Enhanced Saccharification of Purple Alfalfa via Sequential Pretreatment with Acidified Ethylene Glycol and Urea/NaOH

Purple Alfalfa is an inexpensive, abundant, readily available lignocellulosic material. This work was attempted to develop an efficient combination pretreatment by sequential HClO4–ethyl glycol–H2O (1.2:88.8:10, w/w/w) extraction at 130 °C in 0.5 h and urea/NaOH (urea 12 wt%, NaOH 7 wt%) soaking at −20 °C for 0.5 h for the pretreatment of purple alfalfa. The porosity, morphology, and crystallinity of pretreated purple alfalfa were characterized with SEM, FM, XRD, and FTIR. This combination pretreatment had a significant influence on hemicellulose removal and delignification. The above changes could enhance cellulose accessibility to enzymes and improve the enzymatic digestibility of cellulose. High yields of reducing sugars from pretreated purple alfalfa were obtained at 93.4%. In summary, this combination pretreatment has high potential application in the future.

Pretreated Sugarcane Bagasse Result in More Efficient Degradation by Streptomyces sp S2

Streptomyces genera plays important role in lignocellulose degradation. Many research founds Streptomyces has cellulolytic and ligninolytic enzymes that sufficient to degrade lignocellulosic materials. However, minimum lignocellulosic material condition that can efficiently degraded by Streptomyces sp. has not been fully understood. In this research, three pretreament conditions (physical, alkaline-hydrotermal, and hydrogen-peroxide chemical treatments) of sugarcane bagasse used as lignocellulosic material, to further degraded by Streptomyces sp. S2. Lignocellulose component measurement conclude that raw (physical treated only) bagasse wasn’t efficiently degraded by Streptomyces sp S2. Hydrogen-peroxide was effective on reducing both syringil and guaiacyl lignin, meanwhile alkaline-hydrotermal pretreatment was very effective on reducing syringil lignin. This study suggest that hydrogen-peroxide pretreatment can be used in many type of lignocellulosic material, which can be further degraded by Streptomyces sp. S2. Alkaline-hydrotermal preteatment on the other hand is best suited to degrade lignocellulosic material that have high percentage of syringil lignin.

Lignocellulosic of Oil Palm Biomass to Chemical Product via Fermentation

The world’s largest contribution to biomass comes from lignocellulosic material. Oil palm biomass is one of the most important sources of lignocellulosic material in Asia, with biomass produced four times that of palm oil. Oil palm trunk (OPT), oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB), oil palm frond (OPF), and palm oil mill effluent (POME) are examples of biomass lignocellulosic materials produced. Unfortunately, the majority of waste is disposed of in landfills, causing serious environmental issues such as global warming and the greenhouse effect. These wastes are known to contain a high concentration of cellulose and hemicellulose. Because of its high carbohydrate content, it has a promising future as a feedstock for the fermentation process, which can produce a variety of chemical products at a low cost. This chapter will describe the biochemical products produced from various oil palm biomass via various fermentation processes involving various microorganism strains.

Lignocellulolytic Enzyme Production from Wood Rot Fungi Collected in Chiapas, Mexico, and Their Growth on Lignocellulosic Material

Wood-decay fungi are characterized by ligninolytic and hydrolytic enzymes that act through non-specific oxidation and hydrolytic reactions. The objective of this work was to evaluate the production of lignocellulolytic enzymes from collected fungi and to analyze their growth on lignocellulosic material. The study considered 18 species isolated from collections made in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, identified by taxonomic and molecular techniques, finding 11 different families. The growth rates of each isolate were obtained in culture media with African palm husk (PH), coffee husk (CH), pine sawdust (PS), and glucose as control, measuring daily growth with images analyzed in ImageJ software, finding the highest growth rate in the CH medium. The potency index (PI) of cellulase, xylanase, and manganese peroxidase (MnP) activities was determined, as well as the quantification of lignin peroxidase (LiP), with the strains Phlebiopsis flavidoalba TecNM-ITTG L20-19 and Phanerochaete sordida TecNM-ITTG L32-1-19 being the ones with the highest PI of hydrolase activities with 2.01 and 1.83 cellulase PI and 1.95 and 2.24 xylanase PI, respectively, while Phlebiopsis flavidoalba TecNM-ITTG L20-19 and Trametes sanguinea TecNM-ITTG L14-19 with 7115 U/L LiP activity had the highest oxidase activities, indicating their ability to oxidize complex molecules such as lignin.

A Multiomic Approach to Understand How Pleurotus eryngii Transforms Non-Woody Lignocellulosic Material

Pleurotus eryngii is a grassland-inhabiting fungus of biotechnological interest due to its ability to colonize non-woody lignocellulosic material. Genomic, transcriptomic, exoproteomic, and metabolomic analyses were combined to explain the enzymatic aspects underlaying wheat–straw transformation. Up-regulated and constitutive glycoside–hydrolases, polysaccharide–lyases, and carbohydrate–esterases active on polysaccharides, laccases active on lignin, and a surprisingly high amount of constitutive/inducible aryl–alcohol oxidases (AAOs) constituted the suite of extracellular enzymes at early fungal growth. Higher enzyme diversity and abundance characterized the longer-term growth, with an array of oxidoreductases involved in depolymerization of both cellulose and lignin, which were often up-regulated since initial growth. These oxidative enzymes included lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) acting on crystalline polysaccharides, cellobiose dehydrogenase involved in LPMO activation, and ligninolytic peroxidases (mainly manganese-oxidizing peroxidases), together with highly abundant H2O2-producing AAOs. Interestingly, some of the most relevant enzymes acting on polysaccharides were appended to a cellulose-binding module. This is potentially related to the non-woody habitat of P. eryngii (in contrast to the wood habitat of many basidiomycetes). Additionally, insights into the intracellular catabolism of aromatic compounds, which is a neglected area of study in lignin degradation by basidiomycetes, were also provided. The multiomic approach reveals that although non-woody decay does not result in dramatic modifications, as revealed by detailed 2D-NMR and other analyses, it implies activation of the complete set of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes characterizing lignocellulose-decaying basidiomycetes.

Molecular identification of coprophilous microfungi from Banyumas District, Central Java, Indonesia

Mumpuni A, Amurwanto A, Wahyono DJ. 2021. Molecular identification of coprophilous microfungi from Banyumas District, Central Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 1550-1557. Coprophilous microfungi are a group of fungi that are ecologically interesting in relation to herbivores. These fungi play a predominant role in the decomposition of organic matter, in which the organic matter passes through a series of events involving mechanical degradation, as well as physical and biological processes. The role of coprophilous fungi as the main decomposers of the lignocellulosic material of herbivorous animal waste, which is widespread in nature, is very important. Previous research on the inventory and identification of coprophilous fungi in the Banyumas district has been limited to macroscopic genera, so the results have not been able to provide a comprehensive picture of the presence of coprophilous fungi in the region. Identification of the types of microscopic coprophilous fungi that live in herbivorous animal waste, such as lignocellulosic material, is necessary to understand the taxonomy of these fungi. This study aimed to investigate and identify microscopic coprophilous fungi obtained in the Banyumas district of Central Java, Indonesia. Based on the purposive random sampling method, the obtained fungi were analyzed using the molecular methods of DNA isolation, gene amplification, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of fungal cultures. The following species and genera were identified: Ceriporia lacerata, Trichosporon insectorum, Lentinus squarrosulus, Fusarium sp., Aspergillus sp., and Trichosporon sp.