Abstract
Feruloyl esterases (FAEs) represent a diverse group of carboxyl esterases that specifically catalyze the hydrolysis of ester bonds between ferulic (hydroxycinnamic) acid and plant cell wall polysaccharides. Therefore, FAEs act as accessory enzymes to assist xylanolytic and pectinolytic enzymes in gaining access to their site of action during biomass conversion. Their ability to release ferulic acid and other hydroxycinnamic acids from plant biomass makes FAEs potential biocatalysts in a wide variety of applications such as in biofuel, food and feed, pulp and paper, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. This review provides an updated overview of the knowledge on fungal FAEs, in particular describing their role in plant biomass degradation, diversity of their biochemical properties and substrate specificities, their regulation and conditions needed for their induction. Furthermore, the discovery of new FAEs using genome mining and phylogenetic analysis of current publicly accessible fungal genomes will also be presented. This has led to a new subfamily classification of fungal FAEs that takes into account both phylogeny and substrate specificity.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-016-0651-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Plant biomass is a magnificent renewable source of biopolymers
feruloyl esterase (FAE) generally play a role in catalyzing the release of ferulic acid and other hydroxycinnamic acids from plant cell wall polysaccharides, they possess diverse specificities towards different feruloylated poly- and oligosaccharides and monomeric hydroxycinnamates
FAEs have evolved from different types of enzymes, which is reflected by their amino acid sequences
Summary
Plant biomass is a magnificent renewable source of biopolymers. It offers a wealth of possibilities for development and production of sustainable raw materials and energy which fit perfectly with the development of a bio-based economy [1]. Ferulic and hydroxycinnamic acids in plant cell walls Different types of lignocellulosic biomass can be used for second generation bioethanol production. FAE discovery The first FAEs were discovered in the late 80’s when a new type of esterase capable of releasing the covalently (See figure on page.) Fig. 1 Model structures of hydroxycinnamic acids, feruloylated plant cell wall polysaccharides and the site of attack by the carbohydrate-active enzymes (modified from [8, 15]).
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