Biotechnological production of ethanol from renewable resources by Neurospora crassa: an alternative to conventional yeast fermentations?

Microbial production of ethanol might be a potential route to replace oil and chemical feedstocks. Bioethanol is by far the most common biofuel in use worldwide. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most promising renewable resource for fuel bioethanol production. Bioconversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol consists of four major unit operations: pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and product separation/distillation. Conventional bioethanol processes for lignocellulosics apply commercial fungal cellulase enzymes for biomass hydrolysis, followed by yeast fermentation of resulting glucose to ethanol. The fungus Neurospora crassa has been used extensively for genetic, biochemical, and molecular studies as a model organism. However, the strain's potential in biotechnological applications has not been widely investigated and discussed. The fungus N. crassa has the ability to synthesize and secrete all three enzyme types involved in cellulose hydrolysis as well as various enzymes for hemicellulose degradation. In addition, N. crassa has been reported to convert to ethanol hexose and pentose sugars, cellulose polymers, and agro-industrial residues. The combination of these characteristics makes N. crassa a promising alternative candidate for biotechnological production of ethanol from renewable resources. This review consists of an overview of the ethanol process from lignocellulosic biomass, followed by cellulases and hemicellulases production, ethanol fermentations of sugars and lignocellulosics, and industrial application potential of N. crassa.