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(1 → 4)-β-D-Xylans are the second most abundant plant biopolymers on Earth after cellulose. Although their structures have been extensively studied, and industrial applications have been found for them and their derivatives, they are still investigated due to the diversity of their structures and uses. In this work, hemicellulose fractions obtained previously with 1 M KOH from two species of woody bamboos, Phyllostachys aurea and Guadua chacoensis, were purified, and the structures of the glucuronoarabinoxylans (GAX) were studied by chemical and spectroscopic methods. In both cases, major amounts of α-L-arabinofuranose residues were linked to C3 of the xylose units of the backbone, and also α-D-glucuronic acid residues and their 4-O-methyl-derivatives were detected in minor quantities, linked to C2 of some xylose residues. Methylation analysis of the carboxyl-reduced derivative from GAX from P. aurea indicated the presence of terminal and 5-linked arabinofuranose units. NMR spectroscopy showed the presence of disaccharidic side chains of 5-O-α-l-arabinofuranosyl-L-arabinofuranose for the GAX from P. aurea, while for those of G. chacoensis, only single side chains were found. To the best of our knowledge, this disaccharide was not found before as side chain of xylans., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Although the fruit of Ficus tikoua Bur. has been consumed by montanic people in China for centuries, its chemical and biological composition was still unclear. A series of comprehensive investigations on its chemical constituents and bioactivities were carried out for the first time. As a result, six compounds were isolated and identified as the main components in this fruit. GC-MS analysis of the lipid components demonstrated that Ficus tikoua Bur. fruit contains some wholesome constituents such as fatty acids, vitamins, triterpenoids, and phytosterols. The fatty acids are mainly composed of linolenic acid (61.27%) and linoleic acid (22.79%). Furthermore, this fruit contains a relative high content of crude protein (9.41 ± 0.03%), total amino acids (9.28%), and total polyphenols (0.86 ± 0.01 g/100 g). The analysis of monosaccharide composition showed that the total polysaccharide mainly consists of glucose, glucuronic acid, xylose, arabinose, mannose, galactose, galacturonic acid, and rhamnose. The polysaccharide, polyphenol, water, ethanol, and flavonoid extracts exhibited prominent antioxidant activity determined by ABTS, DPPH, and FRAPS methods. Meanwhile, the total polysaccharide exhibited significant immunomodulatory effect by enhancing the release of cytokines and expression of iNOS and COX-2 in RAW264.7 cells, significantly decreasing the expression of c-Jun and p65 proteins in the cytoplasm; increasing the translocation of c-Jun and p65 to the nucleus; and regulating the phosphorylation level of Akt, PI3K, and PDK1 in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. This study proved that the fruit of F. tikoua is a reliable source of functional food.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of oximation reagents in simultaneous analysis of mono and di-saccharides using gas chromatography. Sugar oximation with O-ethylhydroxylamine separated all the mono- and di-saccharides while hydroxylamine and O-benzylhydroxylamine could make most of the saccharides separable except for xylose and arabinose. Resolution of xylose: arabinose, galactose: glucose, and fructose: galactose oximated by O-ethylhydroxylamine in DB-1ms column were 1.66, 2.15, and 6.19, respectively, which were above 1.5 and were officially acceptable for quantitative analysis according to the AOAC guideline. The applied method was then verified by the method validation parameters; LOD (0.011-0.02 mg/100 g), LOQ (0.032-0.061 mg/100 g), linearity (R 2  = 0.9991-1.0000) and precision (repeatability RSD: 1.4-3.3%, reproducibility RSD: 1.7-7.6%). The greatest amounts of xylose (19.03 ± 0.38 mg/100 g), maltose (6,274.48 ± 173.59 mg/100 g) were found in the oyster sauce, and the contents of glucose (10,565.00 ± 125.31 mg/100 g), galactose (170.40 ± 4.62 mg/100 g) were greatest in soybean paste., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

During processing of plant-based foods, cell wall polysaccharides and polyphenols, such as procyanidins, interact extensively, thereby affecting their physicochemical properties along with their potential health effects. Although hemicelluloses are second only to pectins in affinity for procyanidins in cell walls, a detailed study of their interactions lacks. We investigated the interactions between representative xylose-containing water-soluble hemicelluloses and procyanidins. Turbidity, ITC and DLS were used to determine the relative affinities, and theoretical calculations further ascertained the interactions mechanisms. Xyloglucan and xylan exhibited respectively the strongest and weakest interactions with procyanidins. The different arabinoxylans interacted with procyanidins in a similar strength, intermediate between xyloglucans and xylans. Therefore, the strength of the interaction depended on the structure itself rather than on some incidental properties, e.g., viscosity and molar mass. The arabinose side-chain of arabinoxylan did not inhibit interactions. The computational investigation corroborated the experimental results in that the region of interaction between xyloglucan and procyanidins was significantly wider than that of other hemicelluloses., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Xylose is the raw material for the synthesis of many important platform compounds. At present, xylose is commercially produced by chemical extraction. However, there are still some bottlenecks in the extraction of xylose, including complicated operation processes and the chemical substances introduced, leading to the high cost of xylose and of synthesizing the downstream compounds of xylose. The current market price of xylose is 8× that of glucose, so using low-cost glucose as the substrate to produce the downstream compounds of xylose can theoretically reduce the cost by 70%. Here, we designed a pathway for the biosynthesis of xylose from glucose in Escherichia coli . This biosynthetic pathway was achieved by overexpressing five genes, namely, zwf , pgl , gnd , rpe , and xylA , while replacing the native xylulose kinase gene xylB with araL from B. subtilis , which displays phosphatase activity toward d-xylulose 5-phosphate. The yield of xylose was increased to 3.3 g/L by optimizing the metabolic pathway. Furthermore, xylitol was successfully synthesized by introducing the xyl1 gene, which suggested that the biosynthetic pathway of xylose from glucose is universally applicable for the synthesis of xylose downstream compounds. This is the first study to synthesize xylose and its downstream compounds by using glucose as a substrate, which not only reduces the cost of raw materials, but also alleviates carbon catabolite repression (CCR), providing a new idea for the synthesis of downstream compounds of xylose.

According to the high interest in agro-industrial waste reutilisation, underutilised lignocellulosic materials, such as walnut shell (WS) and pea pod (PP), come in focus. The aim of this paper was to evaluate WS and PP as sources for the production of xylooligosaccharides (XOS). Hemicelluloses from WS and PP were recovered by combining varying parameters of delignification and alkaline extraction. At optimal recovery conditions, the fractions were further hydrolysed to XOS using GH11 endo-xylanase, by varying time and enzyme concentration. Xylose was predominant in the monomeric composition of the obtained hemicelluloses, building low-branched (arabino)glucuronoxylan, in WS exclusively, while in PP some xyloglucan as well. Delignification was essential for high recovery of total xylose from the materials, up to at least 70 %. High xylan conversions were obtained for 24 h hydrolysis, resulting in xylobiose and xylotriose when using low enzyme concentration, while in xylose and xylobiose with high enzyme concentration., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Simple, rapid, and accurate detection methods for saccharides are potentially applicable to various fields such as clinical and food chemistry. However, the practical applications of on-site analytical methods are still limited. To this end, herein, we propose a 96-well microtiter plate made of paper as a paper-based chemosensor array device (PCSAD) for the simultaneous classification of 12 saccharides and the quantification of fructose and glucose among 12 saccharides. The mechanism of the saccharide detection relied on an indicator displacement assay (IDA) on the PCSAD using four types of catechol dyes, 3-nitrophenylboronic acid, and the saccharides. The design of the PCSAD and the experimental conditions for the IDA were optimized using a central composite design. The chemosensors exhibited clear color changes upon the addition of saccharides on the paper because of the competitive boronate esterification. The color changes were employed for the subsequent qualitative, semiquantitative, and quantitative analyses using an automated algorithm combined with pattern recognition for digital images. A qualitative linear discrimination analysis offered discrimination of 12 saccharides with a 100% classification rate. The semiquantitative analysis of fructose in the presence of glucose was carried out from the viewpoint of food analysis utilizing a support vector machine, resulting in clear discrimination of the various concentrations of fructose. Most importantly, the quantitative detection of fructose in two types of commercial soft drinks was also successfully carried out without sample pretreatments. Thus, the proposed PCSAD can be a powerful method for on-site food analyses that can meet the increasing demand from consumers for sensors of saccharides.

A polysaccharide (ESPS) purified from Eupolyphaga sinensis Walker by ion exchange chromatography and gel chromatography was investigated, including its structure characterization and antitumor activity. The results showed that ESPS was composed of rhamnose, fucose, arabinose, xylose, glucose, and galactose in a molar ratio of 7.4: 3.1: 13.9: 9.3: 39.7: 26.5, with the mean weight (Mw) of 2.14 × 10 4 Da; the main chain of ESPS was mainly composed of → 4) - α - D - Glcp - (1 → and → 3) - β - D - Galp - (1 →, and the side chains were connected to the main chain through the O-6 atom of glucose and O-4 and O-6 atom of galactose. In addition, ESPS promoted the lymphocyte proliferation and inhibited liver cancer cells growth through enhancing lymphocyte activity in vitro, mainly NK cells. Moreover, ESPS markedly stimulated immunity in H22-bearing mice by increasing the spleen and thymus indices and effectively inhibited H22 cell growth in vivo. These data indicated that ESPS was a polysaccharide component possessing high anti-hepatocellular carcinoma activity, representing a potential immunotherapy candidate for the treatment of liver cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that no conflict of interest exists in the present study., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In this study, a novel water-soluble polysaccharide (PVLP-1) was extracted and purified from Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) seeds and the structure, antioxidant and immunomodulatory activity of PVLP-1 were investigated. PVLP-1 (144 kDa) consisted of glucose (69.76%), mannose (14.86%), arabinose (10.53%), galactose (2.42%), ribose (1.23%), rhamnose (0.27%) and xylose (0.93%). PVLP-1 displayed characteristic polysaccharide bands in Fourier transform NMR spectra and infrared. The primary structure of PVLP-1 was a heteropolysaccharide with a backbone of (1 → 6)-linked glucose, sidechains of (1 → 4)-linked mannose, (1 → 4)-linked glucose and (1 → 3, 6)-linked mannose and a residue unit of →1)-linked arabinose as revealed the methylation analysis. PVLP-1 possessed good water-holding capacity (WHC), oil-holding capacity (OHC) and antioxidant capacities. Besides, PVLP-1 induced the proliferation of RAW264.7 cell and enhanced the expression of inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-alpha(TNF-α) and IL-1 beta (IL-1β). The present study indicated that PVLP-1 possessed immune-enhancing bioactivities and could be functional food or adjuvant drug to improve biological immunity of immunodeficiency diseases and hypoimmunity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An efficient enzymatic hydrolysis method was developed and optimized for the degradation of auricularia auricula polysaccharide (AAP) and the degradation product of AAP was characterized. Cellulase was used for the degradation of AAP. The yield of reducing sugar and the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging rate were used as indices to optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis of AAP, based on response surface methodology (RSM). The resulting optimal enzymolysis conditions were as follows: enzyme dosage, 13,500 U/g; enzymolysis temperature, 50 °C; and pH, 4.2. Under these conditions, the actual yield of reducing sugar was 16.50 mg/mL and the DPPH radical scavenging rate was 87.97%. The degradation product of AAP (C-EAAP) was homogeneous and contained alpha and beta glycoside bonds, but did not contain protein or nucleic acid. The molecular weight of the degradation product was 5.94 × 10 5  Da. Monosaccharide composition analysis revealed that C-EAAP was composed of mannose (57.1%), glucuronic acid (10.0%), rhamnose (0.4%), glucose (22.5%), galactose (2.9%), xylose (6.0%), and fucose (1.1%). The antioxidant activity of the polysaccharide indicated that C-EAAP had better antioxidant activity than AAP. The scavenging rates of C-EAAP for hydroxyl radicals (·OH) and superoxide anion radicals (O 2 - ·) were 1.65 and 1.90 times those of AAP., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Genetically encoded biosensors are extensively utilized in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. However, reported xylose biosensors are far too sensitive with a limited operating range to be useful for most sensing applications. In this study, we describe directed evolution of Escherichia coli XylR, and construction of biosensors based on XylR and the corresponding operator xylO . The operating range of biosensors containing the mutant XylR was increased by nearly 10-fold comparing with the control. Two individual amino acid mutations (either L73P or N220T) in XylR were sufficient to extend the linear response range to upward of 10 g/L xylose. The evolved biosensors described here are well suited for developing whole-cell biosensors for detecting varying xylose concentrations across an expanded range. As an alternative use of this system, we also demonstrate the utility of XylR and xylO as a xylose inducible system to enable graded gene expression through testing with β-galactosidase gene and the lycopene synthetic pathway. This evolution strategy identified a less-sensitive biosensor for real applications, thus providing new insights into strategies for expanding operating ranges of other biosensors for synthetic biology applications.

This research determined the concentration of trehalose, xylose and l-citrulline in fresh and fermented cucumbers and their utilization by Lactobacillus pentosus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus buchneri. Targeted compounds were measured by HPLC and the ability of the lactobacilli to utilize them was scrutinized in fermented cucumber juice. Fresh cucumber juice was supplemented with trehalose, xylose and l-citrulline to observed mixed culture fermentations. Changes in the biochemistry, pH and colony counts during fermentations were monitored. Trehalose, xylose and l-citrulline were detected in fermentations to15.51 ± 1.68 mM, a fresh cucumber sample at 36.05 mM and in fresh and fermented cucumber samples at 1.05 ± 0.63 mM, respectively. Most of the LAB tested utilized trehalose and xylose in FCJM at pH 4.7. l-citrulline was utilized by L. buchneri and produced by other LAB. l-citrulline (12.43 ± 2.3 mM) was converted to ammonia (14.54 ± 3.60 mM) and the biogenic amine ornithine (14.19 ± 1.07 mM) by L. buchneri at pH 4.7 in the presence of 0.5 ± 0.2 mM glucose enhancing growth by 0.5 log CFU/mL. The use of a mixed starter culture containing L. buchneri aided in the removal of l-citrulline and enhanced the fermentation stability. The utilization of l-citrulline by L. buchneri may be a cause of concern for the stability of cucumber fermentations at pH 3.7 or above. This study identifies the use of a tripartite starter culture as an enhancer of microbial stability for fermented cucumbers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest are declared., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This work investigated the integration of a two-stage hydrothermal treatment for production of xylooligosaccharides (XOS), a high-value product, into the isolation process of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) from sugarcane bagasse. Under optimized conditions, the first stage yielded a XOS-rich, high purity hydrolysate and in the second stage only a xylose-rich hydrolysate could be obtained at high purity. The resulting solid cellulosic fraction was delignified and bleached to obtain a cellulose-rich pulp, which was mechanically defibrillated by disc ultra-refining to CNF. Except for the viscosity, the sugarcane CNF showed properties (i.e., thermal stability, crystallinity and diameter size) comparable or superior to the CNF prepared from commercial bleached eucalyptus Kraft pulp. In conclusion, the integration of the two-stage hydrothermal treatment is an efficient and promising strategy to obtain hemicellulose-derived high-value co-products in the process of isolating CNF. In addition, lignin was also recovered as a co-product with yield comparable to other biomass fractionation approaches., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Xylo- and arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides (XOS and AXOS) are of interest for their prebiotic activity. The production of these oligomers might be accompanied with monosaccharides. The measurement of both oligosaccharides and monosaccharides usually requires two methods. The current work presents an HPAEC-PAD method based on gradient elution of aqueous solvents sodium hydroxide and sodium acetate, in contrast to conventional isocratic elution, for the simultaneous separation of 16 standards of monosaccharides, xylo-oligosaccharides, arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides and uronic acids using CarboPac PA 200 column. The presented method showed a stable baseline and high-resolution separation of the standards. The method showed acceptable accuracy and precision. Limits of Detection and Quantitation (LOD and LOQ) were estimated for all the standards. The method was applied to measure the activity of a commercial endoxylanase on wheat bran; a steady release of xylose monosaccharide was observed. Enzyme action on oligosaccharide standards showed a preference for the larger oligosaccharides., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The Opuntia ficus indica (L.) (OFI) is used as a nutritional and pharmaceutical agent in various dietary and value added products. This study underlines the possible use of native prickly pear cladode powder as a functional ingredient for health-promoting food production. To summarise, chemical characterization of polyphenols, minerals and soluble dietary fibre was performed; furthermore, the antioxidant activity and bioaccessibility of polyphenols and minerals were assessed. Eleven compounds between phenolic acids and flavonoids were identified, with piscidic acid and isorhamnetin derivatives being the most abundant. Opuntia's dietary fibre was mainly constituted of mucilage and pectin, and was composed of arabinose, galactose, glucose, mannose, rhamnose, and xylose sugars. The polyphenols' bioaccessibility was very high: piscidic acid at 200%, eucomic and ferulic acids >110% and flavonoids from 89% to 100%. The prickly pear cladode powder is also a source of minerals, as cations (calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium) and anions (sulphate and chloride), with high magnesium bioaccessibilty (93%). OFI powder showed good capacity of radical scavenging measured by DPPH and ABTS methods, with 740 and 775 μmol Trolox/100 g OFI, respectively. Finally, the presented results allow the consideration of this natural product as a source of several essential nutrients, with a possible use in the food industry as a functional ingredient.

Lignocellulosic materials are plant-derived feedstocks, such as crop residues (e.g., corn stover, rice straw, and sugar cane bagasse) and purpose-grown energy crops (e.g., miscanthus, and switchgrass) that are available in large quantities to produce biofuels, biochemicals, and animal feed. Plant polysaccharides (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin) embedded within cell walls are highly recalcitrant towards conversion into useful products. Ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) is a thermochemical pretreatment that increases accessibility of polysaccharides to enzymes for hydrolysis into fermentable sugars. These released sugars can be converted into fuels and chemicals in a biorefinery. Here, we describe a laboratory-scale batch AFEX process to produce pretreated biomass on the gram-scale without any ammonia recycling. The laboratory-scale process can be used to identify optimal pretreatment conditions (e.g., ammonia loading, water loading, biomass loading, temperature, pressure, residence time, etc.) and generates sufficient quantities of pretreated samples for detailed physicochemical characterization and enzymatic/microbial analysis. The yield of fermentable sugars from enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stover pretreated using the laboratory-scale AFEX process is comparable to pilot-scale AFEX process under similar pretreatment conditions. This paper is intended to provide a detailed standard operating procedure for the safe and consistent operation of laboratory-scale reactors for performing AFEX pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass.

Six local isolates of yeasts were screened for cell mass and lipid production in mixed glucose and xylose medium. Candida tropicalis SY005 and Trichosporon (Apiotrichum) loubieri SY006 showed significant lipid accumulation of 24.6% and 32% (dry cell weight), respectively when grown in medium containing equal mass of both the sugars. SY005 produced relatively higher cell mass of 9.66 gL -1 due to higher rate of sugar consumption, which raised the lipid productivity of the organism to 0.792 gL -1 day -1 as compared to 0.446 gL -1 day -1 in SY006. When grown with each sugar separately, the xylose consumption rate of SY005 was found to be 0.55 gL -1  h -1 after 4 days as compared to 0.52 gL -1  h -1 for SY006. Transcript expression of the high affinity xylose transporter (Cthaxt), xylose reductase (Ctxyl1), and xylitol dehydrogenase (Ctxyl2) of SY005 was monitored to unravel such high rate of sugar consumption. Expression of all the three genes was observed to vary in mixed sugars with Cthaxt exhibiting the highest expression in presence of only xylose. Expression levels of both Ctxyl1 and Ctxyl2, involved in xylose catabolism, were maximum during 24-48 h of growth, indicating that xylose utilization started in the presence of glucose, which was depleted in the medium after 96 h. Together, the present study documents that C. tropicalis SY005 consumes xylose concomitant to glucose during early period of growth, and it is a promising yeast strain for viable production of storage lipid or other high-value oleochemicals utilizing lignocellulose hydrolysate.

Water-extracted arabinoxylans (WEAXs) of different varieties and structures have important effects on wheat end products. However, the functional performances of WEAXs, particularly relating to prebiotic potential, are not yet clear. The present study compared the structural features, physicochemical properties, and prebiotic potential of WEAXs from three wheat varieties, which were used as special wheat varieties to make steamed buns, bread flour, and noodles. The results showed that WEAX-1, WEAX-2, and WEAX-3, derived from Jinqiang wheat, American red hard spring wheat, and Australian white wheat, respectively, had different structural properties, gelation properties, and prebiotic potential. WEAX-3 had a low arabinose to xylose (A/X) ratio (0.49), high ferulic acid content (2300 μg/g), and excellent gelation capacity. WEAX-2 had a high A/X ratio (0.62), low ferulic acid content (1300 μg/g), and poor gelation capacity. When fermented with human feces, WEAX-3 significantly increased the numbers of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli and increased the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), while WEAX-2 had weaker effects on the number of beneficial bacteria and SCFAs production (P < 0.05). The physicochemical properties and prebiotic potential of WEAXs depended strongly on their structural properties. WEAX with a low A/X ratio and a high ferulic acid content showed excellent gelation property and a strong prebiotic potential.

Insoluble fermentable cell wall matrix fibers have been shown to support beneficial butyrogenic gut Clostridia, but have restricted use in food products. Here, a soluble fiber matrix was developed that exhibited a similar effect. A low arabinose/xylose ratio corn bran arabinoxylan (CAX) was extracted with two concentrations of sodium hydroxide, 0.25 M and 1.5 M, to give soluble polymers with relatively low (L) and high (H) residual levels of bound ferulic acid (FA) (CAX-LFA and CAX-HFA). After laccase treatment to make diferulate crosslinks, soluble matrices were formed with average 3.5 to 4.5 mer. In vitro human fecal fermentation of CAX-LFA, CAX-HFA, soluble crosslinked ∼3.5 mer CAX-LFA (SCCAX-LFA), and ∼4.5 mer SCCAX-HFA revealed that the SCCAX matrices had somewhat slower fermentation properties by measuring the gas production, total short chain fatty acids, and carbohydrate disappearance, with a higher butyrate proportion in SCCAX-HFA. 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that SCCAX-HFA promoted OTUs associated with butyrate production including unassigned Ruminococcaceae, unassigned Blautia, Fecalibacterium prausnitzii, and unassigned Clostridium. Thus, when the physical form of an individual soluble polysaccharide was changed to a soluble crosslinked matrix, in vitro fermentation was shifted to Clostridial butyrate producers. This study shows that the physical form of the fiber influences the competition for substrate among the gut bacteria. Crosslinking of soluble fibers may be a strategy for developing soluble matrices with good physical functionalities for beverages and other foods to improve gut health.

Brewers' spent grain (BSG) accounts for 85% of the total amount of by-products generated by the brewing industries. BSG is a lignocellulosic biomass that is rich in proteins, lipids, minerals, and vitamins. In the present study, BSG was subjected to pretreatment by two different methods (microwave assisted alkaline pretreatment and organosolv) and was evaluated for the liberation of glucose and xylose during enzymatic saccharification trials. The highest amount of glucose (46.45 ± 1.43 g/L) and xylose (25.15 ± 1.36 g/L) were observed after enzymatic saccharification of the organosolv pretreated BSG. The glucose and xylose yield for the microwave assisted alkaline pretreated BSG were 34.86 ± 1.27 g/L and 16.54 ± 2.1 g/L, respectively. The hydrolysates from the organosolv pretreated BSG were used as substrate for the cultivation of the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides, aiming to produce microbial lipids. The yeast synthesized as high as 18.44 ± 0.96 g/L of cell dry weight and 10.41 ± 0.34 g/L lipids (lipid content of 56.45 ± 0.76%) when cultivated on BSG hydrolysate with a C/N ratio of 500. The cell dry weight, total lipid concentration and lipid content were higher compared to the results obtained when grown on synthetic media containing glucose, xylose or mixture of glucose and xylose. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report using hydrolysates of organosolv pretreated BSG for the growth and lipid production of oleaginous yeast in literature. The lipid profile of this oleaginous yeast showed similar fatty acid contents to vegetable oils, which can result in good biodiesel properties of the produced biodiesel.

This study presents the effect of two new products based on atomized extracts from edible wild mushrooms (RoBioMush1, RoBioMush2) on the microbiota of three target groups: clinically healthy (NG) individuals, individuals with nutritional disorders (ND), and individuals with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The microbiota fingerprints were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Modulations in the simulated microbiome were established and correlated with the presence of phenolic compounds released in the in vitro environment (a three-stage culture system GIS2 simulator, www.gissystems.ro). The high metabolizing capacity of NG and CVD correlated positively with the rest of the biological activities expressed in vitro. ND microbiota consumed a wide spectrum of monosaccharides from the products. Xylose was present in large quantities in the descending segment (minimum: 175 μg/mL for ND). The primary conclusion was that the microbiological ecosystem was modulated, as proven by the presence of specific biomarkers (e.g., ammonium levels and fingerprints of short-chain fatty acids⁻SCFAs), which stimulate the organism's health status and were correlated with the restoration of a normal microbiota fingerprint.

Wheat straw is one of the major attractive resources for low-cost raw materials for renewable energy, biofuels and biochemicals. However, like other sources of lignocellulosic biomass, straw is a heterogeneous material due to its mixed origin from different tissue and cell types. Here, to examine the genotypic effects on biorefinery usage of wheat straw, straw obtained from different wheat cultivars and experimental lines was pretreated with dilute acid. Significant differences between cultivars were observed in the concentrations of glucose and toxic by-products of the liquid hydrolysates. A higher content of xylose than glucose was found in liquid hydrolysates from wheat straw, and the xylose content appeared to be affected by both environmental and genetic factors. Analysis using chromosome substitution lines of the common wheat cultivar Chinese Spring showed that chromosomes 2A and 3A from other wheat cultivars, Hope and Timstein, significantly increased the xylose content. However, no significant relationship was observed between the liquid hydrolysate xylose content and the glucose content obtained from enzymatic saccharification of the acid-insoluble residue. These results highlight the potential of wheat breeding to improve biomass-related traits in wheat straw.

Agrocin 108 is a 3'-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-cytidine-5'-O-phosphodiester of an ascorbate-carbocyclic cyclopentenone analogue, with bacteriocin-like properties. This bacteriocin exhibits orders of magnitude greater than the inhibition zone diameter towards the indicator strain than either ampicillin or streptomycin. It has been isolated from cultures of Rhizobium rhizogenes strain K108. The structure of the agrocin 108 without detail, has been previously published. We now report a detailed structure elucidation, including the hitherto undetermined residual 5'-phospho-diester fragment by a combination of 1D and 2D NMR studies at various pH values in H 2 O/D 2 O, high resolution MS, pKa determination, and chemical degradation.

Objectives: To investigate the capacity of a genome-reduced Bacillus subtilis strain as chassis cell for acetoin production from xylose., Results: To endow the genome-reduced Bacillus subtilis strain BSK814 with the ability to utilize xylose, we inserted a native xyl operon into its genome and deleted the araR gene. The resulting strain BSK814A2 produced 2.94 g acetoin/l from 10 g xylose/l, which was 39% higher than control strain BSK19A2. The deletion of the bdhA and acoA genes further improved xylose utilization efficiency and increased acetoin production to 3.71 g/l in BSK814A4. Finally, BSK814A4 produced up to 23.3 g acetoin/l from 50 g xylose/l, with a yield of 0.46 g/g xylose. Both the titer and yield were 39% higher than those of control strain BSK19A4., Conclusions: As a chassis cell, genome-reduced B. subtilis showed significantly improved capacity for the production of the overflow product acetoin from xylose compared with wild-type strain.

The sugar alcohol D-arabitol is one of the Department of Energy's top twelve bio-based building block chemicals. In this study, we found that the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides IFO0880 produces D-arabitol during growth on xylose in nitrogen-rich medium. Efficient xylose utilization was a prerequisite for extracellular D-arabitol production. During growth in complex media, R. toruloides produced 22 ± 2, 32 ± 2, and 49 ± 2 g/L D-arabitol from 70, 105, and 150 g/L xylose, respectively. In addition, we found that R. toruloides could potentially be used for the co-production of lipids and D-arabitol from xylose. These results demonstrate that R. toruloides can be used to produce multiple value-added chemicals from xylose.

The important platform chemicals ethylene glycol and glycolic acid were produced via the oxidative D-xylose pathway in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The expression of genes encoding D-xylose dehydrogenase (XylB) and D-xylonate dehydratase (XylD) from Caulobacter crescentus and YagE or YjhH aldolase and aldehyde dehydrogenase AldA from Escherichia coli enabled glycolic acid production from D-xylose up to 150 mg/L. In strains expressing only xylB and xylD, 29 mg/L 2-keto-3-deoxyxylonic acid [(S)-4,5-dihydroxy-2-oxopentanoic acid] (2K3DXA) was produced and D-xylonic acid accumulated to ca. 9 g/L. A significant amount of D-xylonic acid (ca. 14%) was converted to 3-deoxypentonic acid (3DPA), and also, 3,4-dihydroxybutyric acid was formed. 2K3DXA was further converted to glycolaldehyde when genes encoding by either YagE or YjhH aldolase from E. coli were expressed. Reduction of glycolaldehyde to ethylene glycol by an endogenous aldo-keto reductase activity resulted further in accumulation of ethylene glycol of 14 mg/L. The possibility of simultaneous production of lactic and glycolic acids was evaluated by expression of gene encoding lactate dehydrogenase ldhL from Lactobacillus helveticus together with aldA. Interestingly, this increased the accumulation of glycolic acid to 1 g/L. The D-xylonate dehydratase activity in yeast was notably low, possibly due to inefficient Fe-S cluster synthesis in the yeast cytosol, and leading to D-xylonic acid accumulation. The dehydratase activity was significantly improved by targeting its expression to mitochondria or by altering the Fe-S cluster metabolism of the cells with FRA2 deletion.

Hemicellulose has been extracted from birch (Betula pendula) sawdust by formic acid aided hot water extraction. The maximum amount of hemicellulose extracted was about 70mol% of the total hemicellulose content at 170°C, measured as the combined yield of xylose and furfural. Lower temperatures (130 and 140°C) favored hemicellulose hydrolysis rather than cellulose hydrolysis, even though the total hemicellulose yield was less than at 170°C. It was found that formic acid greatly increased the hydrolysis of hemicellulose to xylose and furfural at the experimental temperatures. The amount of lignin in the extract remained below the detection limit of the analysis (3g/L) in all cases. Formic acid aided hot water extraction is a promising technique for extracting hemicellulose from woody biomass, while leaving a solid residue with low hemicellulose content, which can be delignified to culminate in the three main isolated lignocellulosic fractions: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Napier grass is a potential feedstock for biofuel production because of its strong adaptability and wide availability. Compositional analysis has been done on Napier grass which was collected from a local area of Taiwan. By comparing acid- and alkali-pretreatment, it was found that the alkali-pretreatment process is favorable for Napier grass. An overall glucose yield of 0.82g/g-glucose total can be obtained with the combination of alkali-pretreatment (2.5wt% NaOH, 8wt% sample loading, 121°C, and a reaction time of 40min) and enzymatic hydrolysis (40FPU/g-substrate). Semi-simultaneous saccharification fermentation (sSSF) was carried out, where enzymatic hydrolysis and ABE fermentation were operated in the same batch. It was found that after 24-h hydrolysis, followed by 96-h fermentation, the butanol and acetone concentrations reached 9.45 and 4.85g/L, respectively. The butanol yield reached 0.22g/g-sugar glucose+xylose . Finally, the efficiency of butanol production from Napier grass was calculated at 31%., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Pretreatment is required to destroy recalcitrant structure of lignocelluloses and then transform into fermentable sugars. This study assessed techno-economics of steam explosion, dilute sulfuric acid, ammonia fiber explosion and biological pretreatments, and identified bottlenecks and operational targets for process improvement. Techno-economic models of these pretreatment processes for a cellulosic biorefinery of 113.5 million liters butanol per year excluding fermentation and wastewater treatment sections were developed using a modelling software-SuperPro Designer. Experimental data of the selected pretreatment processes based on corn stover were gathered from recent publications, and used for this analysis. Estimated sugar production costs ($/kg) via steam explosion, dilute sulfuric acid, ammonia fiber explosion and biological methods were 0.43, 0.42, 0.65 and 1.41, respectively. The results suggest steam explosion and sulfuric acid pretreatment methods might be good alternatives at present state of technology and other pretreatment methods require research and development efforts to be competitive with these pretreatment methods., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A neutral xylanase (CcXyn) was identified from Coprinus cinereus . It has a single GH10 catalytic domain with a basic amino acid-rich extension (PVRRK) at the C-terminus. In this study, the wild-type (CcXyn) and C-terminus-truncated xylanase (CcXyn-Δ5C) were heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris and their characteristics were comparatively analyzed with aims to examine the effect of this extension on the enzyme function. The circular dichorism analysis indicated that both enzymes in general had a similar structure, but CcXyn-Δ5C contained less α-helices (42.9%) and more random coil contents (35.5%) than CcXyn (47.0% and 32.8%, respectively). Both enzymes had the same pH (7.0) and temperature (45°C) optima, and similar substrate specificity on different xylans. They all hydrolyzed beechwood xylan primarily to xylobiose and xylotriose. The amounts of xylobiose and xylotriose accounted for 91.5% and 92.2% (w/w) of total xylooligosaccharides (XOS) generated from beechwood by CcXyn and CcXyn-Δ5C, respectively. However, truncation of the C-terminal 5-amino-acids extension significantly improved the thermostability, SDS resistance, and pH stability at pH 6.0-9.0. Furthermore, CcXyn-Δ5C exhibited a much lower K m value than CcXyn (0.27 mg/ml vs 0.83 mg/ml), and therefore, the catalytic efficiency of CcXyn-Δ5C was 2.4-times higher than that of CcXyn. These properties make CcXyn-Δ5C a good model for the structure-function study of (α/β) 8 -barrel-folded enzymes and a promising candidate for various applications, especially in the detergent industry and XOS production.

The combination of NIR spectroscopy and chemometrics is a powerful correlation method for predicting the chemical constituents in biological matrices, such as the glucose and xylose content of straw. However, difficulties arise when it comes to predicting enzymatic glucose and xylose release potential, which is matrix dependent. Further complications are caused by xylose and glucose release potential being highly intercorrelated. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding the causal relationship between the model and the constituent of interest. It investigates the possibility of using near-infrared spectroscopy to evaluate the ethanol potential of wheat straw by analyzing more than 1000 samples from different wheat varieties and growth conditions. During the calibration model development, the prime emphasis was to investigate the correlation structure between the two major quality traits for saccharification of wheat straw: glucose and xylose release. The large sample set enabled a versatile and robust calibration model to be developed, showing that the prediction model for xylose release is based on a causal relationship with the NIR spectral data. In contrast, the prediction of glucose release was found to be highly dependent on the intercorrelation with xylose release. If this correlation is broken, the model performance breaks down. A simple method was devised for avoiding this breakdown and can be applied to any large dataset for investigating the causality or lack of causality of a prediction model., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This work presents the development of a simple and efficient analytical protocol for the direct enantioselective resolution of sugars. A racemic mixture of the C3 sugar d,l-glyceraldehyde and the C5 monosaccharides d,l-arabinose, d,l-ribose, d,l-xylose, and d,l-lyxose was subjected to derivatization with trifluoroacetic anhydride, and corresponding derivatives were separated on a β-cyclodextrin column with excellent resolution factors. Even though each aldopentose shows beside the linear form four predominant cyclic hemiacetals being the α- and β-furanose along with the α- and β-pyranose, we show that the overall enantiomeric excess of each compound can be precisely determined. Moreover, the measured detection limit for derivatized aldopentoses ranges from 0.015 to 0.019pmol on the column, while the quantification limit varies from 0.5 to 0.64pmol on the column., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The present study combines morphological and anatomical studies, cell wall chemical composition analysis, as well as assessment of the nutritional value of Guadua chacoensis foliage leaves., Results: Foliage leaves of G. chacoensis are a promising source of forage because: (a) as a native woody bamboo, it is adapted to and helps maintain environmental conditions in America; (b) leaf anatomical studies exhibit discontinuous sclerenchyma, scarcely developed, while pilose indumentum, silica cells, prickles and hooks are also scarce; (c) it has a high protein content, similar to that of Medicago sativa, while other nutritional parameters are similar to those of common forages; and (d) glucuronoarabinoxylan, the major extracted polysaccharide, has one-third of the 4-linked β-d-xylopyranosyl units of the backbone substituted mainly with α-l-arabinofuranose as single stubs or non-reducing end of short chains, but also 5-linked α-l-arabinofuranose units, terminal β-d-xylopyranose and d-galactopyranose units, as well as α-d-glucuronic acid residues and small amounts of its 4-O-methylated derivative., Conclusion: These results constitute the first report on this species, and as culms are utilized in constructions and crafts, the remaining leaves, when used as forage, constitute a byproduct that allows an additional income opportunity. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.)

The two fractions of polysaccharide MPS-1 and MPS-2 were extracted from Lepidium meyenii Walp. (maca) by water, and purified using a DEAE-52 and a Sephadex G-100 column. The molecular weight (M W ) of MPS-1 was 7.6kDa, and the M W of MPS-2 was 6.7kDa. The MPS-1 was composed of xylose, arabinose, galactose and glucose, with the mole ratio 1:1.7:3.3:30.5; the MPS-2 was composed of arabinose, galactose and glucose, with the mole ratio 1:1.3:36.8. The IR spectrum implied that only α-pyranose existed in MPS-1, and both α-pyranose and β-pyranose existed in MPS-2. The anti-fatigue activities of MPS-1 and MPS-2 were measured by the forced swimming test, along with the determination of blood lactate (BLA), urea nitrogen (BUN), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and liver glycogen (LG). The results indicated that both MPS-1 and MPS-2 presented dose-dependently positive effects on the fatigue related parameters. Additionally, MPS-2 has a better anti-fatigue effect than MPS-1., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This work evaluated sugarcane bagasse pretreatment with wood-decay fungi, producing varied patterns of biodegradation. The overall mass balance of sugars released after pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis indicated that a selective white-rot was necessary to provide glucose yields similar to the ones observed from leading physico-chemical pretreatment technologies. The selective white-rot Ceriporiopsis subvermispora was selective for lignin degradation in the lignocellulosic material, preserved most of the glucan fraction, and increased the cellulose digestibility of biotreated material. Glucose mass balances indicated that of the potential glucose of untreated bagasse, 47% was recovered as sugar-rich syrup after C. subvermispora biotreatment for 60days followed by enzymatic digestion of the pretreated material., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study, the effect of ethylenediamine (EDA) on enzymatic hydrolysis with different cellulosic substrates and the approaches to reduce sugar loss in enzymatic hydrolysis were investigated. During enzymatic hydrolysis, xylose yield reduced 21.2%, 18.1% and 13.0% with 7.5mL/L EDA for AFEX pretreated corn stover (CS), washed EDA pretreated CS and CS cellulose. FTIR and GPC analysis demonstrated EDA reacted with sugar and produced high molecular weight (MW) compounds. EDA was prone to react with xylose other than glucose. H 2 O 2 and Na 2 SO 3 cannot prevent sugar loss in glucose/xylose-EDA mixture, although they inhibited the browning and high MW compounds formation. By decreasing temperature to 30°C, the loss of xylose yield reduced to only 3.8%, 3.6% and 4.2% with 7.5mL/L EDA in the enzymatic hydrolysis of AFEX pretreated CS, washed EDA pretreated CS and CS cellulose., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The sugar sensing and carbon catabolite repression in Baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is governed by three major signaling pathways that connect carbon source recognition with transcriptional regulation. Here we present a screening method based on a non-invasive in vivo reporter system for real-time, single-cell screening of the sugar signaling state in S. cerevisiae in response to changing carbon conditions, with a main focus on the response to glucose and xylose., Results: The artificial reporter system was constructed by coupling a green fluorescent protein gene (yEGFP3) downstream of endogenous yeast promoters from the Snf3p/Rgt2p, SNF1/Mig1p and cAMP/PKA signaling pathways: HXT1p/2p/4p; SUC2p, CAT8p; TPS1p/2p and TEF4p respectively. A panel of eight biosensors strains was generated by single copy chromosomal integration of the different constructs in a W303-derived strain. The signaling biosensors were validated for their functionality with flow cytometry by comparing the fluorescence intensity (FI) response in the presence of high or nearly depleted glucose to the known induction/repression conditions of the eight different promoters. The FI signal correlated with the known patterns of the selected promoters while maintaining a non-invasive property on the cellular phenotype, as was demonstrated in terms of growth, metabolites and enzyme activity., Conclusions: Once verified, the sensors were used to evaluate the signaling response to varying conditions of extracellular glucose, glycerol and xylose by screening in 96-well microtiter plates. We show that these yeast strains, which do not harbor any recombinant pathways for xylose utilization, are lacking a signaling response for extracellular xylose. However, for the HXT2p/4p sensors, a shift in the flow cytometry population dynamics indicated that internalized xylose does affect the signaling. These results suggest that the previously observed effects of this pentose on the S. cerevisiae physiology and gene regulation can be attributed to xylose and not only to a lack of glucose.

Lignocellulosic biomass has great potential for use as a carbon source for the production of second-generation biofuels by solventogenic bacteria. Here we describe the production of butanol by a newly discovered wild-type Clostridium species strain G117 with xylan as the sole carbon source for fermentation. Strain G117 produced 0.86 ± 0.07 g/L butanol and 53.4 ± 0.05 mL hydrogen directly from 60 g/L xylan provided that had undergone no prior enzymatic hydrolysis. After process optimization, the amount of butanol produced from xylan was increased to 1.24 ± 0.37 g/L. In contrast to traditional acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) solventogenic fermentation, xylan supported fermentation in strain G117 and negligible amount of acetone was produced. The expression of genes normally associated with acetone production (adc and ctfB2) were down-regulated compared to xylose fed cultures. This lack of acetone production may greatly simplify downstream separation process. Moreover, higher amount of butanol (2.94 g/L) was produced from 16.99 g/L xylo-oligosaccharides, suggesting a major role for strain G117 in butanol production from xylan and its oligosaccharides. The unique ability of strain G117 to produce a considerable amount of butanol directly from xylan without producing undesirable fermentation byproducts opens the door to the possibility of cost-effective biofuels production in a single step. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 1702-1710. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

To observe the effects of Atractylodis Macrocephale Rhizoma processed by different methods (sulfur-fumigation, different temperatures baking and microwave sterilization) on salivary amylase and D-xylose excretion rate in spleen deficiency rats. The rats were divided into blank control group, rhubarb-induced spleen deficiency model control group, and Atractylodis Macrocephale Rhizoma experimental groups processed with different methods. Amylase colorimetric method was used to determine the activities of salivary amylase and D-xylose excretion rate was measured with O-benzylamine method. Then the correlation of salivary amylase activity and D-xylose excretion rate in urinary was analyzed. As compared with blank control group, Atractylodis Macrocephale Rhizoma baked at 100,110 ℃ can increase the unit content of rat salivary amylase and D-xylose excretion rate, with a significant difference (P<0.05). As compared with the model group, Atractylodis Macrocephale Rhizoma baked at 70 ℃ and Atractylodis Macrocephale Rhizoma with microwave treatment had stronger effects than the others, with statistically significant differences (P<0.01). Atractylodis Macrocephale Rhizoma could improve D-xylose absorption function and salivary amylase activity in spleen deficiency rats. In addition, D-xylose excretion rate in urine was positively correlated with salivary amylase activity. Atractylodis Macrocephale Rhizoma processed with different temperatures baking and microwave sterilization had little impact on salivary amylase activity and D-xylose excretion rate in urine of spleen deficiency rats, while sulfur fumigation had great effects on the above two indexes., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

This study investigated the recovery of H2 and CH4 from bagasse bioethanol fermentation residues (bagasse BEFR) using a two-stage bioprocess. In the hydrogen fermentation bioreactor (HFB), carbohydrate removal efficiency was maintained at 82-93% and the highest hydrogen yield was 8.24mL/gCOD at volumetric loading rate (VLR) of 80kgCOD/m(3)/day. The results indicated a positive correlation between hydrogen yield and butyrate-to-acetate ratio, which might be due to the mechanisms of lactate/acetate utilization for hydrogen production and acetogenesis occurring in the HFB. Remaining volatile fatty acids and alcohols in the HFB effluent were further utilized for methane production in methane fermentation bioreactor (MFB), in which the highest methane yield of 345.2mL/gCOD was attained at VLR of 2.5kgCOD/m(3)/day. Overall, the two-stage bioprocess achieved a maximum COD removal of 81% from bagasse BEFR, and converted 0.3% and 72.8% of COD in the forms of H2 and CH4, respectively., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study is aimed to examine the inhibition of soluble fraction (SF) and enzymatic residual fraction (ERF) in dry dilute acid (DDA), ethylenediamine (EDA) and steam explosion (SE) pretreated corn stover (CS) on the enzymatic digestibility of cellulose. SF of DDA, EDA and SE pretreated CS has high xylose, soluble lignin and xylo-oligomer content, respectively. SF of EDA pretreated CS leads to the highest inhibition, followed by SE and DDA pretreated CS. Inhibition of ERF of DDA and SE pretreated CS is higher than that of EDA pretreated CS. The inhibition degree (A0/A) of SF is 1.76 and 1.21 times to that of ERF for EDA and SE pretreated CS, respectively. The inhibition degree of ERF is 1.05 times to that of SF in DDA pretreated CS. The quantitative analysis shows that SF of EDA pretreated CS, SF and ERF of SE pretreated CS cause significant inhibition during enzymatic hydrolysis., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

With the aim of discerning between different sugar and sugar alcohols of biomedical relevance, such as gut permeability, arrays of 2-component probes were assembled with up to six boronic acid-appended viologens (BBVs): 4,4'-o-BBV, 3,3'-o-BBV, 3,4'-o-BBV, 4,4'-o,m-BBV, 4,7'-o-PBBV, and pBoB, each coupled to the fluorophore 8-hydroxypyrene, 1,3,6-trisulfonic acid trisodium salt (HPTS). These probes were screened for their ability to discriminate between lactulose, l-rhamnose, 3-O-methyl-d-glucose, and xylose. Binding studies of sugar alcohols mannitol, sorbitol, erythritol, adonitol, arabitol, galactitol, and xylitol revealed that diols containing threo-1,2-diol units have higher affinity for BBVs relative diols containing erythro-1,2 units. Those containing both threo-1,2- and 1,3-syn diol motifs showed high affinity for boronic acid binding. Fluorescence from the arrays were examined by principle component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Arrays with only three BBVs sufficed to discriminate between sugars (e.g., lactulose) and sugar alcohols (e.g., mannitol), establishing a differential probe. Compared with 4,4'-o-BBV, 2-fold reductions in lower limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were achieved for lactulose with 4,7-o-PBBV (LOD 41 μM, LOQ 72 μM). Using a combination of 4,4'-o-BBV, 4,7-o-PBBV, and pBoB, LDA statistically segregated lactulose/mannitol (L/M) ratios from 0.1 to 0.5, consistent with values encountered in small intestinal permeability tests. Another triad containing 3,3'-o-BBV, 4,4'-o-BBV, and 4,7-o-PBBV also discerned similar L/M ratios. This proof-of-concept demonstrates the potential for BBV arrays as an attractive alternate to HPLC to analyze mixtures of sugars and sugar alcohols in biomedical applications and sheds light on structural motifs that make this possible.

The aims of this study were to investigate differences among chosen wheat varieties in their bran starch (the starch adherent to bran particles after a dry milling process) quantity, bran particle size, and milled bran thickness, and to investigate the relationship between bran characteristics and bran starch content. The neutral saccharide profile of the wheat bran was dominated by arabinose, xylose, and glucose, whereas mannose and galactose were present in small amounts. Bran thickness was found to have a positive correlation with bran starch content. Bound ferulic acid to xylose ratio showed positive correlations with percent large bran particles, and negative correlations with bran starch content. Bran characteristics can explain the variation seen in bran starch content and percent large bran particles of various wheat varieties. Bound ferulic acid to xylose ratio and bran thickness could both play roles in the mechanical properties of bran, and therefore change the percent of large bran particles produced during milling., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A filamentous fungus strain OU5 was isolated from a soil sample for its ability to produce rich exopolymers (EPS), with high flocculation capability towards kaolin suspension and swine wastewater, at low-carbon source conditions. EPS from strain OU5 was extracted and characterized to determine its flocculating behavior and active constituents involved in the flocculation. Strain OU5 was identified as Talaromyces trachyspermus by 18S rDNA-ITS gene sequencing and morphological observation. The extracted EPS was a novel proteoglycan (designated as BF-OU5) composed of 84.6% (w/w) polysaccharides and 15.2% (w/w) proteins. The enzymatic digestion tests revealed that the polysaccharides in BF-OU5, composed of 67% glucose, 16.4% mannose, 8.6% xylose and 8% galactose, contributed to 99.7% of flocculating capacity and were the major active ingredients in the flocculation. By contrast, the proteins in BF-OU5 only had minor roles in the flocculation. The presence of hydroxyl, amide, carboxyl and methoxyl functional groups in BF-OU5, and the high molecular weight (1.053 × 10(5)-2.970 × 10(5) Da) as well as the structure of a spherical conformation with inner pores and channels made of cross-linked netted textures contributed to the flocculation. A dosage of 20 mg/l BF-OU5 initiated more than 92.5% of flocculating efficiency towards kaolin suspension without any added coagulants; its flocculability was stable over a wide range of pH (4.0-8.0) and temperature (20°C-100°C). Treatment of swine wastewater using BF-OU5 achieved 52.1% flocculating removal for chemical oxygen demand, 39.7% for Kjeldahl nitrogen, 18.6% for NH4(+)-N, 21.5% for total phosphorus, and 75% for turbidity., (Copyright © 2015 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Wheat straw is a potential feedstock in biorefinery for sugar production. However, the cellulose, which is the major source of sugar, is protected by lignin. Ozonolysis deconstructs the lignin and makes cellulose accessible to enzymatic digestion. In this study, the change in lignin concentration with different ozonolysis times (0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60min) was fit to two different kinetic models: one using the model developed by Garcia-Cubero et al. (2012) and another including an outer mass transfer barrier or "cuticle" region where ozone mass transport is reduced in proportion to the mass of unreacted insoluble lignin in the cuticle. The kinetic parameters of two mathematical models for predicting the soluble and insoluble lignin at different pretreatment time were determined. The results showed that parameters derived from the cuticle-based model provided a better fit to experimental results compared to a model without a cuticle layer., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Viscosity trends in alkali-pretreated sugarcane bagasse (SCB) slurries undergoing high solids fed-batch enzymatic hydrolysis were measured for a range of solids loading from 15% to 36%. Solids liquefaction times were related to system viscosity changes. The viscosity decreased quickly for low solids loading, and increased with increasing solids content. Fed-batch hydrolysis was initiated with 15% solids loading, and an additional 8%, 7% and 6% were successively added after the system viscosity decreased to stable values to achieve a final solids content of 36%. Two enzyme-adding modes with 8.5FPU/g solid were investigated. The batch mode with all enzyme being added at the beginning of the reaction produced the highest yields, with approximately 231.7g/L total sugars and 134.9g/L glucose being obtained after 96h with nearly 60% of the final glucan conversion rate. This finding indicates that under the right conditions, the fed-batch strategy might be a plausible way to produce high sugars under high solids., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The objectives of this work were to optimize the experimental condition and to study the kinetic behavior of wheat straw depolymerization with sulfuric acid (2 wt%, 3 wt%, and 4 wt%) at different temperatures (120°C, 130°C, and 140°C). The two-fraction kinetic model was obtained for the prediction of the generations of product and by-product during depolymerization. The kinetic parameters of the two-fraction model were analyzed using an Arrhenius-type equation. Applying the kinetic two-fraction model, the optimum condition for wheat straw depolymerization was 3 wt% H2SO4 at 130°C for 75 min, which yielded a high concentration of fermentable sugars (xylose 8.934 g/L, glucose 1.363 g/L, and arabinose 1.203 g/L) and low concentrations of microbial inhibitors (furfural 0.526 g/L and acetic acid 1.192 g/L). These results suggest that the model obtained in this study can satisfactorily describe the formation of degradation products and the depolymerization mechanism of wheat straw., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels, chemicals, and other commodities has been explored as one possible pathway toward reductions in the use of non-renewable energy sources. In order to identify which plants, out of a diverse pool, have the desired chemical traits for downstream applications, attributes, such as cellulose and lignin content, or monomeric sugar release following an enzymatic saccharification, must be compared. The experimental and data analysis protocols of the standard methods of analysis can be time-consuming, thereby limiting the number of samples that can be measured. High-throughput (HTP) methods alleviate the shortcomings of the standard methods, and permit the rapid screening of available samples to isolate those possessing the desired traits. This study illustrates the HTP sugar release and pyrolysis-molecular beam mass spectrometry pipelines employed at the National Renewable Energy Lab. These pipelines have enabled the efficient assessment of thousands of plants while decreasing experimental time and costs through reductions in labor and consumables.

The flowers of Chrysanthemum morifolium were extracted with 5% sodium hydroxide, yielding a neutral polysaccharide (JHB0S2) with a molecular weight of 16 kDa by anion-exchange chromatography on a DEAE-cellulose column and gel permeation chromatography on a Sephacryl S-200 HR column. JHB0S2 was found to contain glucose, xylose, arabinose and galactose in molar ratio of 2.9:2.3:1.0:1.2. Through the linkage analysis, partial acid hydrolysis and NMR spectra and so forth, indicated that its backbone consisted of 1,4-linked β-Glcp, nearly 50% of which was substituted at O-6 by 1,2-linked α-Xylp terminated with Galp or Xylp. Furthermore, some of 1,2-linked α-Xylp was substituted at O-4 by α-Araf-(1→5)-α-Araf-(1→6)-β-Galp. The biological test showed that JHB0S2 could inhibit the tube formation of HMEC-1 cells., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Xylose, mannose, and galactose (xmg) recovery from empty fruit bunches using acetic acid-assisted hydrothermal (AAH) fractionation method was investigated. Acetic acid has been demonstrated to be effective in xmg recovery in comparison with the liquid hot-water (LHW) fractionation. The maximum xmg recovery yield (50.7 %) from the empty fruit bunch (EFB) was obtained using AAH fractionation at optimum conditions (6.9 wt.% acetic acid at 170 °C and for 18 min); whereas, only 16.2 % of xmg recovery was obtained from the LHW fractionation at the same reaction conditions (170 °C and 18 min). Releasing out the glucose from EFB was kept at low level (<1.0 %) through all tested conditions and consequently negligible 5-HMF and formic acid were analyzed in the hydrolyzate. The production of furfural was also resulted with extremely low level (1.0 g/L).