Project description:Lignocellulosic biomass is composed of three major biopolymers: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Although lignin has long been considered a waste product in biomass conversion efforts, its utilization has since been identified as critical to the economic viability of second-generation biofuel production. There is thus increasing interest in finding enzymes and enzyme cocktails which can efficiently deconstruct both the cellulose/hemicellulose and lignin components of lignocellulosic biomass. Analytical tools capable of quickly detecting both glycan and lignin deconstruction could are needed to support the development and characterization of efficient enzymes/enzyme cocktails.
Project description:Cellulose from plant biomass is the largest renewable energy resource of carbon fixed from the atmosphere, which can be converted into fermentable sugars for production into ethanol. However, the cellulose present as lignocellulosic biomass is embedded in a hemicellulose and lignin matrix from which it needs to be extracted for efficient processing. Here, we show that expression of an Arabidopsis transcription factor SHINE (SHN) in rice, a model for the grasses, causes a 34% increase in cellulose and a 45% reduction in lignin content.
Project description:Aspergillus fumigatus, a saprophytic filamentous fungus, is known to harbor 263 glycoside hydrolase (GH) encoding genes, suggesting that A. fumigatus is an efficient lignocellulose degrader. Hence the present study uses corn, wheat or soybean as a sole carbon source to culture A. fumigatus under animal physiological condition as to understand how cellulolytic enzymes work together to achieve an efficient degradation of lignocellulose. Using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) approach, total of ~600 extracellular proteins were identified and quantified, in which ~50 proteins were involved in lignocellulolysis, including cellulases, hemicellulases, lignin-degrading enzymes and some hypothetical proteins.Functional classification of identified proteins showed 15% cellulases, 14 % hydrolases acting on glycosyl bond, and 22% hemicellulases。The approach of highly sensitive quantitative analysis of proteome and transcriptome respond to the probable enzyme combination required in agro industries and animal feeding purpose towards more efficient cellulose degradation and therefore better digestion of intracellular starch. Furthermore, number of important GH family protein, some CBM and polysaccharide lyase family proteins have been identified, which could attribute towards better degradation of lignocelluloses to release starch.
Project description:Cellulose from plant biomass is the largest renewable energy resource of carbon fixed from the atmosphere, which can be converted into fermentable sugars for production into ethanol. However, the cellulose present as lignocellulosic biomass is embedded in a hemicellulose and lignin matrix from which it needs to be extracted for efficient processing. Here, we show that expression of an Arabidopsis transcription factor SHINE (SHN) in rice, a model for the grasses, causes a 34% increase in cellulose and a 45% reduction in lignin content. Rice genotypes expressing the Arabidopsis SHN2 gene hereafter called rice AtSHN lines were used in this study. Progenies of three independent AtSHN lines were grown in controlled growth chambers. For all analyses, six plants were used for each of the two transgenic lines and WT. For total RNA isolation, rice leaf tissue of WT and AtSHN lines was used. Samples were hybridized to the rice Affymetrix GeneChip.
Project description:The fungus Polyporus brumalis is a wood decay fungus previously evidenced as efficient lignin degrader with high potential for plant biomass pre-treatment before conversion into bio-energy. Here we used an RNASeq approach that highlighted the active transcription of an unparalleled number of lignin active peroxidases and H2O2 generating enzymes during growth on wheat straw. These enzymes, together with metabolic processes related to detoxification appear as key determinants of the fungal adaption to lignin degradation.
Project description:Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are a recently discovered enzyme family that cleave polysaccharides by oxidation. Despite proposed roles in bacterial virulence, no direct functional data exist to validate these claims. Here we show PTMs detected on CpbD.
Project description:The production of lignocellulosic-derived biofuels is a highly promising source of alternative energy, but it has been constrained by the lack of a microbial platform capable to efficiently degrade this recalcitrant material and cope with by-products that can be toxic to cells. Species that naturally grow in environments where carbon is mainly available as lignin are promising for finding new ways of removing the lignin that protects cellulose for improved conversion of lignin to fuel precursors.
Project description:Transcriptional landscape of MyceliopTranscriptional profiling of Myceliophthora thermophila on galactose and metabolic engineering for improved galactose utilization thora thermophila responding to soluble starch and the role of regulator AmyR on polysaccharide degradation Efficient biological conversion of all sugars from lignocellulosic biomass is necessary for cost-effective production of biofuels and commodity chemicals. Galactose is the next most abundant sugar in many hemicelluloses and it will be important to capture this carbon for an efficient bioconversion process of plant biomass. Thermophilic fugus Myceliophthora thermophila has been used as cell factory to produce biochemicals directly from renewable polysaccharides. This study determined the transcriptomic profiles of M. thermophila responding to galactose and identified the gene involved in the oxido-reductive pathway for galactose degradation, of which hexokinase might be the rate-limiting enzyme in this thermophilic fungus. Galactokinase was necessary for high induction of galactose transporter and disruption of galK resulted in decreased galactose utilization. Both of galactokinase deletion and sugar transporter overexpression could further activate the oxido-reductive pathway and led to improved galactose utilization. In addition, disruption of the Leloir pathway brought about reduced tolerance to cell wall perturbation, oxidative stress and high osmolality. In order to accelerate galactose consumption, the third galactose-degradation pathway- De Ley-Doudoroff pathway was successfully integrated into M. thermophila and the consumption rate of galactose was increased by 57%. This study will be benefit for the rational design of fungal strains to produce biofuels and biochemical from plant biomass, especially, marine plant biomass with the abundant of galactose, such as red seaweed and molasses.
Project description:Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are oxidative enzymes found in viruses, archaea, bacteria as well as eukaryotes, such as fungi, algae and insects, actively contributing to the degradation of different polysaccharides. Analysis of the extracellular proteome (secretome) from Aspergillus nidulans growing in Avicel, sugarcane bagasse and sugarcane straw and analysed by LC-MS/MS in a LTQ Orbitrap Velos revealed that up to five LPMOs from family AA9 (AnLPMO9s), along with an AA3 cellobiose dehydrogenase (AnCDH1), are co-secreted upon growth on crystalline cellulose and lignocellulosic substrates, indicating their role in the degradation of plant cell wall components. Functional analysis revealed that the three main secreted LPMO9s (AnLPMO9C, AnLPMO9F and AnLPMO9G) correspond to cellulose- active enzymes with distinct regioselectivity. Deletion and overexpression studies confirmed that the abundantly secreted AnLPMO9F is a major component of the extracellular cellulolytic system, while AnLPMO9G, less abundant in the secretome, and has an important role by oxidizing crystalline fractions of cellulose. Single or double deletion of these AnLPMO9s partially impair fungal growth on sugarcane straw but not on crystalline cellulose, demonstrating the importance of LPMO9s for the saprophytic fungal lifestyle in the degradation of complex lignocellulosic substrates. Although the deletion of AnCDH1 slightly reduced the cellulolytic activity, it did not affect fungal growth indicating the existence of other electron donors to LPMOs. Additionally, double or triple knockouts of these enzymes had no accumulative deleterious effect on the cellulolytic activity nor on fungal growth, regardless of the deleted gene. Overexpression of AnLPMO9s in a cellulose-induced secretome background confirmed the importance and applicability of AnLPMO9G to improve lignocellulose saccharification.