
Franz St. John
Research Microbiologist
Phone: 608-231-9438
Contact Franz St. John
Current Research
Research in my laboratory focuses on the interface between the physical disruption and the subsequent enzyme hydrolysis stages necessary to prepare woody biomass for microbial conversion to biofuels and value-added products. Our guiding hypothesis is that through the development of better, more efficient enzyme systems, it may be possible to limit the chemical and physical input required during the initial disruption stage resulting in a reduced cost for microbial bioconversions of this important renewable resource.In this research our primary concern is the second most abundant but chemically most complex biomass polymer, the β-1,4 linked xylose polysaccharide 4-O-methyl glucuronoarabinoxylan (xylan). This polymer is important in that it associates through covalent attachment to interconnect the lignified cell wall with the rigid cellulose fibrils. The pretreatment process may be augmented with enzymes that target the specific linkages connecting lignin and xylan thereby facilitating the secondary cellulolytic enzyme processing and potentially limiting the initial physical pretreatment costs. Our research applies bacteriology, biochemistry, bioinformatic resources as well as structural biology to identify proteins which may function optimally to degrade minimally processed lignocellulosic biomass.A second goal of my laboratory is the development of second generation bacterial biocatalysts. Initial efforts will focus on defining and characterizing Gram positive bacterial characteristics that show promise in bioconversion processes. Examples of such characteristics include robust protein secretion and the potential of many Gram positive bacteria to transport complex oligosaccharides. Understanding how such physiological features function and how they can be employed in bacterial biocatalysts is of great value to the development of engineered biocatalyst.
Research Interests
- Microbiology and enzymology of lignocellulose bioconversion
- X-ray crystallographic protein structure studies of enzymes involved in biomass degradation
- Development of second generation bacterial biocatalysts with enhanced capabilities of protein secretion and complex carbohydrate utilization
Education
- University of Maryland, Baltimore, Postdoctoral Fellowship X-ray Crystallography Core Facility 2009
- University of Florida, Ph.D. Microbiology and Cell Science 2006
- University of Florida, Gainesville, B.S. University of Florida, Gainesville 1999
Professional Organizations
- American Society for Microbiology, Member
Patents
- St. John, Franz; Dietrich, Diane; Crooks, Casey. 2018. Glycosyl Hydrolase Xylanases, Compositions and Methods of Use for Efficient Hydrolysis and Processing of Xylan.
Publications
- Zhou, Haifeng ; St. John, Franz ; Zhu, J. Y. 2019. Xylanase pretreatment of wood fibers for producing cellulose nanofibrils: a comparison of different enzyme preparations.
- St John, Franz J.; Dietrich, Diane ; Crooks, Casey ; Balogun, Peter ; de Serrano, Vesna ; Pozharski, Edwin ; Smith, James Kennon; Bales, Elizabeth ; Hurlbert, Jason . 2018. A plasmid borne, functionally novel glycoside hydrolase family 30 subfamily 8 endoxylanase from solventogenic Clostridium.
- Rhee, Mun Su; Sawhney, Neha ; Kim, Young Sik; Rhee, Hyun Jee; Hurlbert, Jason C.; St. John, Franz J.; Nong, Guang ; Rice, John D.; Preston, James F. 2017. GH115 -glucuronidase and GH11 xylanase from Paenibacillus sp. JDR-2: potential roles in processing glucuronoxylans.
- Maehara, Tomoko ; Yagi, Haruka ; Sato, Tomoko ; Ohnishi-Kameyama, Mayumi ; Fujimoto, Zui ; Kamino, Kei ; Kitamura, Yoshiaki ; St. John, Franz ; Yaoi, Katsuro ; Kaneko, Satoshi . 2017. GH30 glucuronoxylan-specific xylanase from Streptomyces turgidiscabies C56.
- St John, Franz J.; Crooks, Casey; Dietrich, Diane; Hurlbert, Jason. 2017. Xylanase 30 A from Clostridium thermocellum functions as a glucuronoxylan xylanohydrolase.
- Chow, Virginia; Kim, Young Sik; Rhee, Mun Su; Sawhney, Neha; St. John, Franz J.; Nong, Guang; Rice, John D.; Preston, James F. 2016. A 1,3-1,4- -glucan utilization regulon in Paenibacillus sp. strain JDR-2.
- Sawhney, Neha; Crooks, Casey; Chow, Virginia; Preston, James F.; St. John, Franz. 2016. Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of carbohydrate utilization by Paenibacillus sp. JDR-2: systems for bioprocessing plant polysaccharides.
- St John, Franz J.; Dietrich, Diane; Crooks, Casey; Pozharski, Edwin; González, Javier M.; Bales, Elizabeth; Smith, Kennon; Hurlbert, Jason C. 2014. A novel member of glycoside hydrolase family 30 subfamily 8 with altered substrate specificity.
- Hori, Chiaki; Ishida, Takuya; Igarashi, Kiyohiko; Samejima, Masahiro; Suzuki, Hitoshi; Master, Emma; Ferreira, Patricia; Ruiz-Duenas, Francisco J.; Held, Benjamin; Canessa, Paulo; Larrondo, Luis F.; Schmoll, Monika; Druzhinina, Irina S.; Kubicek, Christian P.; Gaskell, Jill A.; Kersten, Phil; St. John, Franz; Glasner, Jeremy; Sabat, Grzegorz; Bondurant, Sandra Splinter; Syed, Khajamohiddin; Yadav, Jagjit; Mgbeahuruike, Anthony C.; Kovalchuk, Andriy; Asiegbu, Fred O.; Lackner, Gerald; Hoffmeister, Dirk; Recoret, Jorge; Gutierrez, Ana; Sun, Hui; Lindquist, Erika; Barry, Kerrie; Riley, Robert; Grigoriev, Igor V.; Henrissat, Bernard; Kues, Ursula; Berka, Randy M.; Martinez, Angel T.; Covert, Sarah F.; Blanchette, Robert A.; Cullen, Daniel. 2014. Analysis of the Phlebiopsis gigantea Genome, Transcriptome and Secretome Provides Insight into Its Pioneer Colonization Strategies of Wood.
- Rhee, Mun Su; Wei, Lusha; Sawhney, Neha; Rice, John D.; St. John, Franz J.; Hurlbert, Jason C.; Preston, James F. 2014. Engineering the Xylan Utilization System in Bacillus subtilis for Production of Acidic Xylooligosaccharides.
- Sawhney, Neha; Crooks, Casey; St. John, Franz; Preston, James F.; Kelly, R. M. 2014. Transcriptomic Analysis of Xylan Utilization Systems in Paenibacillus sp.
- Zhang, Chao; Zhuang, Xinshu; Wang, Zhao Jiang; Matt, Fred; St. John, Franz; Zhu, J.Y. 2013. Xylanase supplementation on enzymatic saccharification of dilute acid pretreated poplars at different severities.
- Fernandez-Fueyo, Elena; Ruiz-Dueñas, Francisco J.; Ferreira, Patricia; Floudas, Dimitrios; Hibbett, David S.; Canessa, Paulo; Larrondo, Luis F.; James, Tim Y.; Seelenfreund, Daniela; Lobos, Sergio; Polanco, Rubén; Tello, Mario; Honda, Yoichi; Watanabe, Takahito; Watanabe, Takashi; Ryu, Jae San; Kubicek, Christian P.; Schmoll, Monika; Gaskell, Jill; Hammel, Kenneth E.; St. John, Franz J.; Wymelenberg, Amber Vanden; Sabat, Grzegorz; BonDurant, Sandra Splinter; Syed, Khajamohiddin; Yadav, Jagjit S.; Dodapaneni, Harshavardhan; Subramanian, Venkataramanan; Lavin, José L.; Oguiza, José A.; Perez, Gumer; Pisabarro, Antonio G.; Ramirez, Lucia; Santoyo, Francisco; Master, Emma; Coutinho, Pedro M.; Henrissat, Bernard; Lombard, Vincent; Magnuson, Jon Karl; Kües, Ursula; Hori, Chiaki; Igarashi, Kiyohiko; Samejima, Masahiro; Held, Benjamin W.; Barry, Kerrie W.; LaButti, Kurt M.; Lapidus, Alla; Lindquist, Erika A.; Lucas, Susan M.; Riley, Robert; Salamov, Asaf A.; Hoffmeister, Dirk; Schwenk, Daniel; Hadar, Yitzhak; Yarden, Oded; de Vries, Ronald P.; Wiebenga, Ad; Stenlid, Jan; Eastwood, Daniel; Grigoriev, Igor V.; Berka, Randy M.; Blanchette, Robert A.; Kersten, Phil; Martinez, Angel T.; Vicuna, Rafael; Cullen, Daniel. 2012. Comparative genomics of Ceriporiopsis subvermispora and Phanerochaete chrysosporium provide insight into selective ligninolysis.
- Chow, Virginia; Nong, Guang; St. John, Franz J.; Rice, John D.; Dickstein, Ellen; Chertkov, Olga; Bruce, David; Detter, Chris; Brettin, Thomas; Han, James; Woyke, Tanja; Pitluck, Sam; Nolan, Matt; Pati, Amrita; Martin, Joel; Copeland, Alex; Land, Miriam L.; Goodwin, Lynne; Jones, Jeffrey B.; Ingram, Lonnie O.; Shanmugam, Keelnathan T.; Preston, James F. 2012. Complete genome sequence of Paenibacillus sp. strain JDR-2.
- St John, Franz J.; Preston, James F.; Pozharski, Edwin. 2012. Novel structural features of xylanase A1 from Paenibacillus sp. JDR-2.
- Floudas, Dimitrios; Binder, Manfred; Riely, Robert; Barry, Kerrie; Blanchette, Robert A.; Henrissat, Bernard; Martínez, Angel T.; Otillar, Robert; Spatafora, Joseph W.; Yadav, Jagjit S.; Aerts, Andrea; Benoit, Isabelle; Boyd, Alex; Carlson, Alexis; Copeland, Alex; Coutinho, Pedro M.; deVries, Ronald P.; Ferreira, Patricia; Findley, Keisha; Foster, Brian; Gaskell, Jill; Glotzer, Dylan; Górecki, Pawe³; Heitman, Joseph; Hesse, Cedar; Hori, Chiaki; Igarashi, Kiyohiko; Jurgens, Joel A.; Kallen, Nathan; Kersten, Phil; Kohler, Annegret; Kües, Ursula; ArunKumar, T. K.; Kuo, Alan; LaButti, Kurt; Larrondo, Luis F.; Lindquist, Erika; Ling, Albee; Lombard, Vincent; Lucas, Susan; Lundell, Taina; Martin, Rachael; McLaughlin, David J.; Morgenstern, Ingo; Morin, Emanuelle; Murat, Claude; Nagy, Laszlo G.; Nolan, Matt; Ohm, Robin A.; Patyshakuliyeva, Aleksandrina; Rokas, Antonis; Ruiz-Dueñas, Francisco J.; Sabat, Grzegorz; Salamov, Asaf; Samejima, Masahiro; Schmutz, Jeremy; Slot, Jason C.; John, Franz St.; Stenlid, Jan; Sun, Hui; Sun, Sheng; Syed, Khajamohiddin; Tsang, Adrian; Wiebenga, Ad; Young, Darcy; Pisabarro, Antonio; Eastwood, Daniel C.; Martin, Francis; Cullen, Dan; Grigoriev, Igor V.; Hibbett, David S. 2012. The Paleozoic Origin of Enzymatic Lignin Decomposition Reconstructed from 31 Fungal Genomes.
- St. Johns, Franz; Hurlbert, Jason C.; Rice, John D.; Preston, James F.; Pozharski, Edwin. 2011. Ligand bound structures of a glycosyl hydrolase family 30 glucuronoxylan xylanohydrolase.
- Ryu, Jae San; Shary, Semarjit; Houtman, Carl J.; Panisko, Ellen A.; Korripally, Premsagar; St. John, Franz J.; Crooks, Casey; Siika-aho, Matti; Magnuson, Jon K.; Hammel, Kenneth E. 2011. Proteomic and functional analysis of the cellulase system expressed by Postia placenta during brown rot of solid wood.
- St John, Franz J.; Gonzalez, Javier M.; Pozharski, Edwin. 2010. Consolidation of glycosyl hydrolase family 30 : a dual domain 4/7 hydrolase family consisting of two structurally distinct groups.
Research Highlights
Highlight | Title | Year |
![]() FPL-2016-69 | Characterization of Microbial Biocatalysts in Lignocellulosic Utilization Bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass would benefit from development of second generation bacterial biocatalysts. The bacterium Paenibacillus ... | 2016 |
![]() FPL-2016-68 | Development of Enzymes for use in Lignocellulose Processing The ultimate best use of lignocellulose allows for the selective extraction of defined value streams. To facilitate this, Forest Service researc ... | 2016 |
![]() FPL-2017-129 | Enzymatic conversion of xylan into valuable products. Xylan represents a vast store of potential value but rather than seeing beneficial use, much of this reservoir is lost in catastrophic wildfires ... | 2017 |
![]() FPL-2015-193 | Protein Structure and Biochemical Characterization of a Novel Functioning Xylanase Scientists identified and characterized a xylanase with unique function that may have applications in processing of woody biomass substrate. | 2015 |
![]() FPL-2013-159 | Researchers Determine the Structure of Bacterial Protein Involved in Biomass Conversion Researchers structurally characterized a bacterial protein involved in biomass degradation. The knowledge obtained from this novel protein sugge ... | 2013 |