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Advanced biorefinery in lower termite-effect of combined pretreatment during the chewing process.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Currently the major barrier in biomass utilization is the lack of an effective pretreatment of plant cell wall so that the carbohydrates can subsequently be hydrolyzed into sugars for fermentation into fuel or chemical molecules. Termites are highly effective in degrading lignocellulosics and thus can be used as model biological systems for studying plant cell wall degradation. RESULTS: We discovered a combination of specific structural and compositional modification of the lignin framework and partial degradation of carbohydrates that occurs in softwood with physical chewing by the termite, Coptotermes formosanus, which are critical for efficient cell wall digestion. Comparative studies on the termite-chewed and native (control) softwood tissues at the same size were conducted with the aid of advanced analytical techniques such as pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. The results strongly suggest a significant increase in the softwood cellulose enzymatic digestibility after termite chewing, accompanied with utilization of holocellulosic counterparts and an increase in the hydrolysable capacity of lignin collectively. In other words, the termite mechanical chewing process combines with specific biological pretreatment on the lignin counterpart in the plant cell wall, resulting in increased enzymatic cellulose digestibility in vitro. The specific lignin unlocking mechanism at this chewing stage comprises mainly of the cleavage of specific bonds from the lignin network and the modification and redistribution of functional groups in the resulting chewed plant tissue, which better expose the carbohydrate within the plant cell wall. Moreover, cleavage of the bond between the holocellulosic network and lignin molecule during the chewing process results in much better exposure of the biomass carbohydrate. CONCLUSION: Collectively, these data indicate the participation of lignin-related enzyme(s) or polypeptide(s) and/or esterase(s), along with involvement of cellulases and hemicellulases in the chewing process of C. formosanus, resulting in an efficient pretreatment of biomass through a combination of mechanical and enzymatic processes. This pretreatment could be mimicked for industrial biomass conversion.

SUBMITTER: Ke J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3310848 | biostudies-other | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Advanced biorefinery in lower termite-effect of combined pretreatment during the chewing process.

Ke Jing J Laskar Dhrubojyoti D DD Gao Difeng D Chen Shulin S

Biotechnology for biofuels 20120305 1

<h4>Background</h4>Currently the major barrier in biomass utilization is the lack of an effective pretreatment of plant cell wall so that the carbohydrates can subsequently be hydrolyzed into sugars for fermentation into fuel or chemical molecules. Termites are highly effective in degrading lignocellulosics and thus can be used as model biological systems for studying plant cell wall degradation.<h4>Results</h4>We discovered a combination of specific structural and compositional modification of ...[more]

PMID: 22390274

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Project description:Background:Biological pretreatment is an important alternative strategy for biorefining lignocellulose and has attracted increasing attention in recent years. However, current designs for this pretreatment mainly focus on using various white rot fungi, overlooking the bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, we evaluated the potential contribution of bacteria to lignocellulose pretreatment, with and without a physicochemical process, based on the bacterial strain Pandoraea sp. B-6 (hereafter B-6) that was isolated from erosive bamboo slips. Moreover, the mechanism of the improvement of reducing sugar yield by bacteria was elucidated via analyses of the physicochemical changes of corn stover (CS) before and after pretreatment. Results:The digestibility of CS pretreated with B-6 was equivalent to that of untreated CS. The recalcitrant CS surface provided fewer mediators for contact with the extracellular enzymes of B-6. A pre-erosion strategy using a tetrahydrofuran-water co-solvent system was shown to destroy the recalcitrant CS surface. The optimal condition for pre-erosion showed a 6.5-fold increase in enzymatic digestibility compared with untreated CS. The pre-erosion of CS can expose more phenolic compounds that were chelated to oxidized Mn3+ and also provided mediators for combination with laccase, which was attributable to B-6 pretreatment. B-6 pretreatment following pre-erosion exhibited a sugar yield that was 91.2 mg/g greater than that of pre-erosion alone and 7.5-fold higher than that of untreated CS. This pre-erosion application was able to destroy the recalcitrant CS surface, thus leading to a rough and porous architecture that better facilitated the diffusion and transport of lignin derivatives. This enhanced the ability of laccase and manganese peroxidase secreted by B-6 to improve the efficiency of this biological pretreatment. Conclusion:Bacteria were not found useful alone as a biological pretreatment, but they significantly improved enzymatic digestion after lignocellulose breakdown via other physicochemical methods. Nonetheless, phenyl or phenoxy radicals were used by laccase and manganese peroxidase in B-6 for lignin attack or lignin depolymerization. These particular mediators released from the recalcitrance network of lignocellulose openings are important for the efficacy of this bacterial pretreatment. Our findings thus offer a novel perspective on the effective design of biological pretreatment methods for lignocellulose.

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Advanced biorefinery in lower termite-effect of combined pretreatment during the chewing process.

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Advanced biorefinery in lower termite-effect of combined pretreatment during the chewing process.

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