Engineered Microbial Cellulases for Biomass Conversion: Integrating Omics, Expression Platforms, Fermentation Engineering and Enzyme Reusability.
The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass, which is an abundant renewable carbon source, is limited by the cost, stability, loading requirement and scale-up constraints of cellulase systems for sustainable biomanufacturing. Cellulose deconstruction is catalyzed by microbial cellulases such as endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, beta-glucosidases and accessory enzymes, which are used in biorefineries, food and feed processing, textiles, detergents, pulp and paper and waste valorization. This review focuses on cellulase production as a platform for biotechnology rather than as a standalone fermentation process. It connects native cellulase-producing microorganisms, omics-guided enzyme discovery, lignocellulosic substrate selection, pretreatment and inhibitor tolerance, solid-state and submerged fermentation, recombinant expression systems, enzyme engineering, downstream recovery, immobilization, reusability and industrial translation. Focus is given to the transition from conventional microbial producers to engineered platforms that combine CRISPR/Cas systems, transcriptional regulation, base and prime editing, strain improvement, promoter and secretion engineering, synthetic biology, enzyme-cocktail optimization and structure-guided or AI-assisted cellulase design. Despite the advances in cellulase yield, catalytic efficiency, thermostability and substrate specificity, the use of cellulases on a large scale is still hindered by the heterogenicity of the feedstock, catabolite repression, enzyme inhibition, downstream recovery cost and scale-up limitations. The next step will be the integration of microbial diversity, multi-omics, advanced host engineering, process intensification, low-cost recovery strategies and application-specific enzyme cocktails to create robust, economically viable cellulase platforms for sustainable biorefineries and circular bioeconomy applications.