CHED 855 |
| Thermobifida fusca is a moderately thermophilic soil bacterium. This organism secretes thermostable enzymes that degrade plant-cell-wall material. T. fusca's complete genome has been sequenced; there are 29 putative enzymes involved in plant-cell-wall material degradation in addition to the ten previously purified glycosyl hydrolases. Assays with the substrate switchgrass were conducted using the known purified cellulases and xylanases in an attempt to maximize or surpass the sugar production by the T. fusca supernatant extract. Results consistently show that the ‘crude' supernatant yields more sugar than purified enzyme mixtures. SDS-PAGE experiments of the crude supernatant showed that there are about 30 protein bands present. 2D-Gel Electrophoresis experiments will be conducted in the future to aid in identification of any relevant proteins. One of the 29 putative enzyme genes will be cloned and then expressed so that the proteins can be used in additional switchgrass assays. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Biochemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |