@inproceedings{8562522,
  abstract     = {Industrial biotechnology aims to replace fossil-based chemicals by bio-based equivalents produced from renewable sources. Lignocellulose, a major component of the plant cell walls, is present in a large amount of waste and side streams. Efficient use of this component as source material is one of the most important challenges in the field. In lignocellulosic biomass, cellulose is surrounded and tightly connected to hemicellulose and the hemicellulose itself forms a compact matrix with lignin. The crystallinity of cellulose, the hydrophobicity of lignin, the encapsulation of cellulose and the general non uniform three-dimensional lignocellulosic structure ensures high resistance towards enzymatic degradation and as such to further conversion.
Cellulosomes are multi-enzyme complexes produced by specialist micro-organisms that feed on plant cell wall carbohydrates. These ‘nanomachines’ consist of two complementary structural modules, a large scaffoldin which comprises different cohesin modules and docking enzymes which comprise a dockerin module and a catalytic enzyme. A specific interaction between the cohesin domains of the scaffoldin and the dockerin domains of the catalytic enzymes ensures the arrangement of different catalytic activities on a single backbone. As such, all catalytic modules with complementary functions are close to each other, enhancing their synergism. 
Because cellulosomes are highly efficient in degrading lignocellulosic biomass, interest has been shown in these enzyme complexes to adapt and use them in the lignocellulosic conversion process. The goal is to use the knowledge about naturally occurring enzyme complexes to create engineered designer cellulosomes with the potential to degrade all lignocellulosic components and in addition convert them into valuable end products. Unlike native cellulosomes, the use of designer cellulosomes enables control over the composition and arrangement of the selected enzymes.
Several research groups around the world have successfully created designer cellulosomes. However, the use of standard cloning techniques makes the production process slow and inefficient and allows the creation and analysis of only one designer cellulosome at a time. 
Our lab has developed a DNA assembly method which enables us to create modular proteins at a high speed. At the moment we have constructed over 100 cellulosome building blocks (cohesins, dockerins and enzymes), which can easily be incorporated in designer cellulosomes. We have also constructed scaffoldins and docking enzymes in a high throughput manner. Our final goal is to assemble customized designer cellulosomes which can be used in the conversion process of lignocellulose to specific high value end products .},
  author       = {Vanderstraeten, Julie and João de Carvalho Maurício da Fonseca, Maria and Thibau, Arno and Hooghe, F and Briers, Yves},
  booktitle    = {Applied Biological Sciences, 23rd National symposium, Papers},
  keywords     = {Lignocellulose,Designer cellulosomes,Protein engineering},
  language     = {eng},
  location     = {Brussels, Belgium},
  pages        = {5},
  title        = {Designer cellulosomics for a customized conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to valuable bulk and fine chemicals},
  year         = {2018},
}