9307689 Crawford The involvement of peroxidases in lignin depolymerization and cellulose delignification, and their relationship to the activities of cellulases, hemicellulases, and esterases during lignocellulose degradation, is to be examined. Two hypotheses are to be tested: (1) peroxidases are essential for actinomycete-mediated lignin depolymerization; and (2) peroxidase activity is the rate-limiting step in lignin solubilization. If both these hypotheses are true, then overexpressing peroxidases should enhance the lignin solubilizing activity of the Streptomyces strains being investigated. ***
