Patent ID: 8772010

Claim:
A method of producing a variant Myceliophthora thermophila β-glucosidase polypeptide with improved thermoactivity, comprising: a) identifying a first performance sensitive position (PSP) in a target Myceliophthora thermophila β-glucosidase polypeptide, comprising the steps of: i) aligning the primary sequence of the target Myceliophthora thermophila β-glucosidase polypeptide with one or both of SEQ ID NO:53 or portion thereof, and SEQ ID NO:54, or portion thereof, and ii) identifying a position in the target Myceliophthora thermophila β-glucosidase polypeptide that corresponds in the alignment to a PSP in the one or more β-glucosidase polypeptides, wherein the position so identified is a PSP; and b) expressing a variant Myceliophthora thermophila β-glucosidase polypeptide in which the residue at the first performance sensitive position is replaced with a thermoactivity enhancing residue, wherein the variant Myceliophthora thermophila β-glucosidase polypeptide has greater thermoactivity than the target Myceliophthora thermophila β-glucosidase polypeptide.