An overview of biomass conversion: exploring new opportunities

Carbohydrate polymer degradation derivatives as possible natural mannanase inhibitors

The role of mannanases is diverse and they are used in many industrial applications, in animal feed, in the food industry and in healthcare. They are also applied in biomass processing, because they play an important role in the breakdown of hemicellulose. Among the mannanase inhibitors, heavy metal ions and general enzyme inhibitors are mainly mentioned. Unfortunately, almost no data are available on carbohydrate-based natural inhibitors of mannanases. According to the literature, carbohydrates do not play an important role in the inhibition of mannanases, so neither do oligosaccharides. This is in contrast to the action and inhibition of other O-glycosyl hydrolases. My hypothesis is that mannanases, like other polysaccharide-degrading enzymes, work in the same way and can be inhibited by oligosaccharides. Evidence from docking and modeling results supports and makes probable the hypothesis that oligosaccharides can inhibit the activity of mannanases, similar to the inhibition of other O-glycosyl hydrolases. Among natural carbohydrate oligomers, several potential mannanase inhibitors have been identified and characterized. In addition to expensive research, it is very important to use research based on cheaper modeling to explore the processes. The results obtained are novel and forward-looking, enabling in-depth and targeted research to be carried out.

Engineering an All-Biobased Solvent- and Styrene-Free Curable Resin

The sustainable production of polymers and materials derived from renewable feedstocks such as biomass is vital to addressing the current climate and environmental challenges. In particular, finding a replacement for current widely used curable resins containing undesired components with both health and environmental issues, such as bisphenol-A and styrene, is of great interest and vital for a sustainable society. In this work, we disclose the preparation and fabrication of an all-biobased curable resin. The devised resin consists of a polyester component based on fumaric acid, itaconic acid, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, 1,4-butanediol, and reactive diluents acting as both solvents and viscosity enhancers. Importantly, the complete process was performed solvent-free, thus promoting its industrial applications. The cured biobased resin demonstrates very good thermal properties (stable up to 415 °C), the ability to resist deformation based on the high Young's modulus of ∼775 MPa, and chemical resistance based on the swelling index and gel content. We envision the disclosed biobased resin having tailorable properties suitable for industrial applications.

Structural and chemical insights into the prebiotic property of hemicellulosic polysaccharide from Santalum album L

Hemicellulose was extracted by alkali treatment of de-pectinated cell wall material of Santalum album L. (sandalwood) suspension culture cells. The physicochemical properties and prebiotic activities of a purified major fraction of Hemicellulose-B, termed as HB-I, were investigated. GC analysis of hydrolyzed and derivatized HB-I showed the presence of arabinose (~64 %), galactose (~16 %) and glucose (~16 %) as major monosaccharide units along with minor amount of rhamnose. Methylation and NMR studies on the purified polysaccharide revealed the presence of 6-β-d-Glcp, β-d-Galp, 3,5-α-l-Araf, α-l-Araf, 5-α-l-Araf, 2,3-α-l-Araf and, α-l-Rhap residues, from which a proposed structure of repeating units was established. The growth of probiotic Lactobacillus spp. strains L. acidophilus, L. casei, L. plantarum and L. rhamnosus was promoted while that of Escherichia coli was suppressed significantly in presence of HB-I. Our results highlight valorization of sandalwood biomass and explore the role of mixed α, β-linked heteroglycan as a potential prebiotic molecule thus indicating the possibility of development of low-cost bioprocesses for production of functional food ingredients.

Significance of glycans in cellulolytic enzymes for lignocellulosic biorefinery - A review

Lignocellulosic (LC) biomass is the most abundant renewable resource for mankind gravitating society towards sustainable solution for energy that can reduce the carbon footprint. The economic feasibility of 'biomass biorefinery' depends upon the efficiency cellulolytic enzymes which is the main crux. Its high production cost and low efficiencies are the major limitations, that need to be resolved. As the complexity of the genome increases, so does the complexity of the proteome, further facilitated by protein post-translational modifications (PTMs). Glycosylation is regarded the major PTMs and hardly any recent work is focused on importance of glycosylation in cellulase. By modifying protein side chains and glycans, superior cellulases with improved stability and efficiency can be obtained. Functional proteomics relies heavily on PTMs because they regulate activity, localization, and interactions with protein, lipid, nucleic acid, and cofactor molecules. O- and N- glycosylation in cellulases influences its characteristics adding positive attributes to the enzymes.

Recent Theoretical Insights into the Oxidative Degradation of Biopolymers and Plastics by Metalloenzymes

Molecular modeling techniques have become indispensable in many fields of molecular sciences in which the details related to mechanisms and reactivity need to be studied at an atomistic level. This review article provides a collection of computational modeling works on a topic of enormous interest and urgent relevance: the properties of metalloenzymes involved in the degradation and valorization of natural biopolymers and synthetic plastics on the basis of both circular biofuel production and bioremediation strategies. In particular, we will focus on lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase, laccases, and various heme peroxidases involved in the processing of polysaccharides, lignins, rubbers, and some synthetic polymers. Special attention will be dedicated to the interaction between these enzymes and their substrate studied at different levels of theory, starting from classical molecular docking and molecular dynamics techniques up to techniques based on quantum chemistry.

Investigating the Impact of Polymer Length, Attachment Site, and Charge on Enzymatic Activity and Stability of Cellulase

The thermophilic cellulase Cel5a from Fervidobacterium nodosum (FnCel5a) was conjugated with neutral, cationic, and anionic polymers of increasing molecular weights. The enzymatic activity toward an anionic soluble cellulose derivative, thermal stability, and functional chemical stability of these bioconjugates were investigated. The results suggest that increasing polymer chain length for polymers compatible with the substrate enhances the positive impact of polymer conjugation on enzymatic activity. Activity enhancements of nearly 100% were observed for bioconjugates with N,N-dimethyl acrylamide (DMAm) and N,N-dimethyl acrylamide-2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAm/DMAEMA) due to proposed polymer-substrate compatibility enabled by potential noncovalent interactions. Double conjugation of two functionally distinct polymers to wild-type and mutated FnCel5a using two conjugation methods was achieved. These doubly conjugated bioconjugates exhibited similar thermal stability to the unmodified wild-type enzyme, although enzymatic activity initially gained from conjugation was lost, suggesting that chain length may be a better tool for bioconjugate activity modulation than double conjugation.

Fungal cellulases: protein engineering and post-translational modifications

Enzymatic degradation of lignocelluloses into fermentable sugars to produce biofuels and other biomaterials is critical for environmentally sustainable development and energy resource supply. However, there are problems in enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis, such as the complex cellulase composition, low degradation efficiency, high production cost, and post-translational modifications (PTMs), all of which are closely related to specific characteristics of cellulases that remain unclear. These problems hinder the practical application of cellulases. Due to the rapid development of computer technology in recent years, computer-aided protein engineering is being widely used, which also brings new opportunities for the development of cellulases. Especially in recent years, a large number of studies have reported on the application of computer-aided protein engineering in the development of cellulases; however, these articles have not been systematically reviewed. This article focused on the aspect of protein engineering and PTMs of fungal cellulases. In this manuscript, the latest literatures and the distribution of potential sites of cellulases for engineering have been systematically summarized, which provide reference for further improvement of cellulase properties. KEY POINTS: •Rational design based on virtual mutagenesis can improve cellulase properties. •Modifying protein side chains and glycans helps obtain superior cellulases. •N-terminal glutamine-pyroglutamate conversion stabilizes fungal cellulases.