Experimental and computational studies of cellulases as bioethanol enzymes

Bioethanol industries and bioprocesses have many challenges that constantly impede commercialization of the end product. One of the bottlenecks in the bioethanol industry is the challenge of discovering highly efficient catalysts that can improve biomass conversion. The current promising bioethanol conversion catalysts are microorganism-based cellulolytic enzymes, but lack optimization for high bioethanol conversion, due to biological and other factors. A better understanding of molecular underpinnings of cellulolytic enzyme mechanisms and significant ways to improve them can accelerate the bioethanol commercial production process. In order to do this, experimental methods are the primary choice to evaluate and characterize cellulase’s properties, but they are time-consuming and expensive. A time-saving, complementary approach involves computational methods that evaluate the same properties and improves our atomistic-level understanding of enzymatic mechanism of action. Theoretical methods in many cases have proposed research routes for subsequent experimental testing and validation, reducing the overall research cost. Having a plethora of tools to evaluate cellulases and the yield of the enzymatic process will aid in planning more optimized experimental setups. Thus, there is a need to connect the computational evaluation methods with the experimental methods to overcome the bottlenecks in the bioethanol industry. This review discusses various experimental and computational methods and their use in evaluating the multiple properties of cellulases.