The current study complements last year’s publication of the T. reesei genome, which was sequenced at the DOE JGI. The authors looked at the sequence of the reference strain named for the Army quartermasters, QM6a, noted Baker. “Now we’re looking at strains such as RUT C30, which is a parent strain for many cellulase producing lines used in industry, to figure out how cellulase production might be further boosted without affecting the health of the strain,” he added.
Study co-author Randy Berka, a director at the Davis, Calif.-based office of the Danish bioinnovation company Novozymes, one of the largest producers of industrial enzymes, confirmed T. reesei’s importance for biotechnical applications. “Most, if not all of the T. reesei strains that are used to produce cellulases today for industrial applications were derived from the ancestral QM6a isolate and its progeny,” he said. “Companies have devised ways to generate improved strains from the QM6a pedigree that produce cellulase enzyme products more economically. Along with genome modifications that have improved cellulase production, these methods may introduce negative changes in the genome that affect the organism’s robustness.”
Read on at Checkbiotech