Comparison of sulfomethylated lignin from poplar and masson pine on cellulase adsorption and the enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat straw

Structure changes of lignin and their effects on enzymatic hydrolysis for bioethanol production: a focus on lignin modification

Enzymatic hydrolysis contributes to obtaining fermentable sugars using pretreated lignocellulose materials for bioethanol generation. Unfortunately, the pretreatment of lignocellulose causes low substrate enzymatic hydrolysis, which is due to the structure changes of lignin to produce main phenolic by-products and non-productive cellulase adsorption. It is reported that modified lignin enhances the speed of enzymatic hydrolysis through single means to decrease the negative effects of fermentation inhibitors or non-productive cellulase adsorption. However, a suitable modified lignin should be selected to simultaneously reduce the fermentation inhibitors concentration and non-productive cellulase adsorption for saving resources and maximizing the enzymatic hydrolysis productivity. Meanwhile, the adsorption micro-mechanisms of modified lignin with fermentation inhibitors and cellulase remain elusive. In this review, different pretreatment effects toward lignin structure, and their impacts on subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis are analyzed. The main modification methods for lignin are presented. Density functional theory is used to screen suitable modification methods for the simultaneous reduction of fermentation inhibitors and non-productive cellulase adsorption. Lignin-fermentation inhibitors and lignin-cellulase interaction mechanisms are discussed using different advanced analysis techniques. This article addresses the gap in previous reviews concerning the application of modified lignin in the enhancement of bioethanol production. For the first time, based on existing studies, this work posits the hypothesis of applying theoretical simulations to screen efficient modified lignin-based adsorbents, in order to achieve a dual optimization of the detoxification and saccharification processes. We aim to improve the integrated lignocellulose transformation procedure for the effective generation of cleaner bioethanol.

Genome-wide analysis of the mulberry (Morus abla L.) GH9 gene family and the functional characterization of MaGH9B6 during the development of the abscission zone

Plant glycoside hydrolase family 9 genes (GH9s) are widely distributed in plants and involved in a variety of cellular and physiological processes. In the current study, nine GH9 genes were identified in the mulberry and were divided into two subfamilies based on the phylogenetic analysis. Conserved motifs and gene structure analysis suggested that the evolution of the two subfamilies is relatively conserved and the glycoside hydrolase domain almost occupy the entire coding region of the GH9s gene. Only segmental duplication has played a role in the expansion of gene family. Collinearity analysis showed that mulberry GH9s had the closest relationship with poplar GH9s. MaGH9B1, MaGH9B6, MaGH9B5, and MaGH9B3 were detected to have transcript accumulation in the stalk of easy-to drop mature fruit drop, suggesting that these could play a role in mulberry fruit drop. Multiple cis-acting elements related to plant hormones and abiotic stress responses were found in the mulberry GH9 promoter regions and showed different activities under exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) and 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) stresses. We found that the lignin content in the fruit stalk decreased with the formation of the abscission zone (AZ), which could indirectly reflect the formation process of the AZ. These results provide a theoretical basis for further research on the role of GH9s in mulberry abscission.

Isolation of a newly Trichoderma asperellum LYS1 with abundant cellulase-hemicellulase enzyme cocktail for lignocellulosic biomass degradation

As the most abundant and renewable natural resource in the world, lignocellulose is a promising alternative to fossil energy to relieve environmental concerns and resource depletion. However, due to its recalcitrant structure, strains with efficient degradation capability still need exploring. In this study, a fungus was successfully isolated from decayed wood and named as Trichoderma asperellum LYS1 by phylogenetic and draft genomic analysis. The further investigations showed that strain LYS1 had an outstanding performance on lignocellulose degradation, especially for hemicellulose-rich biomass. After the analysis of encoded CAZymes, mainly on GH family, a large amount of genes coding β-glucosidase and xylanase may contribute to the high degradation of cellulose and hemicellulose. Collectively, the results generated in this study demonstrated that T. asperellum LYS1 is a potential cell factory for lignocellulose biorefinery.

Achieving high enzymatic hydrolysis sugar yield of sodium hydroxide-pretreated wheat straw with a low cellulase dosage by adding sulfomethylated tannic acid

Sulfonated lignin can significantly enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose substrates. Lignin is a type of polyphenol, therefore, sulfonated polyphenol, such as tannic acid, is likely to have similar effects. In order to obtain a low-cost and high-efficiency additive to improve enzymatic hydrolysis, sulfomethylated tannic acids (STAs) with different sulfonation degrees were prepared and their impact on enzymatic saccharification of sodium hydroxide-pretreated wheat straw were investigated. Tannic acid strongly inhibited, while STAs strongly promoted the substrate enzymatic digestibility. While adding 0.04 g/g-substrate STA containing 2.4 mmol/g sulfonate group, the glucose yield increased from 60.6% to 97.9% at a low cellulase dosage (5 FPU/g-glucan). The concentration of protein in enzymatic hydrolysate significantly increased with the added STAs, indicating that cellulase preferentially adsorbed with STAs, thereby reducing the amount of cellulase nonproductively anchored on substrate lignin. This result provides a reliable approach for establishing an efficient lignocellulosic enzyme hydrolysis system.

Exploring how lignin structure influences the interaction between carbohydrate-binding module and lignin using AFM

Nonproductive adsorption of cellulase onto the residual lignin in substrate seriously hinders the enzymatic hydrolysis. To understand how lignin structure affects lignin-cellulase interaction, the carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) functionalized atomic force microscope tip was used to measure CBM-lignin interaction by single-molecule dynamic force spectroscopy in this work. The results showed that sulfonated lignin (SL) has the greatest adhesion force to CBM (4.74 nN), while those of masson pine milled wood lignin (MWL), poplar MWL and herbaceous MWLs were 2.85, 1.03 and 0.27-0.61 nN, respectively. It provides direct quantitative evidence for the significance of lignin structure on lignin-cellulase interaction. The CBM-MWLs interaction decreased sharply to 0.054-0.083 nN while SL was added, indicating the primary mechanism of SL promoting lignocellulose hydrolysis was significantly reducing the nonproductive adsorption of substrate lignin on cellulase. Finally, the "competitive adsorption" mechanism was proposed to interpret why SL effectively promotes the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignin-containing substrates.

Enzymatic saccharification promotion for bioenergy poplar under green liquor pretreatment by fully sulfonated polystyrene: Effect of molecular weight

Water-soluble lignin and lignin derivatives are cited to promote the enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulose. Herein, a series of fully sulfonated polystyrene sulfonates (FSPSSs) with various molecular weights (MW) were synthesized through free radical polymerization (FRP) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) to serve as lignin analogues to boost the enzymatic saccharification of bioenergy poplar under green liquor pretreatment. The FRP-made polymers with MW 944.5 × 10³ to 123.6 × 10³ g/mol increased the enzymatic hydrolysis digestibility (SED) by 13 % to 18.8 %. On contrary, the ATRP-made polymers with lower MW (3.8 × 10³-12.2 × 10³ g/mol) showed a weak effect with<8 % improvement in SED. This can be explained the adsorption capacity and the conformation of cellulase-FSPSS complexes, which respond to the reducing nonproductive adsorption correlated to their MWs, due to the strong dependence of molecular conformation on the chain length of strong polyelectrolytes.

Assessing the availability of two bamboo species for fermentable sugars by alkaline hydrogen peroxide pretreatment

This study comprehensively investigated two bamboo species (i.e. Neosinocalamus affinis and Phyllostachys edulis) in terms of their cell wall ultrastructure, chemical compositions, enzymatic saccharification, and lignin structure before and after alkaline hydrogen peroxide pretreatment (AHP). During AHP, Neosinocalamus affinis (NAB) had higher delignification than Phyllostachys edulis (PEB), and thus showed better enzymatic digestibility (93.05% vs 53.57% for glucan). The fundamental chemical behavior of the bamboo lignins was analyzed by fluorescence microscope (FM), confocal Raman microscope (CRM), molecular weight analysis, and 2D HSQC-NMR. Results indicated that the PEB has thicker cell wall and more concentrated lignin in its compound middle lamella and cell corner middle lamella than NAB. Moreover, PEB lignin contains more G units (S/G of 0.95), in evident contrast to that of NAB lignin (S/G of 1.30), which favor the formation of C-C linkages, thus impeding its degradation during the AHP.

Biological Activities and Emerging Roles of Lignin and Lignin-Based Products─A Review

Bioactive substances, displaying excellent biocompatibility, chemical stability, and processability, could be extensively applied in biomedicine and tissue engineering. In recent years, plant-based bioactive substances such as flavonoids, vitamins, terpenes, and lignin have received considerable attention due to their human health benefits and pharmaceutical/medical applications. Among them is lignin, an amorphous biomacromolecule mainly derived from the combinatorial radical coupling of three phenylpropane units (p-hydroxypenyl, guaiacyl, and syringyl) during lignification. Lignin possesses intrinsic bioactivities (antioxidative, antibacterial, anti-UV activities, etc.) against phytopathogens. Lignin also enhances the plant resistance (adaptability) against environmental stresses. The abundant structural features of lignin offer other significant bioactivities including antitumor and antivirus bioactivities, regulation of plant growth, and enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. This Review reports the latest research results on the bioactive potential of lignin and lignin-based substances in biomedicine, agriculture, and biomass conversion. Moreover, the interfacial reactions and bonding mechanisms of lignin with biotissue/cells and other constituents were also discussed, aiming at promoting the conversion or evolution of lignin from industrial wastes to value-added bioactive materials.