Cellulase for commodity products from cellulosic biomass

A vital objective for second millennium biotechnology will be the enzymatic conversion of renewable cellulosic biomass to inexpensive fermentable suga rs; new and more efficient fermentation processes will convert this biologi cal 'currency' to a variety of commodity products. Although early strides w ill be made using process development and engineering disciplines, mid-term and longer advances must rely heavily on insight gained through protein an d metabolic engineering technologies. These challenging goats can be met mo st effectively by the full integration of academic, federal, and industrial efforts in teams that develop and apply new fundamental knowledge to key c ost drivers.