{
  "id": 10726937,
  "title": "Coupled enzyme discovery, evolution and synthetic yeast chassis adaptation for microbial biopolymer valorisation",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/coupled-enzyme-discovery-evolution-and-synthetic-yeast-chassis",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.754783v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The valorisation of biological polymers necessitates microbial systems capable of accessing challenging substrates and transforming the resultant carbon into valuable products. Although genome and metagenome databases offer a growing pool of potential depolymerizing and modifying enzymes, most discovery processes remain separate from enzyme optimization and host adaptation. In this report, a combined sequence-based enzyme discovery, enzyme evolution, and synthetic yeast chassis adaptation approach for microbial biopolymer valorisation is introduced. Utilizing laccases for lignin depolymerisation as a proof of concept, the method integrates sequence data mining for enzyme discovery, modular yeast surface display for functional screening, directed evolution for enzyme optimization, and synthetic yeast genome diversification for chassis enhancement. Surface display allowed functional validation and recovery of enhanced laccase variants, while synthetic-genome-driven diversification offered a path to investigate host configurations impacting display and enzyme performance. By merging enzyme and chassis-level improvements, this framework tackles a major obstacle in converting microbial biodiversity obtained through computational sequence repositories into functional biomanufacturing systems. The findings demonstrate that laccases serve as viable starting points for oxidative biopolymer conversion and present a versatile platform for designing yeast systems tailored for sustainable carbon valorisation.",
  "summary": "The valorisation of biological polymers requires microbial systems that can both access recalcitrant substrates and convert the resulting carbon into useful products. Although microbial genome and metagenome resources provide an expanding reservoir of candidate depolymerizing and modifying enzymes, most discovery workflows remain disconnected from enzyme optimisation and host adaptation. Here we…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}