APPLICATION OF THIN FILM ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES AND CONTROLLED REACTION ENVIRONMENTS TO MODEL AND ENHANCE BIOMASS UTILIZATION BY CELLULOLYTIC BACTERIA

摘要: OF DISSERTATION APPLICATION THIN FILM ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES AND CONTROLLED REACTION ENVIRONMENTS TO MODEL ENHANCE BIOMASS UTILIZATION BY CELLULOLYTIC BACTERIA Cellulose from energy crops or agriculture residues can be utilized as a sustainable resource to produce biofuels such ethanol. The process of converting cellulose into solvents and requires the saccharification soluble, fermentable sugars. However, challenges cellulosic biofuel production include increasing activity cellulosedegrading enzymes (cellulases) solvent (ethanol) yield while minimizing coproduction organic acids. This work applies novel surface analysis techniques fermentation reactor perturbations quantify, manipulate, model enzymatic metabolic processes critical efficient biofuels. Surface utilizing thin film substrate are developed quantify kinetics degradation by cellulase well interactions with at interfacial level. Quartz Crystal Microbalance Dissipation (QCM-D) is monitor change in mass films cast. time-dependent frequency response QCM simultaneously measures both enzyme adsorption hydrolysis fungal cellulases, which significant reduction extent observed cellobiose concentrations. A mechanistic reaction scheme successfully applied for first time, describing adsorption/desorption events enzyme, inhibitor, enzyme/inhibitor complexes. effect concentration on tested using films. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) also time whole cell cellulases bacterium C. thermocellum, where temperature quantified. Fermentation soluble sugars desirable products optimization product selectivity cellulolytic bacterium, Clostridium thermocellum. Metabolic tools map phenotype toward through environmental perturbation. ethanol achieved exogenous hydrogen addition hydrogenase inhibitors (e.g. methyl viologen). These results demonstrate compensatory formation shift perturbation without permanent organism’s genome.