Recombinant cellobiohydrolase of Myceliophthora thermophila: characterization and applicability in cellulose saccharification

A codon optimized cellobiohydrolase (CBH) encoding synthetic gene of 1188 bp from a thermophilic mold Myceliophthora thermophila (MtCel6A) was cloned and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli for the first time. In silico analysis suggested that MtCel6A is a GH6 CBH and belongs to CBHII family, which is structurally similar to Cel6A of Humicola insolens. The recombinant MtCel6A is expressed as active inclusion bodies, and the molecular mass of the purified enzyme is ~ 45 kDa. The rMtCel6A is active in a wide range of pH (4–12) and temperatures (40–100 °C) with optima at pH 10.0 and 60 °C. It exhibits T(1/2) of 6.0 and 1.0 h at 60 and 90 °C, respectively. The rMtCel6A is an extremozyme with organic solvent, salt and alkali tolerance. The K(m), V(max), k(cat) and k(cat)/K(m) values of the enzyme are 3.2 mg mL(−1), 222.2 μmol mg(−1) min(−1), 2492 s(−1) and 778.7 s(−1) mg(−1) mL(−1), respectively. The product analysis of rMtCel6A confirmed that it is an exoenzyme that acts from the non-reducing end of cellulose. The addition of rMtCel6A to the commercial cellulase mix (Cellic CTec2) led to 1.9-fold increase in saccharification of the pre-treated sugarcane bagasse. The rMtCel6A is a potential CBH that finds utility in industrial processes such as in bioethanol, paper pulp and textile industries. [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13568-021-01311-8.