Xiaowei Peng

Impact of bioaugmentation on biochemical methane potential for wheat straw with addition of Clostridium cellulolyticum

Hydrolysis is usually the rate-limited step for methane production from lignocellulosic substrate. Two bioaugmentation strategies, using the cellulolytic anaerobic bacteria Clostridium cellulolyticum, were adopted to enhance the hydrolysis of wheat straw with the purpose of improving the biochemical methane potential (BMP). Namely, the 24-h-incubated seed (C24S) with cellobiose as carbon source and the 60-h-incubated seed (WS60S) with wheat straw as carbon source were respectively used as the bioaugmentation agents. As a result, the BMPs were respectively 342.5 and 326.3 ml g(-1) VS of wheat straw, with an increase of 13.0% and 7.6% comparing to the no-bioaugmentation BMP of 303.3 ml g(-1) VS. The result indicates that the anaerobic digestion efficiency can be improved by bioaugmentation, which therefore may be a promising method for improving methane production from lignocellulosic substrate.

Rapid estimation of single cell oil content of solid-state fermented mass using near-infrared spectroscopy

Calibration model using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) for estimation of SCO content in solid-state fermented mass was established. The NIRS calibration model was derived by partial least-squares (PLS) regression and prediction of SCO contents of independent solid-state fermented mass samples fermented by different oleaginous fungi showed the model to be rapid and accurate, giving R(2)-value higher than 0.9552 and root mean standard error of prediction (RMSEP) value lower than 0.5772%. The established NIRS calibration model could be used to estimate the SCO contents of the solid-state fermented masses and will provide much convenience to the research of SCO production in solid-state fermentation.

Biochemical characterization of extra- and intracellular endoxylanse from thermophilic bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor kronotskyensis.

Caldicellulosiruptor kronotskyensis grows on lignocellulosic biomass by the catalysis of intrinsic glycoside hydrolase, and has potential application for consolidated bioprocessing. In current study, two predicted extra- (Xyn10A) and intracellular (Xyn10B) xylanase from C. kronotskyensis were comparatively characterized. Xyn10A and Xyn10B share GH10 catalytic domain with similarity of 41%, while the former contains two tandem N-terminus CBM22s. Xyn10A showed higher hydrolytic capability than Xyn10B on both beechwood xylan (BWX) and oat spelt xylan (OSX). Truncation mutation experiments revealed the importance of CBMs for hydrolytic activity, substrate binding and thermostability of Xyn10A.While the quantity of CBM was not directly related to bind and thermostability. Although CBM was considered to be crucial for substrate binding, Xyn10B and Xyn10A as well as truncations performed similar binding affinity to insoluble substrate OSX. Analysis of point mutation revealed similar key residues, Glu493, Glu601 and Trp658 for Xyn10A and Glu139, Glu247 and Trp305 for Xyn10B. Both Xyn10A and Xyn10B exhibited hydrolytic activity on the mechanical pretreated corncob. After pre-digested by Xyn10A or Xyn10B, the micropores inthe the mechanical pretreated corncob were observed, which enhanced the accessibility for cellulase. Compared with corncob hydrolyzed with cellulase alone, enhanced hydrolytic performance of was observed after pre-digestion by Xyn10A or Xyn10B.

Biochemical characterization of two thermostable xylanolytic enzymes encoded by a gene cluster of Caldicellulosiruptor owensensis.

The xylanolytic extremely thermophilic bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor owensensis provides a promising platform for xylan utilization. In the present study, two novel xylanolytic enzymes, GH10 endo-β-1,4-xylanase (Coxyn A) and GH39 β-1,4-xylosidase (Coxyl A) encoded in one gene cluster of C.owensensis were heterogeneously expressed and biochemically characterized. The optimum temperature of the two xylanlytic enzymes was 75°C, and the respective optimum pH for Coxyn A and Coxyl A was 7.0 and 5.0. The difference of Coxyn A and Coxyl A in solution was existing as monomer and homodimer respectively, it was also observed in predicted secondary structure. Under optimum condition, the catalytic efficiency (k cat/K m) of Coxyn A was 366 mg ml−1 s−1 on beechwood xylan, and the catalytic efficiency (k cat/K m) of Coxyl A was 2253 mM−1 s−1 on pNP-β-D-xylopyranoside. Coxyn A degraded xylan to oligosaccharides, which were converted to monomer by Coxyl A. The two intracellular enzymes might be responsible for xylooligosaccharides utilization in C.owensensis, also provide a potential way for xylan degradation in vitro.

Insight into Glycoside Hydrolases for Debranched Xylan Degradation from Extremely Thermophilic Bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor lactoaceticus

Caldicellulosiruptor lactoaceticus 6A, an anaerobic and extremely thermophilic bacterium, uses natural xylan as carbon source. The encoded genes of C. lactoaceticus 6A for glycoside hydrolase (GH) provide a platform for xylan degradation. The GH family 10 xylanase (Xyn10A) and GH67 α-glucuronidase (Agu67A) from C. lactoaceticus 6A were heterologously expressed, purified and characterized. Both Xyn10A and Agu67A are predicted as intracellular enzymes as no signal peptides identified. Xyn10A and Agu67A had molecular weight of 47.0 kDa and 80.0 kDa respectively as determined by SDS-PAGE, while both appeared as homodimer when analyzed by gel filtration. Xyn10A displayed the highest activity at 80°C and pH 6.5, as 75°C and pH 6.5 for Agu67A. Xyn10A had good stability at 75°C, 80°C, and pH 4.5–8.5, respectively, and was sensitive to various metal ions and reagents. Xyn10A possessed hydrolytic activity towards xylo-oligosaccharides (XOs) and beechwood xylan. At optimum conditions, the specific activity of Xyn10A was 44.6 IU/mg with beechwood xylan as substrate, and liberated branched XOs, xylobiose, and xylose. Agu67A was active on branched XOs with methyl-glucuronic acids (MeGlcA) sub-chains, and primarily generated XOs equivalents and MeGlcA. The specific activity of Agu67A was 1.3 IU/mg with aldobiouronic acid as substrate. The synergistic action of Xyn10A and Agu67A was observed with MeGlcA branched XOs and xylan as substrates, both backbone and branched chain of substrates were degraded, and liberated xylose, xylobiose, and MeGlcA. The synergism of Xyn10A and Agu67A provided not only a thermophilic method for natural xylan degradation, but also insight into the mechanisms for xylan utilization of C. lactoaceticus.

Changes in composition, cellulose degradability and biochemical methane potential of Miscanthus species during the growing season

The composition, cellulose degradability and biochemical methane potential (BMP) of M. sinensis, M. floridulus, Miscanthus×giganteus and M. lutarioriparius were investigated concomitantly at different growth/harvest times during their growing season. For all the four species, there was only a slight change in the compositional content. Meanwhile there was a huge change in the BMP values. At the growth time of 60days the BMPs ranged from 247.1 to 266.5mlg-1VS. As growth time was prolonged, the BMPs decreased by 11-35%. For each species, the BMP was positively correlated to the cellulose degradability with the correlation coefficients (R2) ranging from 0.8055 to 0.9925. This suggests that besides the biomass yield, it is justifiable to consider cellulose degradability when selecting the suitable harvest time for biofuels production from Miscanthus, especially in tropical and subtropical regions where Miscanthus can be harvested twice or more within a year.