Novel fungal copper-radical oxidases as biocatalysts for the valorization of alcohols and plant biomass – FUNTASTIC

The development of high-performance biomaterials and goods from forest and agricultural biomass via environmentally responsible processes are central to a sustainable bio-based economy. The vision of this joint French-Canadian (ANR-NSERC) Partnership Project is to harness fundamental insight, gained through the discovery of novel enzymes, for the development of emergent biotechnology to add value to abundant French and Canadian biomass resources. In nature, filamentous fungi play a crucial role in the degradation/modification of carbohydrates and secondary metabolites through the production of oxidative enzymes. Despite their biological importance and application potential, catalytic diversity of oxidase-like enzymes has not been widely explored. State-of-the-art, genomic, biochemical, structural and biophysical methods will be used to reveal untapped catalytic potential among the diverse family of Copper-Radical Oxidases (CROs), archetypal members of which have been shown to valuably modify polysaccharides and other alcohols through the surgical introduction of carbonyl functional groups. Accurately, FUNTASTIC will focus on the discovery, the characterization and applications of novel fungal CROs from AA5 family. Beside the fact that this family has still not been deeply explored it present strong interest via a broad diversity in term of activity, i.e. galactose oxidases, alcohol oxidases and glyoxal oxidases. These biocatalytic activities provide a unique opportunity for upgrading forest and agricultural biomass (fibres, hemicelluloses, and extractives) to bioproducts of increased value and broadened application space such as functionalized bio-based polysaccharides, alcohols conversion into corresponding aldehydes of interest and lignin deconstruction. Through multi-disciplinary expertise of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP), international research exchange, and interaction with dynamic French (i.e. Mane) and Canadian (i.e. Novozymes Canada Ltd) companies specialized respectively in flavor aldehydes and enzymes productions at an industrial-scale, this project will generate high-input, environmentally sustainable biotechnology applications to directly stimulate the French and Canadian bio-economies.