We have a paper on how lignin impacts cellulase degradation being accepted and will be online soon in Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts!
Cellulose degradation by cellulases has been studied for decades due to the potential of using lignocellulosic biomass as a sustainable source of bioethanol. Because lignin is tightly linked to cellulose and is not digestible by cellulases, is thought to play a dominant role in limiting the efficient enzymatic degradation of plant biomass.
Hernández-Beltrán, Javier Ulises, et al. “Insight into pretreatment methods of lignocellulosic biomass to increase biogas yield: current state, challenges, and opportunities.” Applied sciences 9.18 (2019): 3721.
We found that Cel7A cellulase preferentially bound to regions of cellulose where lignin was absent and that in regions of high lignin density, Cel7A binding was inhibited. With increasing degrees of lignification, there was a decrease in the fraction of Cel7A that moved along cellulose rather than statically binding. Furthermore, with increasing lignification, the velocity of processive Cel7Amovement decreased, as did the distance that individual Cel7A molecules moved during processive runs.
