White rot fungi produce three main extracellular enzymes involved in ligninolysis; laccase, lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase. Though all white rot fungi do not produce all three enzymes, laccase occupies an important place in ligninolysis. The present paper reports its production by some white rot fungi; Daedalea flavida, Phlebia brevispora, Phlebia radiata and Polyporus sanguineus under different nutritional conditions. Of the various basal media tested, mineral salts malt extract broth proved to be the best medium for laccase production. Sugarcane bagasse proved to be the best laccase inducer among the various supplements added to different media.

Xyloglucan transglycosylases (XETs) have been implicated in many aspects of cell wall biosynthesis, but their function in vascular tissues, in general, and in the formation of secondary walls, in particular, is less well understood. Using an in situ XET activity assay in poplar stems, we have demonstrated XET activity in xylem and phloem fibers at the stage of secondary wall formation. Immunolocalization of fucosylated xylogucan with CCRC-M1 antibodies showed that levels of this species increased at the border between the primary and secondary wall layers at the time of secondary wall deposition. Furthermore, one of the most abundant XET isoforms in secondary vascular tissues (PttXET16A) was cloned and immunolocalized to fibers at the stage of secondary wall formation. Together, these data strongly suggest that XET has a previously unreported role in restructuring primary walls at the time when secondary wall layers are deposited, probably creating and reinforcing the connections between the primary and secondary wall layers. We also observed that xylogucan is incorporated at a high level in the inner layer of nacreous walls of mature sieve tube elements.

Fungal pretreatment on lignocellulosic biomass has the advantages of being eco-friendly, having low operating cost, and producing no inhibitor. In this study, six white-rot fungi (Trametes versicolor, Pleurotus ostreatus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Coriolopsis gallica, Pleurotus sajor-caju, Lentinula edodes) were applied to corn stover pretreatment. Biomass degradation, production of enzymes, reducing sugar via hydrolysis, and ethanol yield via yeast fermentation were quantified during 30 days cultivation, and samples were taken every 5 days. Among six fungi, the highest lignin degradation was 38.29% at 30 days for P. sajor-caju pretreatment, the highest sugar yield was 71.24%, and the highest ethanol yield was 0.124 g g corn stover under P. sajor-caju pretreatment for 25 days. The highest activities of laccase and manganese peroxidase were 29.22 and 10.22 U g dry biomass, respectively, under T. versicolor pretreatment at 25 days. The highest levels of enzyme, sugar, and ethanol production are comparable or higher than what has been reported in previous literature. P. sajor-caju is one of the most widely worldwide cultivated mushrooms. The findings in this study show the potential to incorporate P. sajor-caju mushroom cultivation into corn stover pretreatment to enhance the production of a suite of products such as enzymes, sugars, and ethanol.

Three newly isolated fungal species, namely, Cerrena unicolor Han 849, Lenzites betulina Han 851, and Schizophyllum commune Han 881, isolated from their native habitats in Wulingshan National Nature Reserve of Hebei Province of northern China, were screened for laccase production with single or mixed lignocellulosic wastes. C. unicolor Han 849 was found to express the highest levels of laccase with single or mixed lignocellulosic wastes compared with L. betulina Han 851 and S. commune Han 881. The highest laccase activity from the mixed fungal culture of C. unicolor Han 849 and S. commune Han 881 or L. betulina Han 851 on Firmiana platanifolia was 1,373.12 ± 55.93 and 1,144.85 ± 34.97 U/L, respectively, higher than that from other tested conditions. L. betulina Han 851 or S. commune Han 881 mixed with other species was also helpful for accelerating laccase secretion due to reach maximum enzyme activity quickly. The treatment of mixing different species, including the mixture of two or three species, was obviously conducive to the improvement of laccase activity on Firmiana platanifolia. These results revealed that the fungal co-culture and the mixed lignocellulosic wastes contribute to the improvement of laccase activities and enhance laccase activities within a short period. These findings would be helpful for providing a new method for rapid production of low-cost laccase and for optimization of integrated industrial laccase production.

In order to explore the effect of pretreatment on corn straw degradation and biogas production, corn straw was pretreated with mixed microbes and composting at 30°C for 14 days. The characteristics of material were measured and analyzed in the pretreatment process. Then, the pretreated and untreated corn straw was digested by anaerobic fermentation. Gas production and methane content of corn straw were analyzed. The results showed that the biological pretreatment process with mixed microbes could accelerate the degradation rate of straw and increase the degradation efficiency of lignin. The pH value of material was more stable, and the content of organic matter in the material was higher in the pretreatment process of corn straw with mixed microbes. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images showed that the structure of the lignocellulose was changed by mixed microbes, increasing the exposed area of cellulose and hemicellulose, which was beneficial to improve the utilization efficiency of straw. The degradation rates of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin were 44.4%, 34.9% and 39.2%, respectively, after the pretreatment process with mixed microbes. Pretreatment was more helpful to increase the methane content in the anaerobic fermentation process of corn straw pretreated with mixed microbes, and could also shorten the fermentation period.

The use of biomaterials has been expanded to improve the characteristics of vaccines. Recently we have identified that the peptide PH(1–110) from polyhedrin self-aggregates and incorporates foreign proteins to form particles. We have proposed that this peptide can be used as an antigen carrying system for vaccines. However, the immune response generated by the antigen fused to the peptide has not been fully characterized. In addition, the adjuvant effect and thermostability of the particles has not been evaluated.

Cellulosic plant material represents an as-of-yet untapped source of fermentable sugars for significant industrial use. Many physio-chemical structural and compositional factors hinder the enzymatic digestibility of cellulose present in lignocellulosic biomass. The goal of any pretreatment technology is to alter or remove structural and compositional impediments to hydrolysis in order to improve the rate of enzyme hydrolysis and increase yields of fermentable sugars from cellulose or hemicellulose. These methods cause physical and/or chemical changes in the plant biomass in order to achieve this result. Experimental investigation of physical changes and chemical reactions that occur during pretreatment is required for the development of effective and mechanistic models that can be used for the rational design of pretreatment processes. Furthermore, pretreatment processing conditions must be tailored to the specific chemical and structural composition of the various, and variable, sources of lignocellulosic biomass. This paper reviews process parameters and their fundamental modes of action for promising pretreatment methods.

Various agricultural residues, such as corn fiber, corn stover, wheat straw, rice straw, and sugarcane bagasse, contain about 20-40% hemicellulose, the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature. The conversion of hemicellulose to fuels and chemicals is problematic. In this paper, various pretreatment options as well as enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars is reviewed. Our research dealing with the pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of corn fiber and development of novel and improved enzymes such as endo-xylanase, beta-xylosidase, and alpha- l-arabinofuranosidase for hemicellulose bioconversion is described. The barriers, progress, and prospects of developing an environmentally benign bioprocess for large-scale conversion of hemicellulose to fuel ethanol, xylitol, 2,3-butanediol, and other value-added fermentation products are highlighted.

The ability of fungi to degrade lignocellulosic materials is due to their highly efficient enzymatic system. Fungi have two types of extracellular enzymatic systems; the hydrolytic system, which produces hydrolases that are responsible for polysaccharide degradation and a unique oxidative and extracellular ligninolytic system, which degrades lignin and opens phenyl rings. Lignocellulosic residues from wood, grass, agricultural, forestry wastes and municipal solid wastes are particularly abundant in nature and have a potential for bioconversion. Accumulation of lignocellulosic materials in large quantities in places where agricultural residues present a disposal problem results not only in deterioration of the environment but also in loss of potentially valuable material that can be used in paper manufacture, biomass fuel production, composting, human and animal feed among others. Several novel markets for lignocellulosic residues have been identified recently. The use of fungi in low cost bioremediation projects might be attractive given their lignocellulose hydrolysis enzyme machinery.

In order to improve the digestibility and nutrient availability in rumen, wheat straw was subjected to solid state fermentation (SSF) with white-rot fungi (i.e. Pleurotus ostreatus and Trametes versicolor) and the fermented biomass (called myco-straw) was evaluated for biochemical, enzymatic and nutritional parameters. The fungal treatment after 30 days led to significant decrease (P < 0.05) in cell wall constituents viz, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), hemicellulose, lignin and cellulose to the extent of 35.00, 38.88, 45.00, 37.48 and 37.86%, respectively in P. ostreatus fermented straw, while 30.04, 33.85, 39.90, 31.29 and 34.00%, respectively in T. versicolor fermented straw. However, maximum efficiency of fermentation in terms of low carbohydrate consumption per unit of lignin degradation, favoring cattle feed production was observed for P. ostreatus on the 10th day (17.12%) as compared with T. versicolor on the 30th day (16.91%). The myco-straw was found to contain significantly high (P < 0.05) crude protein (CP; 4.77% T. versicolor, 5.08% P. ostreatus) as compared to control straw (3.37%). Metabolizable energy (ME, MJ/kg DM), percent organic matter digestibility (OMD) and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs; mmol) production also increased considerably from control straw (4.40, 29.91 and 0.292) to a maximum up to P. ostreatus fermented straw (4.92, 33.39 and 0.376 on 20th day) and T. versicolor fermented straw (4.66, 31.74 and 0.334 on 10th day), respectively. Moreover, the myco-straw had lower organic carbon and was rich in nitrogen with lower C/N ratio as compared to control wheat straw. Results suggest that the fungal fermentation of wheat straw effectively improved CP content, OM digestibility, SCFAs production, ME value and simultaneously lowered the C/N ratio, thus showing potential for bioconversion of lignin rich wheat straw into high energy cattle feed.

Lignocellulosic materials can be explored as one of the sustainable substrates for bioethanol production through microbial intervention as they are abundant, cheap and renewable. But at the same time, their recalcitrant structure makes the conversion process more cumbersome owing to their chemical composition which adversely affects the efficiency of bioethanol production. Therefore, the technical approaches to overcome recalcitrance of biomass feedstock has been developed to remove the barriers with the help of pretreatment methods which make cellulose more accessible to the hydrolytic enzymes, secreted by the microorganisms, for its conversion to glucose. Pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass in cost effective manner is a major challenge to bioethanol technology research and development. Hence, in this review, we have discussed various aspects of three commonly used pretreatment methods, viz., steam explosion, acid and alkaline, applied on various lignocellulosic biomasses to augment their digestibility alongwith the challenges associated with their processing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To solve the problem of low degradation rate of corn straw, stable cellulose degrading bacteria were screened from natural fermentation compost with amino acid tail liquor as the nitrogen source, aiming to lay a foundation for the preparation of efficient straw decomposition agent. Congo red staining method was adopted for preliminary screening, the determination of cellulase activity and the loss rate of corn straw weight were used for re-screening, and morphological and molecular biological methods were used to identify the efficient degrading strain. The results showed that an efficient cellulose degrading strain, SC2, was obtained. The filter paper enzyme activity, endoglucanase activity, exoglucanase activity and β-glucosidase activity of SC2 was 17.70 U/mL, 58.97 U/mL, 16.85 U/mL and 79.26 U/mL, respectively. The degradation rate of corn straw reached 33.07%. According to the colony characteristics, sporulation structure, spore morphology and ITS sequence, SC2 was identified as Aspergillus niger. Strain SC2 has good cellulose degradation ability, can effectively promote the degradation of straw and be used to prepare corn straw decomposing agent.

为了解决玉米秸秆降解率低下问题,本研究从以氨基酸尾液为氮源的自然发酵堆肥中筛选稳定的纤维素降解菌,为制备高效的秸秆腐熟剂奠定基础。采用刚果红染色法进行初筛、采用纤维素酶活测定及玉米秸秆降解率测定来进行复筛,并通过形态学及分子生物学方法对高效降解菌株进行鉴定。结果表明筛选得到一株高效降解纤维素的菌株SC2,其滤纸酶活、内切葡聚糖酶活、外切葡聚糖酶活和β-葡聚糖苷酶活分别为17.70、58.97、16.85和79.26 U/mL,对玉米秸秆的降解率达到33.07%,根据其菌落特征、产孢结构、孢子形态及ITS序列鉴定SC2为黑曲霉(Aspergillus niger)。菌株SC2具有较好的纤维素降解能力,能够有效的促进秸秆的降解,可以用于制备玉米秸秆腐熟剂。

通过秸秆粉平板、刚果红染色法以及小麦秸秆降解率来筛选高效秸秆降解菌,并测定菌株的胞外纤维素酶活来研究其秸秆纤维素的降解能力。结果表明,在所筛选的4株真菌中,菌株z-5的秸秆降解率最高,为47%;其次是菌株4-1、3-1和2-2,分别为45%、32%和31%,滤纸腐解实验结果与秸秆降解试验结果相似。4株秸秆降解菌均具有外切葡聚糖酶、内切葡聚糖酶和&#x003b2;-葡萄糖苷酶等3种纤维素酶,但变化趋势不同。菌株z-5和菌株4-1的三种酶活呈现出较好的协同性,菌株2-2和菌株3-1协同性较弱。通过秸秆粉平板,秸秆降解率测定以及滤纸孔洞法可以更准确快速地得到目的菌株;纤维素酶在秸秆降解中起着主导作用。