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- Statistics Norway (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Simon Cragg (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Cragg SM
(2020)
Vascular Plants Are Globally Significant Contributors to Marine Carbon Fluxes and Sinks.
in Annual review of marine science
Reuben Shipway J
(2014)
The broadcast spawning Caribbean shipworm, Teredothyra dominicensis (Bivalvia, Teredinidae), has invaded and become established in the eastern Mediterranean Sea
in Biological Invasions
Sabbadin F
(2018)
Uncovering the molecular mechanisms of lignocellulose digestion in shipworms.
in Biotechnology for biofuels
Pesante G
(2021)
Characterisation of the enzyme transport path between shipworms and their bacterial symbionts.
in BMC biology
Cragg SM
(2015)
Lignocellulose degradation mechanisms across the Tree of Life.
in Current opinion in chemical biology
Borges LM
(2014)
Diversity, environmental requirements, and biogeography of bivalve wood-borers (Teredinidae) in European coastal waters.
in Frontiers in zoology
Lloyd R
(2014)
The complete mitochondrial genome of Limnoria quadripunctata Holthuis (Isopoda: Limnoriidae)
in Mitochondrial DNA
Besser K
(2018)
Hemocyanin facilitates lignocellulose digestion by wood-boring marine crustaceans.
in Nature communications
Shipway JR
(2016)
Zachsia zenkewitschi (Teredinidae), a Rare and Unusual Seagrass Boring Bivalve Revisited and Redescribed.
in PloS one
Kern M
(2013)
Structural characterization of a unique marine animal family 7 cellobiohydrolase suggests a mechanism of cellulase salt tolerance.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
| Description | * A novel approach to detecting reductions in crystallinity of cellulose during the digestion process. Such reductions reduce the recalcitrance of cellulose to break down by enzymes and so are relevant to production of biofuels from wood feedstocks. *A network of expertise covering the range across the Tree of Life of breakdown mechanisms employed in the release of sugars from woody materials. |
| Exploitation Route | The review article we have published has provided an authoritative perspective over the diversity of breakdown mechanisms which is frequently cited. The novelty of this review is that it bring current understanding of all the mechanisms together in a single overview, with new insights generated by comparison of mechanisms. The interest in combining mechanisms from widely different organisms in a single chimeric protein has already lead to a promising new line of enquiry and initial results. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Energy,Environment,Transport |
| Description | A multi-author review encapsulating the findings reported in the end-of-project workshop was published in Current Opinion in Chemical Biology |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Description | EN275 Working Group |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Impact | Working group EN275 is undertaking the updating of the European Norm for testing wood products for use in the marine environment. The involvement of SC in the meetings of this working group have lead to plans to adopt a laboratory testing method founded on the insights into marine borer digestion developed through BBSRC-funded projects on lignocellulose degradation. |
| Description | Research Council of Norway |
| Amount | £250,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Research Council of Norway |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Norway |
| Start | 07/2017 |
| End | 07/2020 |
| Description | strategic LoLa |
| Amount | £568,462 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/L001926/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2014 |
| End | 03/2019 |
| Description | Borer and fungal enzymes |
| Organisation | Virginia Tech |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Generated experimental materials Provided X-ray diffractograms of materials Contribution to end of project workshop Synthesising workshop contributions for review manuscript Synthesized outline proposal for ffollow up project |
| Collaborator Contribution | Developed a methodology for interpreting diffractograms of digested material Contribution to end of project workshop Plans and ideas for follow up project |
| Impact | Multidisciplinary: mycology, zoology, structural biology, wood science Workshop at Linnean Society Outline project proposal to NSF/BIO BBSRC Pilot Conference presentation Manuscript published 2015 |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Enzyme structures |
| Organisation | Novozymes |
| Country | Denmark |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Crystallized proteins generated by Novozymes and solved structures. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Supplied large quantities of proteins of interest, including ones falling outside the BBSRC project range, though relevant to the project objectives. |
| Impact | Protein structures have been generated which help us with interpretation of the function of similar proteins generated by our experimental organisms. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Hemicellulose degradation |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to planning of shared programme. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to planning of shared programme. |
| Impact | Collaboration is at an early stage. Manuscript published in 2015 |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Kebony |
| Organisation | Kebony AS |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Rapid evaluation by novel laboratory and field protocols of wood borer protection capacity of novel wood modification processes |
| Collaborator Contribution | Development and assessment of of novel wood modification processes |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Kebony |
| Organisation | Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
| Department | Department of Chemical Engineering |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Rapid evaluation by novel laboratory and field protocols of wood borer protection capacity of novel wood modification processes |
| Collaborator Contribution | Development and assessment of of novel wood modification processes |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Kebony |
| Organisation | SP Technical Institute of Sweden |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Rapid evaluation by novel laboratory and field protocols of wood borer protection capacity of novel wood modification processes |
| Collaborator Contribution | Development and assessment of of novel wood modification processes |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Kebony |
| Organisation | Statistics Norway |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Rapid evaluation by novel laboratory and field protocols of wood borer protection capacity of novel wood modification processes |
| Collaborator Contribution | Development and assessment of of novel wood modification processes |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Kebony |
| Organisation | University of Copenhagen |
| Country | Denmark |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Rapid evaluation by novel laboratory and field protocols of wood borer protection capacity of novel wood modification processes |
| Collaborator Contribution | Development and assessment of of novel wood modification processes |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | NREL Biofuels |
| Organisation | U.S. Department of Energy |
| Department | National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provision of high quality DNA samples for genomic analysis Prediction of enzyme structures Solving of enzyme structures Crystallizing of proteins |
| Collaborator Contribution | Liaison with U Colorado over genome sequencing Substantial intellectual input into publication Technical assistance regarding protein expression |
| Impact | Multidisciplinary: digestion physiology, gene expression, protein synthesis, structural biology |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Shipworm enzymes |
| Organisation | Northeastern University - Boston |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Identification of endogenous lignocellulose active enzymes in the shipworm Organisation of the workshop on lignocellulose degradation mechanisms at the Linnean Society. Contribution to a manuscript on shipworm taxonomy |
| Collaborator Contribution | Characterisation of the proteome of the digestive tract of the shipworm Contribution to workshop at Linnean Society. |
| Impact | Development of a joint proposal for funding under the NSF/BIO - BBSRC Pilot. Recruitment of a PhD student from Portsmouth to a postdoctoral position at Northeastern University. Manuscript submitted on shipworm taxonomy in 2016. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Entomology conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation to show similarities and differences of crustacean wood digestion mechanisms compared with insect mechanisms |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://ice2016orlando.org/ |
| Description | European Conference on Tropical Ecology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A presentation on the role of marine borers and their wood digestion capabilities in the functioning of mangrove ecosystems. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.iyor2018.org/event/2018-european-conference-of-tropical-ecology-challenges-in-tropical-e... |
| Description | Janelia Conference: Crustacean Models in Cross-Disciplinary Biological Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A gathering of expertise from around the globe to debate under non-disclosure conditions research on genomics of crustaceans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Marine Evolution 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Marine Evolution 2018 brought together speakers from across the globe to a meeting with the Linnaeus Centre for Marine Evolutionary Biology. SC presented work on the diversity of digestive enzymes in marine wood-boring crustaceans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://cemeb.science.gu.se/activities/marine-evolution-2018 |
| Description | Workshop on lignocellulose degradation mechanisms |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentations from experts that covered the range of biodegradation mechanisms across the Tree of Life stimulated new lines of thinking by the mainly US and UK participants. The workshop stimulated agreements to collaborate (e.g. with Northeastern University), opened up an opportunity for employment (PhD student from Portsmouth recruited to Northeastern University) and prompted agreement to publish a distillation of the presentations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |