adney: enzymes are important in nature in the breakdown of biomass. they're found all over the place, when you think about it. compost piles would be one example of a place where you would find cellulose-degrading enzymes. and we've looked all sorts of places. narrator: one place they looked was yellowstone national park. dr. adney: we were looking for enzymes that could survive at high temperature. so we looked at some of the biomass that's decaying in the hot springs. narrator: what they found was a bacterium that feeds on the organic debris that falls into hot springs. the enzyme they isolated from the bacterium attaches itself to the chain of sugars in cellulose and breaks it apart. dr. adney: this particular enzyme we've done some engineering on and have been able to improve the activity by about 12% to 15%. narrator: while this enzyme breaks the chain it does not release the sugars. that is the job of another enzyme, one that was discovered nearly 50 years ago. dr. adney: in the late '50s, early '60s itas an issue thermy unifor in the tric are.

adney: enzymes are important in nature in the breakdown of biomass.emperature. so we looked at some of the biomass that's decaying in the hot springs. narrator: what they found was a bacterium that feeds on the organic debris that falls into hot springs. the enzyme they isolated from the bacterium attaches itself to the chain of sugars in cellulose and breaks it apart. dr. adney: this particular enzyme we've done some engineering on and have been able to improve the activity by about 12% to 15%. narrator: while this enzyme breaks the chain, it does not release the sugars. that is the job of another enzyme, one that was discovered nearly 50 years ago. dr. adney: in the late '50s, early '60s, itas an issue wi thermy unif in the tr areas they fou that were deading rapidl so the army began to investigate why this was occurring. and one of the first things they isolated was a fungus that produced enzymes that broke down the cotton material found in the solders' uniforms. these enzymes are very unique. they are termed processive enzymes. so once they attach