Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Rapid, efficient, and robust enzymatic degradation of biomass-derived polymers is currently a major obstacle in biofuel production. A key missing component in that process is the availability of enzymes that hydrolyze cellulose, hemicellulose, and other polysaccharides into biofuel substrates at temperatures and chemical conditions suitable for industrial use. Thermophilic fungi are known to excrete enzymes that rapidly degrade polymers including cellulose and hemicellulose at high temperatures, however the genome sequence and full gene complement of thermophillic fungi have not been previously reported. Here we describe the initial sequencing, gene identification, and comparative analysis of two thermophilic fungi, Thielavia terrestris and Sporotrichum thermophile, with comparison to Chaetomium globosum, a closely related non-thermophillic fungal species.