Articles

Understanding the effects of different residual lignin fractions in acid-pretreated bamboo residues on its enzymatic digestibility

During the dilute acid pretreatment process, the resulting pseudo-lignin and lignin droplets deposited on the surface of lignocellulose and inhibit the enzymatic digestibility of cellulose in lignocellulose. H...

Authors: Wenqian Lin, Jinlai Yang, Yayue Zheng, Caoxing Huang and Qiang Yong

Protocols for isolating and characterizing polysaccharides from plant cell walls: a case study using rhamnogalacturonan-II

In plants, a large diversity of polysaccharides comprise the cell wall. Each major type of plant cell wall polysaccharide, including cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin, has distinct structures and functions ...

Authors: William J. Barnes, Sabina Koj, Ian M. Black, Stephanie A. Archer-Hartmann, Parastoo Azadi, Breeanna R. Urbanowicz, Maria J. Peña and Malcolm A. O’Neill

Enzymatic hydrolysis of the gelatinous layer in tension wood of Salix varieties as a measure of accessible cellulose for biofuels

Salix (willow) species represent an important source of bioenergy and offer great potential for producing biofuels. Salix spp. like many hardwoods, produce tension wood (TW) characterized by special fibres (G-fib...

Authors: Jie Gao, Mohamed Jebrane, Nasko Terziev and Geoffrey Daniel

Modular biosynthesis of plant hemicellulose and its impact on yeast cells

The carbohydrate polymers that encapsulate plants cells have benefited humans for centuries and have valuable biotechnological uses. In the past 5 years, exciting possibilities have emerged in the engineering ...

Authors: Madalen Robert, Julian Waldhauer, Fabian Stritt, Bo Yang, Markus Pauly and Cătălin Voiniciuc

Correction to: Ectopic overexpression of a type-II DGAT (CeDGAT2-2) derived from oil-rich tuber of Cyperus esculentus enhances accumulation of oil and oleic acid in tobacco leaves

Authors: Yu Gao, Yan Sun, Huiling Gao, Ying Chen, Xiaoqing Wang, Jinai Xue, Xiaoyun Jia and Runzhi Li

Two Fusarium copper radical oxidases with high activity on aryl alcohols

Biomass valorization has been suggested as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based energy and commodities. In this context, the copper radical oxidases (CROs) from Auxiliary Activity Family 5/Subfamily 2 ...

Authors: Maria Cleveland, Mickael Lafond, Fan Roderick Xia, Ryan Chung, Paul Mulyk, Jason E. Hein and Harry Brumer

MdFRK2-mediated sugar metabolism accelerates cellulose accumulation in apple and poplar

Cellulose is not only a common component in vascular plants, but also has great economic benefits for paper, wood, and industrial products. In addition, its biosynthesis is highly regulated by carbohydrate met...

Authors: Jing Su, Chunxia Zhang, Lingcheng Zhu, Nanxiang Yang, Jingjing Yang, Baiquan Ma, Fengwang Ma and Mingjun Li

Organosolv pretreatment assisted by carbocation scavenger to mitigate surface barrier effect of lignin for improving biomass saccharification and utilization

Ethanol organosolv (EOS) pretreatment is one of the most efficient methods for boosting biomass saccharification as it can achieve an efficient fractionation of three major constituents in lignocellulose. Howe...

Authors: Qiulu Chu, Wenyao Tong, Jianqiang Chen, Shufang Wu, Yongcan Jin, Jinguang Hu and Kai Song

Selective delignification of poplar wood with a newly isolated white-rot basidiomycete Peniophora incarnata T-7 by submerged fermentation to enhance saccharification

Pretreatment is a critical step required for efficient conversion of woody biomass into biofuels and platform chemicals. Fungal pretreatment is regarded as one of the most promising technology for woody biomas...

Authors: Jiangshan Ma, Huimin Yue, Hongqian Li, Jing Zhang, Yanghong Zhang, Xiaoling Wang, Si Gong and Gao-Qiang Liu

Kinetic modeling of phosphorylase-catalyzed iterative β-1,4-glycosylation for degree of polymerization-controlled synthesis of soluble cello-oligosaccharides

Cellodextrin phosphorylase (CdP; EC 2.4.1.49) catalyzes the iterative β-1,4-glycosylation of cellobiose using α-d-glucose 1-phosphate as the donor substrate. Cello-oligosaccharides (COS) with a degree of polymeri...

Authors: Mario Klimacek, Chao Zhong and Bernd Nidetzky

Techno-economic evaluation of microalgae high-density liquid fuel production at 12 international locations

Microalgae-based high-density fuels offer an efficient and environmental pathway towards decarbonization of the transport sector and could be produced as part of a globally distributed network without competin...

Authors: John Roles, Jennifer Yarnold, Karen Hussey and Ben Hankamer

Water reuse and growth inhibition mechanisms for cultivation of microalga Euglena gracilis

Microalgae can contribute to more than 40% of global primary biomass production and are suitable candidates for various biotechnology applications such as food, feed products, drugs, fuels, and wastewater trea...

Authors: Mingcan Wu, Ming Du, Guimei Wu, Feimiao Lu, Jing Li, Anping Lei, Hui Zhu, Zhangli Hu and Jiangxin Wang

Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of the thermophilic lignocellulose-degrading fungus Thielavia terrestris LPH172

Biomass-degrading enzymes with improved activity and stability can increase substrate saccharification and make biorefineries economically feasible. Filamentous fungi are a rich source of carbohydrate-active e...

Authors: Monika Tõlgo, Silvia Hüttner, Peter Rugbjerg, Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Vu Nguyen Thanh, Johan Larsbrink and Lisbeth Olsson

Extracellular riboflavin induces anaerobic biofilm formation in Shewanella oneidensis

Some microorganisms can respire with extracellular electron acceptors using an extended electron transport chain to the cell surface. This process can be applied in bioelectrochemical systems in which the orga...

Authors: Miriam Edel, Gunnar Sturm, Katrin Sturm-Richter, Michael Wagner, Julia Novion Ducassou, Yohann Couté, Harald Horn and Johannes Gescher

An overview to process design, simulation and sustainability evaluation of biodiesel production

The overwhelming concerns due to over exploitation of fossil resources necessitate the utilization of alternative energy resources. Biodiesel has been considered as one of the most adaptable alternative to fos...

Authors: Mustafa Kamal Pasha, Lingmei Dai, Dehua Liu, Miao Guo and Wei Du

Revealing two important tryptophan residues with completely different roles in a dye-decolorizing peroxidase from Irpex lacteus F17

Dye-decolorizing peroxidases (DyPs) represent a novel family of heme peroxidases that use H₂O₂ as the final electron acceptor to catalyze the oxidation of various organic compounds. A DyP from Irpex lacteus F17 (

Authors: Liuqing Li, Tao Wang, Taohua Chen, Wenhan Huang, Yinliang Zhang, Rong Jia and Chao He

Polysaccharide utilization loci-driven enzyme discovery reveals BD-FAE: a bifunctional feruloyl and acetyl xylan esterase active on complex natural xylans

Nowadays there is a strong trend towards a circular economy using lignocellulosic biowaste for the production of biofuels and other bio-based products. The use of enzymes at several stages of the production pr...

Authors: Lisanne Hameleers, Leena Penttinen, Martina Ikonen, Léa Jaillot, Régis Fauré, Nicolas Terrapon, Peter J. Deuss, Nina Hakulinen, Emma R. Master and Edita Jurak

Improvements of the productivity and saccharification efficiency of the cellulolytic β-glucosidase D2-BGL in Pichia pastoris via directed evolution

β-Glucosidases are essential for cellulose hydrolysis by catalyzing the final cellulolytic degradation of cello-oligomers and cellobiose to glucose. D2-BGL is a fungal glycoside hydrolase family 3 (GH3) β-gluc...

Authors: Mu-Rong Kao, Su-May Yu and Tuan-H ua David Ho

Evaluation of acidogenesis products’ effect on biogas production performed with metagenomics and isotopic approaches

During the acetogenic step of anaerobic digestion, the products of acidogenesis are oxidized to substrates for methanogenesis: hydrogen, carbon dioxide and acetate. Acetogenesis and methanogenesis are highly i...

Authors: Anna Detman, Michał Bucha, Laura Treu, Aleksandra Chojnacka, Łukasz Pleśniak, Agnieszka Salamon, Ewa Łupikasza, Robert Gromadka, Jan Gawor, Agnieszka Gromadka, Wojciech Drzewicki, Marta Jakubiak, Marek Janiga, Irena Matyasik, Mieczysław K. Błaszczyk, Mariusz Orion Jędrysek…

Oleaginous yeasts respond differently to carbon sources present in lignocellulose hydrolysate

Microbial oils, generated from lignocellulosic material, have great potential as renewable and sustainable alternatives to fossil-based fuels and chemicals. By unravelling the diversity of lipid accumulation p...

Authors: Jule Brandenburg, Johanna Blomqvist, Volha Shapaval, Achim Kohler, Sabine Sampels, Mats Sandgren and Volkmar Passoth

Precise high-throughput online near-infrared spectroscopy assay to determine key cell wall features associated with sugarcane bagasse digestibility

Sugarcane is one of the most crucial energy crops that produces high yields of sugar and lignocellulose. The cellulose crystallinity index (CrI) and lignin are the two kinds of key cell wall features that acco...

Authors: Xinru Li, Fumin Ma, Chengping Liang, Maoyao Wang, Yan Zhang, Yufei Shen, Muhammad Adnan, Pan Lu, Muhammad Tahir Khan, Jiangfeng Huang and Muqing Zhang

Novel molecular biological tools for the efficient expression of fungal lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases in Pichia pastoris

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are attracting large attention due their ability to degrade recalcitrant polysaccharides in biomass conversion and to perform powerful redox chemistry.

Authors: Lukas Rieder, Katharina Ebner, Anton Glieder and Morten Sørlie

Quantitative proteomic comparison of salt stress in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the snow alga Chlamydomonas nivalis reveals mechanisms for salt-triggered fatty acid accumulation via reallocation of carbon resources

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model green alga strain for molecular studies; its fully sequenced genome has enabled omic-based analyses that have been applied to better understand its metabolic responses to stre...

Authors: E. Hounslow, C. A. Evans, J. Pandhal, T. Sydney, N. Couto, T. K. Pham, D. James Gilmour and P. C. Wright

From simple and specific zymographic detections to the annotation of a fungus Daldinia caldariorum D263 that encodes a wide range of highly bioactive cellulolytic enzymes

Lignocellulolytic enzymes are essential for agricultural waste disposal and production of renewable bioenergy. Many commercialized cellulase mixtures have been developed, mostly from saprophytic or endophytic ...

Authors: Meng-Chun Lin, Hsion-Wen Kuo, Mu-Rong Kao, Wen-Dar Lin, Chen-Wei Li, Kuo-Sheng Hung, Sheng-Chih Yang, Su-May Yu and Tuan-Hua David Ho

The oleaginous astaxanthin-producing alga Chromochloris zofingiensis: potential from production to an emerging model for studying lipid metabolism and carotenogenesis

The algal lipids-based biodiesel, albeit having advantages over plant oils, still remains high in the production cost. Co-production of value-added products with lipids has the potential to add benefits and is...

Authors: Yu Zhang, Ying Ye, Fan Bai and Jin Liu

Synergistic mechanism of GH11 xylanases with different action modes from Aspergillus niger An76

Xylan is the most abundant hemicellulose polysaccharide in nature, which can be converted into high value-added products. However, its recalcitrance to breakdown requires the synergistic action of multiple enz...

Authors: Shu Zhang, Sha Zhao, Weihao Shang, Zijuan Yan, Xiuyun Wu, Yingjie Li, Guanjun Chen, Xinli Liu and Lushan Wang

Production of the biocommodities butanol and acetone from methanol with fluorescent FAST-tagged proteins using metabolically engineered strains of Eubacterium limosum

The interest in using methanol as a substrate to cultivate acetogens increased in recent years since it can be sustainably produced from syngas and has the additional benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissio...

Authors: Maximilian Flaiz, Gideon Ludwig, Frank R. Bengelsdorf and Peter Dürre

Identification and characterization of proteins of unknown function (PUFs) in Clostridium thermocellum DSM 1313 strains as potential genetic engineering targets

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics can identify and quantify thousands of proteins from individual microbial species, but a significant percentage of these proteins are unannotated and hence classified as prot...

Authors: Suresh Poudel, Alexander L. Cope, Kaela B. O’Dell, Adam M. Guss, Hyeongmin Seo, Cong T. Trinh and Robert L. Hettich

Engineering oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula toruloides for overproduction of fatty acid ethyl esters

Production of biofuels and green chemicals by microbes is currently of great interest due to the increasingly limited reserves of fossil fuels. Biodiesel, especially fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), is conside...

Authors: Yang Zhang, Jie Peng, Huimin Zhao and Shuobo Shi

Towards sustainable production and utilization of plant-biomass-based nanomaterials: a review and analysis of recent developments

Plant-biomass-based nanomaterials have attracted great interest recently for their potential to replace petroleum-sourced polymeric materials for sustained economic development. However, challenges associated ...

Authors: J. Y. Zhu, Umesh P. Agarwal, Peter N. Ciesielski, Michael E. Himmel, Runan Gao, Yulin Deng, Maria Morits and Monika Österberg

Increasing lipid yield in Yarrowia lipolytica through phosphoketolase and phosphotransacetylase expression in a phosphofructokinase deletion strain

Lipids are important precursors in the biofuel and oleochemical industries. Yarrowia lipolytica is among the most extensively studied oleaginous microorganisms and has been a focus of metabolic engineering to imp...

Authors: Annapurna Kamineni, Andrew L. Consiglio, Kyle MacEwen, Shuyan Chen, Gamuchirai Chifamba, A. Joe Shaw and Vasiliki Tsakraklides

Zymomonas diversity and potential for biofuel production

Zymomonas mobilis is an aerotolerant α-proteobacterium, which has been genetically engineered for industrial purposes for decades. However, a comprehensive comparison of existing strains on the genomic level in c...

Authors: Magdalena M. Felczak, Robert M. Bowers, Tanja Woyke and Michaela A. TerAvest

A novel nanoemulsion-based microalgal growth medium for enhanced biomass production

Microalgae are well-established feedstocks for applications ranging from biofuels to valuable pigments and therapeutic proteins. However, the low biomass productivity using commercially available growth medium...

Authors: Harshita Nigam, Anushree Malik and Vikram Singh

Consolidated bioprocessing of lignocellulose for production of glucaric acid by an artificial microbial consortium

The biomanufacturing of d-glucaric acid has attracted increasing interest because it is one of the top value-added chemicals produced from biomass. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is regarded as an excellent host for d-

Authors: Chaofeng Li, Xiaofeng Lin, Xing Ling, Shuo Li and Hao Fang

Over-expression of an electron transport protein OmcS provides sufficient NADH for d-lactate production in cyanobacterium

An efficient supply of reducing equivalent is essential for chemicals production by engineered microbes. In phototrophic microbes, the NADPH generated from photosynthesis is the dominant form of reducing equiv...

Authors: Hengkai Meng, Wei Zhang, Huawei Zhu, Fan Yang, Yanping Zhang, Jie Zhou and Yin Li

Experimental and theoretical insights into the effects of pH on catalysis of bond-cleavage by the lignin peroxidase isozyme H8 from Phanerochaete chrysosporium

Lignin peroxidases catalyze a variety of reactions, resulting in cleavage of both β-O-4′ ether bonds and C–C bonds in lignin, both of which are essential for depolymerizing lignin into fragments amendable to b...

Authors: Le Thanh Mai Pham, Kai Deng, Trent R. Northen, Steven W. Singer, Paul D. Adams, Blake A. Simmons and Kenneth L. Sale

Effect of solid loading on the behaviour of pectin-degrading enzymes

Pectin plays a role in the recalcitrance of plant biomass by affecting the accessibility of other cell wall components to enzymatic degradation. Elimination of pectin consequently has a positive impact on the ...

Authors: Fan Li, Loïc Foucat and Estelle Bonnin

Auto-classification of biomass through characterization of their pyrolysis behaviors using thermogravimetric analysis with support vector machine algorithm: case study for tobacco

During the biomass-to-bio-oil conversion process, many studies focus on studying the association between biomass and bio-products using near-infrared spectra (NIR) and chemical analysis methods. However, the c...

Authors: Chao Yin, Xiaohua Deng, Zhiqiang Yu, Zechun Liu, Hongxiang Zhong, Ruting Chen, Guohua Cai, Quanxing Zheng, Xiucai Liu, Jiawei Zhong, Pengfei Ma, Wei He, Kai Lin, Qiaoling Li and Anan Wu

The characteristics of insoluble softwood substrates affect fungal morphology, secretome composition, and hydrolytic efficiency of enzymes produced by Trichoderma reesei

On-site enzyme production using Trichoderma reesei can improve yields and lower the overall cost of lignocellulose saccharification by exploiting the fungal gene regulatory mechanism that enables it to continuous...

Authors: Vera Novy, Fredrik Nielsen, Daniel Cullen, Grzegorz Sabat, Carl J. Houtman and Christopher G. Hunt

Mass transfer and flow characterization of novel algae-based nutrient removal system

Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are an essential component of sustainable inland seafood production. Still, nutrient removal from these systems can result in substantial environmental problems, or pres...

Authors: Andreas Heyland, Jordan Roszell, Jeremy Chau, Kevin Chai, Andrew Eaton, Kathleen Nolan, Kyle Madden and Wael H. Ahmed

Investigating the effects of substrate morphology and experimental conditions on the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass through modeling

Understanding how the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass is affected by its morphology is essential to design efficient processes for biomass deconstruction. In this study, we used a model based on a set...

Authors: Jessica C. Rohrbach and Jeremy S. Luterbacher

Recent advances in the valorization of plant biomass

Plant biomass is a highly abundant renewable resource that can be converted into several types of high-value-added products, including chemicals, biofuels and advanced materials. In the last few decades, an in...

Authors: Peng Ning, Guofeng Yang, Lihong Hu, Jingxin Sun, Lina Shi, Yonghong Zhou, Zhaobao Wang and Jianming Yang

Further engineering of R. toruloides for the production of terpenes from lignocellulosic biomass

Mitigation of climate change requires that new routes for the production of fuels and chemicals be as oil-independent as possible. The microbial conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks into terpene-based biof...

Authors: James Kirby, Gina M. Geiselman, Junko Yaegashi, Joonhoon Kim, Xun Zhuang, Mary Bao Tran-Gyamfi, Jan-Philip Prahl, Eric R. Sundstrom, Yuqian Gao, Nathalie Munoz, Kristin E. Burnum-Johnson, Veronica T. Benites, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Anna Fuhrmann, Katharina Seibel, Bobbie-Jo M. Webb-Robertson…

ATP and NADPH engineering of Escherichia coli to improve the production of 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid using CRISPRi

4-Hydroxyphenylacetic acid (4HPAA) is an important raw material for the synthesis of drugs, pesticides and biochemicals. Microbial biotechnology would be an attractive approach for 4HPAA production, and cofact...

Authors: Yu-Ping Shen, Yu-Ling Liao, Qian Lu, Xin He, Zhi-Bo Yan and Jian-Zhong Liu

Molecular mechanism underlying the effect of maleic hydrazide treatment on starch accumulation in S. polyrrhiza 7498 fronds

Duckweed is considered a promising feedstock for bioethanol production due to its high biomass and starch production. The starch content can be promoted by plant growth regulators after the vegetative reproduc...

Authors: Yerong Zhu, Xiaoxue Li, Xuan Gao, Jiqi Sun, Xiaoyuan Ji, Guodong Feng, Guangshuang Shen, Beibei Xiang and Yong Wang

Differential expression of starch and sucrose metabolic genes linked to varying biomass yield in Miscanthus hybrids

Miscanthus is a commercial lignocellulosic biomass crop owing to its high biomass productivity and low chemical input requirements. Within an interspecific Miscanthus cross, progeny with high biomass yield were s...

Authors: Jose J. De Vega, Ned Peel, Sarah J. Purdy, Sarah Hawkins, Lain Donnison, Sarah Dyer and Kerrie Farrar

Aliphatic extractive effects on acetic acid catalysis of typical agricultural residues to xylo-oligosaccharide and enzymatic hydrolyzability of cellulose

Xylo-oligosaccharide is the spotlight of functional sugar that improves the economic benefits of lignocellulose biorefinery. Acetic acid acidolysis technology provides a promising application for xylo-oligosac...

Authors: Jianming Guo, Kaixuan Huang, Rou Cao, Junhua Zhang and Yong Xu

Multi-omics analysis provides insights into lignocellulosic biomass degradation by Laetiporus sulphureus ATCC 52600

Wood-decay basidiomycetes are effective for the degradation of highly lignified and recalcitrant plant substrates. The degradation of lignocellulosic materials by brown-rot strains is carried out by carbohydra...

Authors: Fernanda Lopes de Figueiredo, Ana Carolina Piva de Oliveira, Cesar Rafael Fanchini Terrasan, Thiago Augusto Gonçalves, Jaqueline Aline Gerhardt, Geizecler Tomazetto, Gabriela Felix Persinoti, Marcelo Ventura Rubio, Jennifer Andrea Tamayo Peña, Michelle Fernandes Araújo, Maria Augusta de Carvalho Silvello, Telma Teixeira Franco, Sarita Cândida Rabelo, Rosana Goldbeck, Fabio Marcio Squina and André Damasio

Rhodosporidium sp. DR37: a novel strain for production of squalene in optimized cultivation conditions

Rhodosporidium strain, a well-known oleaginous yeast, has been widely used as a platform for lipid and carotenoid production. However, the production of squalene for application in lipid-based biofuels is not rep...

Authors: Shahryar Shakeri, Farshad Khoshbasirat and Mahmood Maleki

Transcriptome analysis revealed the regulation of gibberellin and the establishment of photosynthetic system promote rapid seed germination and early growth of seedling in pearl millet

Seed germination is the most important stage for the formation of a new plant. This process starts when the dry seed begins to absorb water and ends when the radicle protrudes. The germination rate of seed fro...

Authors: Bingchao Wu, Min Sun, Huan Zhang, Dan Yang, Chuang Lin, Imran Khan, Xiaoshan Wang, Xinquan Zhang, Gang Nie, Guangyan Feng, Yanhong Yan, Zhou Li, Yan Peng and Linkai Huang