Abstract

Carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) transform diverse polysaccharides to renewable fuels, biochemicals, and bio-based materials, and are essential to the digestion of dietary glycans in food and feed. The expanding number of new CAZyme families relevant to plant biomass conversion motivated a small revision to the title of this successful conference established in 1999. The 2019 Gordon Research Conference, now titled “Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes for Glycan Conversions”, will present leading-edge research on this growing class of enzymes, which find applications in both industrial biotechnology and health sectors. The 2019 conference will offer exciting and complementary sessions on the enzymes and enzyme systems that transform land and aquatic polysaccharides via hydrolytic and oxidative mechanisms, with particular emphasis on protein-protein and protein-substrate interactions that influence bioconversion efficiency. Frontline research topics will cover latest insights into plant cell wall architecture that impact CAZyme action, enzyme cascades and multi-enzyme complexes from diverse natural habitats, emerging tools to accelerate CAZyme discovery and development, and novel applications of CAZymes in bio-based materials.