University of York investigating how enzymes use oxygen

In the UK, researchers led by the University of York carried out a detailed investigation of how the enzymes use oxygen from the air to create a very reactive entity. This oxygen species then chips away at cellulose, allowing the difficult-to-degrade biomass to be broken down.

The on-going York research into LPMOs, which is led by Professor Walton and Professor Davies from the Department of Chemistry, is part of Critical Enzymes for Sustainable Biofuels from Cellulose (CESBIC), a collaborative project funded by the European Research Area Industrial Biotechnology network (ERA-IB).