Achievement

Ben Lindenmuth successfully produced full length, functional thermostable endoglucanase (a cellulase enzyme) directly in plants using a rapid, transient approach. This represents a milestone because previous attempts to produce this enzyme using stably transformed plants have resulted in cleaved products or only the catalytic domain was produced. This work has led to a patent application and is an important advance to help reduce the cost of cellulosic based biofuels.