Xiaobing Wu

Purification and Properties of Endoglucanase from a Sugar Cane Bagasse Hydrolyzing Strain, Aspergillus glaucus XC9

An endoglucanase (EG) from Aspergillus glaucus XC9 grown on 0.3% sugar cane bagasse as a carbon source was purified from the culture filtrate using ammonium sulfate, an anion exchange DEAE Sepharose fast flow column, and a Sephadex G-100 column, with a purification fold of 21.5 and a recovery of 22.3%. The ideal time for EG production is on the fourth day at 30 degrees C using bagasse as a substrate. Results obtained indicate that the enzyme was a monomer protein, and the molecular weight was determined to be 31 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature of EG for the hydrolysis of carboxymethylcellulose sodium (CMC-Na) were pH 4.0 and 50 degrees C, respectively. EG was stable over the pH range from 3.5 to 7.5 and at temperatures below 55 degrees C. Kinetic behavior of EG in the hydrolysis of CMC-Na followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics with constant K(m) of 5.0 mg/mL at pH 4.0 and 50 degrees C. The enzyme activity was stimulated by Fe(2+) and Mn(2+) but inhibited by Cd(2+), Pb(2+), and Cu(2+). The EDC chemical modification suggested that at least one carboxyl group probably acted as a proton donor in the enzyme active site.

Enhanced H2 gas production from bagasse using adhE inactivated Klebsiella oxytoca HP1 by sequential dark-photo fermentations.

Sequential dark-photo fermentations (SDPF) was used for hydrogen production from bagasse, an acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (adhE) gene inactivated Klebsiella oxytoca HP1 (DeltaadhE HP1) mutant was used to reduce the alcohol content in dark fermentation (DF) broths and to further enhance the hydrogen yield during the photo fermentation (PF) stage. Compared with that of the wild strain, the ethanol concentration in DF broths of DeltaadhE HP1 decreased 69.4%, which resulted in a hydrogen yield in the PF stage and the total hydrogen yield over the two steps increased by 54.7% and 23.5%, respectively. The culture conditions for hydrogen production from acid pretreated bagasse by SDPF were optimized as culture temperature 37.5 degrees C, initial pH 7.0, and cellulase loading 20 FPA/g in the DF stage, with initial pH 6.5, temperature 30 degrees C and photo intensity 5,000 lux in the PF stage. Under optimum conditions, by using DeltaadhE HP1 and wild type strain, the H(2) yields were 107.8+/-5.3 mL H(2)/g-bagasse, 96.2+/-4.4 mL H(2)/g-bagasse in DF and 54.3+/-2.2 mL H(2)/g-bagasse, 35.1+/-2.0 mL H(2)/g-bagasse in PF, respectively. The special hydrogen production rate (SHPR) were 5.51+/-0.34 mL H(2)/g-bagasseh, 4.95+/-0.22 mL H(2)/g-bagasseh in DF and 0.93+/-0.12 mL H(2)/g-bagasseh, 0.59+/-0.07 mL H(2)/g-bagasseh in PF, respectively. The total hydrogen yield from bagasse over two steps was 162.1+/-7.5 mL H(2)/g-bagasse by using DeltaadhE HP1, which was 50.4% higher than that from dark fermentation only. These results indicate that reducing ethanol content during dark fermentation by using an adhE inactivated strain can significantly enhance hydrogen production from bagasse in the SDPF system. This work also proved that SDPF was an effective way to improve hydrogen production from bagasse.

Rapid analysis of mono-saccharides and oligo-saccharides in hydrolysates of lignocellulosic biomass by HPLC

HPLC using pre-column derivatization with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP) was used to analyse mono-saccharides and oligo-saccharides in hydrolysates of lignocellulosic biomass. PMP derivatives, including those of mannose, rhamnose, cellobiose, glucose, xylose and arabinose, were separated within 14xa0min with detection at 254xa0nm. The method was also suitable for xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS): PMP derivatives of xylohexaose, xylopentaose, xylotetraose, xylotriose and xylobiose were well separated under the same conditions. The method was used to determine the mono-saccharide composition of Miscanthus and evaluate the production of XOS from enzymatic hydrolysis of crude xylan.

Optimization of extraction of phenolics from leaves of Ficus virens

In this research, the conditions for extraction of phenolics from leaves of Ficus virens were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The extraction abilities of phenolics (EAP) and flavonoids (EAF), the 2,2-diphenyl-1-pierylhydrazyl (DPPH) free-radical scavenging potential, and the ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) were used as quality indicators. The results of single-factor experiments showed that temperature, ethanol concentration, extraction time, and the number of extraction cycles were the main influencing variables, and these provided key information for the central composite design. The results of RSM fitted well to a second degree polynomial model and more than 98% of the variability was explained. The ideal extraction conditions for EAP, EAF, DPPH free-radical scavenging potential, and FRAP were obtained. Considering the four quality indicators overall, the ideal extraction conditions were 58% ethanol at 57 °C for 37 min with three extraction cycles. At the ideal extraction conditions, the values of EAP, EAF, DPPH free-radical scavenging potential, and FRAP were 5.72%, 3.09%, 58.88 mg ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/g dry weight (DW), and 15.86 mg AAE/g DW, respectively. In addition, linear correlations were observed between EAP, EAF, and antioxidant potential.

Characterization and cloning of oxygen-tolerant hydrogenase from Klebsiella oxytoca HP1

Hydrogenase from a hot spring bacterium Klebsiella oxytoca HP1 was purified and found to have a specific activity of 199.8xa0U/mg of protein and a yield of 7.3%. The purified enzyme was determined to consist of six subunits (65, 33, 28, 23, 21 and 18xa0kDa), similar to hydrogenase-3 from Escherichia coli, and therefore it was named Hyd3. The enzyme displayed remarkable oxygen tolerance. For the purified enzyme, 50% maximal activity was maintained following incubation for 24xa0h in air at room temperature. The hydrogenase gene cluster (hyc) was cloned and found to consist of hycD, hycE, hycF, hycdG, hycH and hycI genes. hycE and hycG genes encode for the large and small subunit of the hydrogenase, respectively. A hycE gene deletion mutant, ΔhycE, was constructed for elucidating the function of the hyc-operon in hydrogen metabolism. Compared with the wild type strain HP1, the mutant strain showed a dramatic decrease in hydrogen production in the presence of formate, sodium pyruvate and glucose under O(2)-stressed conditions, while substantial activity was detected under anaerobic conditions. This strongly suggests that K. oxytoca HP1 carries a number of hydrogenases or hydrogen metabolic pathways independently of Hyd3. However, Hyd3 is the main factor responsible for hydrogen production under O(2) stress conditions.

Cellulase Hydrolysis of Rice Straw and Inactivation of Endoglucanase in Urea Solution

In order to optimize the cellulase (from Aspergillus glaucus) hydrolysis of pretreated rice straw, the effects of varying enzyme concentration, temperature, and pH were studied. The best experimental conditions found to degrade the pretreated rice straws were 24 h of incubation at 55 °C and pH 5.0, with an enzyme concentration of 48 mg/L. Urea is one of the important nitrogen sources used in fungi culture, but it is also a denaturant. The model of denaturation of endoglucanase (EG) in urea solutions was established. The denaturation was a slow, reversible reaction. Determination of microscopic rate constants showed k(+0) > k(+0), indicating that EG was protected by the substrate to a certain extent during denaturation. Comparison with the results from fluorescence emission spectroscopy revealed that the inactivation of EG occurred before the marked conformational changes could be detected.

Increased biological hydrogen production by deletion of hydrogen-uptake system in photosynthetic bacteria.

Hydrogenases are the key enzymes for the biological hydrogen production, which can be classified as H(2)-uptake hydrogenase and H(2)-production hydrogenase. The genes encoding a membrane-bound [NiFe]-hydrogenase (MBH), which is mainly responsible for hydrogen uptake, from the photosynthetic bacterium Allochromatium vinosum was cloned and sequenced. It consist of two structural genes (hydS, hydL) and two intergenic genes (isp1, isp2), which are therefore organized as hydS-isp1-isp2-hydL. This is different from the arrangement of other typical hydrogenase gene clusters. A deletion mutant-strain PhihydSL, lacking isp1, isp2, partial hydS and hydL genes, was constructed by marker-exchange mutagenesis. Under dark fermentative conditions, the hydrogen production yield by this mutant increased by 62%. The result suggests that the disruption of MBH could greatly improve the hydrogen production in the cells by decreasing the hydrogen uptake.

Enzymatic saccharification of cassava residues and glucose inhibitory kinetics on β-glucosidase from Hypocrea orientalis

Cassava residues are byproducts of the starch industry containing abundant cellulose for bioproduction of green fuel. To obtain maximum sugar yields from cassava residues, the optimal conditions for hydrolyzing the residues were determined using cellulase prepared from a novel Hypocrea orientalis strain. The optimal pH value and optimal temperature for the cellulase hydrolysis were 5.0 and 50 °C, respectively. The concentration of NaOH was determined to be 1% for pretreatment of cassava residues to gain enough soluble sugars suitably. The yield of released sugars was 10 mg/mL in the optimal conditions after 24 h of reaction, which was similar to that of bagasse and wheat grass. Inhibition kinetics of H. orientalis β-glucosidase (BG) by glucose was first studied using the progress-of-substrate-reaction method as described by Tsou (Tsou, C. L. Adv. Enzymol. Related Areas Mol. Biol. 1988, 61, 381-436), and the microscopic inhibition rate constants of glucose were determined. The results showed that glucose could inhibit BG reversibly and competitively. The rate constants of forward (k(+0)) and reverse (k(-0)) reaction were measured to be 4.88 × 10(-4) (mM·s)(-1) and 2.7 × 10(-4) s(-1), respectively. Meanwhile, the inhibition was more significant than that of L-glucose, D-mannose, D-galactose, D-aminoglucose, acetyl-D-glucose, and D-fructose. This work reveals how to increase sugar yields and reduce product inhibition during enzymatic saccharification of cellulose.

Enhanced photo-fermentative hydrogen production from different organic substrate using hupL inactivated Rhodopseudomonas palustris.

National Nature Science Foundation of China [30870051, 31170760]; Key Project of International Collaboration of Science and Technology [2009DFA60930]; Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China [2011J01219]; Inventions and Innovation of Fujian, China [(2009)111]

Thermophilic hydrogen-producing bacteria inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal environments represented by Caloranaerobacter.

Hydrogen is an important energy source for deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems. However, little is known about microbes and their role in hydrogen turnover in the environment. In this study, the diversity and physiological characteristics of fermentative hydrogen-producing microbes from deep-sea hydrothermal vent fields were described for the first time. Seven enrichments were obtained from hydrothermal vent sulfides collected from the Southwest Indian Ocean, East Pacific and South Atlantic. 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that members of the Caloranaerobacter genus were the dominant component in these enrichments. Subsequently, three thermophilic hydrogen producers, strains H363, H53214 and DY22619, were isolated. They were phylogenetically related to species of the genus Caloranaerobacter. The H2 yields of strains H363, H53214, DY22619 and MV107, which was the type species of genus Caloranaerobacter, were 0.11, 1.21, 3.13 and 2.85 mol H2/mol glucose, respectively. Determination of the main soluble metabolites revealed that strains H363, H53214 and MV107 performed heterolactic fermentations, while strain DY22619 performed butyric acid fermentation, indicating distinct fermentation patterns among members of the genus. Finally, a diversity of forms of [FeFe]-hydrogenase with different modular structures was revealed based on draft genomic data of Caloranaerobacter strains. This highlights the complexity of hydrogen metabolism in Caloranaerobacter, reflecting adaptations to environmental conditions in hydrothermal vent systems. Collectively, results suggested that Caloranaerobacter species might be ubiquitous and play a role in biological hydrogen generation in deep-sea hydrothermal vent fields.