Enzyme and biochemical producing fungi

We are developing a biorefinery concept for biological production of chemicals, drugs, feed and fuels using plant biomass as raw material in well-defined cell-factories. Among the important goals is the discovery of new biocatalysts for production of enzymes, biochemicals and fuels and already our screening of a large collection of fungal strains isolated from natural habitats have resulted in identification of strains with high production of hydrolytic enzymes and excretion of organic acids. Our research focuses on creating a fungal platform based on synthetic biology for developing new cell factories for sustainable production of important molecules. For developing fungi into efficient cell factories, the project includes identification of important factors that control the flux through the pathways using metabolic flux analysis and metabolic engineering of biochemical pathways.