Exocellular β-mannanases from hemicellulolytic fungi

Direct fungal fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass into itaconic, fumaric, and malic acids: current and future prospects

Various economic and environmental sustainability concerns as well as consumer preference for bio-based products from natural sources have paved the way for the development and expansion of biorefining technologies. These involve the conversion of renewable biomass feedstock to fuels and chemicals using biological systems as alternatives to petroleum-based products. Filamentous fungi possess an expansive portfolio of products including the multifunctional organic acids itaconic, fumaric, and malic acids that have wide-ranging current applications and potentially addressable markets as platform chemicals. However, current bioprocessing technologies for the production of these compounds are mostly based on submerged fermentation, which necessitates physicochemical pretreatment and hydrolysis of lignocellulose biomass to soluble fermentable sugars in liquid media. This review will focus on current research work on fungal production of itaconic, fumaric, and malic acids and perspectives on the potential application of solid-state fungal cultivation techniques for the consolidated hydrolysis and organic acid fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass.

Fungal bioconversion of lignocellulosic residues; opportunities & perspectives

The development of alternative energy technology is critically important because of the rising prices of crude oil, security issues regarding the oil supply, and environmental issues such as global warming and air pollution. Bioconversion of biomass has significant advantages over other alternative energy strategies because biomass is the most abundant and also the most renewable biomaterial on our planet. Bioconversion of lignocellulosic residues is initiated primarily by microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria which are capable of degrading lignocellulolytic materials. Fungi such as Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger produce large amounts of extracellular cellulolytic enzymes, whereas bacterial and a few anaerobic fungal strains mostly produce cellulolytic enzymes in a complex called cellulosome, which is associated with the cell wall. In filamentous fungi, cellulolytic enzymes including endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases (exoglucanases) and beta-glucosidases work efficiently on cellulolytic residues in a synergistic manner. In addition to cellulolytic/hemicellulolytic activities, higher fungi such as basidiomycetes (e.g. Phanerochaete chrysosporium) have unique oxidative systems which together with ligninolytic enzymes are responsible for lignocellulose degradation. This review gives an overview of different fungal lignocellulolytic enzymatic systems including extracellular and cellulosome-associated in aerobic and anaerobic fungi, respectively. In addition, oxidative lignocellulose-degradation mechanisms of higher fungi are discussed. Moreover, this paper reviews the current status of the technology for bioconversion of biomass by fungi, with focus on mutagenesis, co-culturing and heterologous gene expression attempts to improve fungal lignocellulolytic activities to create robust fungal strains.

Isolation and cloning of an endo-β-1,4-mannanase from Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai

An endo-beta-1,4-mannanase was isolated from digestive fluid of Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, by successive chromatographies on TOYPEARL CM-650M, hydroxyapatite, and TOYOPEARL HW50F. The abalone mannanase, named HdMan in the present paper, showed a molecular mass of approximately 39,000 Da on SDS-PAGE, and exhibited high hydrolyic activity on both galactomannan from locust bean gum and glucomannan from konjac at an optimal pH and temperature of 7.5 and 45 degrees C, respectively. HdMan could degrade either beta-1,4-mannan or beta-1,4-mannooligosaccharides to mannotriose and mannobiose similarly to beta-1,4-mannanases from Pomacea, Littorina, and Mytilus. In addition, HdMan could disperse the fronds of a red alga Porphyra yezoensis into cell masses consisting of 10-20 cells that are available for cell engineering of this alga. cDNAs encoding HdMan were amplified by polymerase chain reaction from an abalone-hepatopancreas cDNA library. From the nucleotide sequences of the cDNAs, the sequence of 1232 bp in total was determined and the amino-acid sequence of 377 residues was deduced from the translational region of 1134 bp locating at nucleotide positions 15-1148. The N-terminal region of 17 residues except for the initiation Met, was regarded as the signal peptide of HdMan because it was absent in the HdMan protein and showed high similarity to the consensus sequence for signal peptides of eukaryote secretory proteins. Accordingly, mature HdMan was considered to consist of 359 residues with the calculated molecular mass of 39,627.2 Da. HdMan is classified into glycoside hydrolase family 5 (GHF5) on the basis of sequence homology to GHF5 enzymes.

Fungal degradation of wood: initial proteomic analysis of extracellular proteins of Phanerochaete chrysosporium grown on oak substrate

Two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis was used to separate the extracellular proteins produced by the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Solid-substrate cultures grown on red oak wood chips yielded extracellular protein preparations which were not suitable for 2-D gel analysis. However, pre-washing the wood chips with water helped decrease the amount of brown material which caused smearing on the acidic side of the isoelectric focusing gel. The 2-D gels from these wood-grown cultures revealed more than 45 protein spots. These spots were subjected to in-gel digestion with trypsin followed by either peptide fingerprint analysis by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) or by liquid chromatography (LC)/MS/MS sequencing. Data from both methods were analyzed by Protein Prospector and the local P. chrysosporium annotated database. MALDI-TOF/MS only identified two proteins out of 25 analyzed. This was most likely due to problems associated with glycosylation. Protein sequencing by LC/MS/MS of the same 25 proteins resulted in identification of 16 proteins. Most of the proteins identified act on either cellulose or hemicellulose or their hydrolysis products. Thus far no lignin peroxidase, Mn peroxidase or laccases have been detected.

Cloning and expression in Pichia pastoris of a blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) beta-mannanase gene

Using PCR, cloning and sequencing techniques, a 1.1-kb complementary DNA fragment encoding for a beta-mannanase (mannan endo-1,4-beta-mannosidase, EC 3.2.1.78) has been identified in the digestive gland of blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. The cDNA sequence shows significant sequence identity to several beta-mannanases in glycoside hydrolase family 5. The beta-mannanase gene has been isolated and sequenced from gill tissue of blue mussel and contains five introns. The beta-mannanase has been expressed extracellularly in Pichia pastoris using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor signal sequence. The beta-mannanase was produced in a 14-L fermenter with an expression level of 900 mg.L-1. The expression level is strongly affected by the induction temperature. A two-step purification procedure, composed of a combination of immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography and ion exchange chromatography, is required to give a pure beta-mannanase. However, due to post-translational modifications, structural varieties regarding molecular mass and isoelectric point were obtained. The specific activity of the purified recombinant M. edulis beta-mannanase was close to that of the wild-type enzyme. Also pH and temperature optima were the same as for the native protein. In conclusion, P. pastoris is regarded as a suitable host strain for the production of blue mussel beta-mannanase. This is the first time a mollusc beta-mannanase has been characterized at the DNA level.

Purification and characterization of two thermostable acetyl xylan esterases from Thermoanaerobacterium sp. strain JW/SL-YS485

Two acetyl esterases (EC 3.1.1.6) were purified to gel electrophoretic homogeneity from Thermoanaerobacterium sp. strain JW/SL-YS485, an anaerobic, thermophilic endospore former which is able to utilize various substituted xylans for growth. Both enzymes released acetic acid from chemically acetylated larch xylan. Acetyl xylan esterases I and II had molecular masses of 195 and 106 kDa, respectively, with subunits of 32 kDa (esterase I) and 26 kDa (esterase II). The isoelectric points were 4.2 and 4.3, respectively. As determined by a 2-min assay with 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate as the substrate, the optimal activity of acetyl xylan esterases I and II occurred at pH 7.0 and 80 degrees C and at pH 7.5 and 84 degrees C, respectively. Km values of 0.45 and 0.52 mM 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate were observed for acetyl xylan esterases I and II, respectively. At pH 7.0, the temperatures for the 1-h half-lives for acetyl xylan esterases I and II were 75 degrees and slightly above 100 degrees C, respectively.