Stimulation of lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysis by proteins of glycoside hydrolase family 61: structure and function of a large, enigmatic family

The structural and functional studies on the enigmatic family of glycoside hydrolase 61 (GH61) that catalyze cellulose and hemicellulose hydrolysis are presented. The total protein loading required to hydrolyze lignocellulosic biomass could be reduced to 2-fold by incorporating the gene for one GH61 protein into a commercial Trichoderma reesei strain producing high levels of cellulolytic enzymes.