NOVELTY - Processing of lignocellulosic biomass, comprises: tempering a sample of plant biomass under conditions to promote activation of lignocellulolytic enzyme polypeptides present in the sample of plant biomass; pre-treating the sample under conditions to promote accessibility of celluloses within the lignocellulosic biomass; and treating the pretreated sample under conditions that promote hydrolysis of cellulose to fermentable sugars.    USE - The method is useful for processing of lignocellulosic biomass (claimed), which is useful for the production of fuel e.g. ethanol.    ADVANTAGE - The method: is cost-effective; provides increased yield of cellulosic ethanol; reduces the severity of pretreatment conditions and/or amount of external cellulase enzyme added during the treatment phase; provides efficient degradation of the lignocellulosic material; limits the efficacy of the pretreatment and treatment phases; provides plants genetically transformed for increased biomass, expression of lignocellulolytic enzyme polypeptides, and/or simplification of harvesting and downstream processing; involves less severe and/or less expensive pre-treatment protocols; provides activation of endoplant enzyme polypeptides; increases susceptibility of lignin and hemicellulose to traditional pretreatment; facilitates reduced severity of pretreatment to achieve acceptable glucan conversion yields; provides improved hydrolysis and conversion after pretreatment; increases accessibility of polysaccharides (cellulose); provides tempering prior to pretreatment, which improves digestibility of transgenic biomass; provides reduction or elimination of biomass grinding, reduction of the pretreatment temperature, elimination of heat in the pretreatment, reduction of the strength of acid in the pretreatment step, and elimination of acid in the pretreatment step; and reduces the need for current external energy sources including natural gas.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Processing of lignocellulosic biomass, comprises: tempering a sample of plant biomass under conditions to promote activation of lignocellulolytic enzyme polypeptides present in the sample of plant biomass; pre-treating the sample under conditions to promote accessibility of celluloses within the lignocellulosic biomass; and treating the pretreated sample under conditions that promote hydrolysis of cellulose to fermentable sugars. The sample of plant biomass is obtained from at least one transgenic plant, the genome of which is augmented with a recombinant polynucleotide encoding at least one lignocellulolytic enzyme polypeptide operably linked to a promoter sequence, where the polynucleotide is optimized for expression in the plant.