59 results about "Cell wall degradation" patented technology

This invention relates to novel enzymes and novel methods for producing the same. More specifically this invention relates to a variety of fungal enzymes. Nucleic acid molecules encoding such enzymes, compositions, recombinant and genetically modified host cells, and methods of use are described. The invention also relates to a method to convert lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars with enzymes that degrade the lignocellulosic material and novel combinations of enzymes, including those that provide a synergistic release of sugars from plant biomass. The invention also relates to a method to release cellular content by degradation of cell walls. The invention also relates to methods to use the novel enzymes and compositions of such enzymes in a variety of other processes, including washing of clothing, detergent processes, biorefining, deinking and biobleaching of paper and pulp, and treatment of waste streams.

The present invention provides transgenic plants expressing one or more cell wall degrading enzymes that can degrade lignocellulose to fermentable sugars. These fermentable sugars can further be fermented to ethanol or other products. The enzymes are directed to the plastids or the apoplasts or the transgenic plant for storage. When the transgenic plants are harvested, the plants are ground to release the enzymes which then are used to degrade the lignocellulose of plant material to produce the fermentable sugars. The transgenic plants express the flowering locus c gene so that flowering is delayed and the plant biomass is increased.

The present invention relates to cell wall degradative systems, in particular to systems containing enzymes that bind to and / or depolymerize cellulose. These systems have a number of applications. Some embodiments relate to a method of producing ethanol using the cell wall degradative systems of the present invention.

Described herein are methods to enhance the production of more highly fermentable carbohydrates in plants, especially forage grasses. The invention provides for transgenic plants transformed with expression vectors containing a DNA sequence encoding ferulic acid esterase I from Aspergillus, preferably A. niger. The expression vectors may optionally comprise a DNA sequence encoding xylanase from Trichoderma, preferably T. reesei. Expression of the enzyme(s) is targeted to specific cellular compartments, in specific tissues and under specific environmental conditions. Uses of this invention include, but are not limited to, forage with improved digestibility for livestock, and enhanced biomass conversion.

The present invention relates to cell wall degradative systems, in particular to systems containing enzymes that bind to and / or depolymerize cellulose. These systems have a number of applications.

The invention relates to a modification method and an application of potato residue, belonging to the dietary fiber modification technical field. The modification method uses wet potato residue which is a by-product produced in the process of producing potato starch as raw material, wherein the solid content in the wet potato residue is between 5 and 15 percent; the wet potato residue has the pH regulated to be neutral by adding reagent in, is heated to 40-60 DEG C, and is cut for 8-60 min through a colloid mill so as to carry out wet-process superfine grinding to the potato residue; an obtained pulpy substance is dried through a traditional drum drying, spray drying, pneumatic drying or freeze drying mode, so as to obtain a mixture of a cell wall degradation product with the viscosity more than 250MPa.s, starch and trace protein. The invention provides a method for the batch processing modification of potato residue, which is simple and convenient in production process; an obtained product of the method is the modified potato residue which has certain viscosity, high hydratability, physical property convenient for rehydration as well as good functional characteristics, and can be used as a food ingredient containing functional dietary fiber to replace fat or flour applied to food.

A process for recovering corn germ and corn coarse fiber from corn in a dry grind process, involving soaking corn kernels in water to produce soaked corn kernels, grinding the soaked corn kernels to produce a ground corn slurry, and incubating the ground corn slurry with at least one enzyme(amylase(s), protease(s), cell wall degrading enzyme(s), or mixtures thereof, and optionally other enzyme(s)) to increase the specific gravity of the slurry to about 10-about 16 Baume so that the corn germ and corn coarse fiber floats to the top of the slurry, recovering the corn germ and the corn coarse fiber, and optionally producing ethanol from the slurry no longer containing the corn germ and corn coarse fiber. The process does not involve the addition of starch, a salt, a sugar syrup, or mixtures thereof to the slurry.

The present invention relates to cell wall degradative systems, in particular to systems containing enzymes that bind to and / or depolymerize cellulose. These systems have a number of applications.

The present invention relates to variants of a cell-wall degrading enzyme having a beta-helix structure, which variant has at least one substituent in a position determined by identifying all residues potentially belonging to a stack; characterizing the stack as interior or exterior; characterizing the stack as polar, hydrophobic or aromatic / heteroaromatic based on the dominating characteristics of the parent or wild-type enzyme stack residues and / or its orientation relative to the beta-helix (interior or exterior); optimizing all stack positions of a stack either to hydrophobic aliphatic amino acids, hydrophobic aromatic or polar amino acids by allowing mutations within one or all positions to amino acids belonging to one of these groups; measuring thermostability of the variants by DSC or an application-related assay such as a Pad-Steam application test; and selecting the stabilized variants. Variants of a wild-type parent pectate lyase (EC 4.2.2.2) having the conserved amino acid residues D111, D141 or E141, D145, K165, R194 and R199 when aligned with the pectate lyase comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 are preferred.

A process of aqueous protein extraction from Brassicaceae oilseed meal, such as canola, commercial canola meal or yellow mustard, to obtain a napin-rich protein extract, a cruciferin-rich protein extract, and a low-protein residue. The process comprising the steps of performing aqueous extraction of the Brassicaceae oilseed meal at a pH of from about 2.5 to about 5.0 to obtain a soluble napin-rich protein extract and a cruciferin-rich residue followed by performing aqueous extraction of the cruciferin-rich residue to obtain a soluble cruciferin-rich protein extract and a low-protein residue. The cruciferin-rich residue may be treated with cell wall degrading enzymes to obtain a cruciferin-rich fraction The cruciferin-rich protein products may be substantially free of napin protein and may be useful as a non-allergenic food product for human consumption.

The present invention relates to cell wall degradative systems, in particular to systems containing enzymes that bind to and / or depolymerize cellulose, hemicellulose and other carbohydrates. These systems have a number of applications.

The invention provides a feeding complex ferulic acid esterase additive, which comprises four enzymes of ferulic acid esterase, cellulase, xylanase and glucanase; among which, the enzyme activity of endo cellulose is more than 16U / g, the enzyme activity of xylanase is more than 1024U / g, the enzyme activity of beta-glucanase is more than 2.0U / g, and the enzyme activity of ferulic acid esterase is more than 2.0U / g. The feeding complex ferulic acid esterase additive of the invention has the advantages of remarkably improving the release amount of reducing sugar, the cell wall degrading rate and the vitro rumen fermentation volatile fatty acids yield in the hydrolysis process of forage plants, crop straws and bran feed, enhancing the feed biological transfer rate in an all-round way. The invention has a high practical application value in the feed industry and the ruminant breeding industry.

The invention discloses a high plant cell wall degradation activity rumen fungi, and applications thereof in feed ensiling, and belongs to the technical field of microorganism and feed processing. According to a preparation method, Hungate anaerobic roll-tube technique is adopted to obtain an anaerobic fungi with cell wall degradation enzyme activity via separating and selecting from the rumens of Xinong Saanen dairy goats, finally obtained Piromyces sp.CN6 is capable of producing xylanase and acetylesterase with relatively high activity in a wide temperature and pH range, and excellent thermal stability and acidic and alkaline stability, the preservation number is CGMCC No.14449. The bacteria strain is capable of improving fermentation quality of silage, increasing crude fiber degradation rate, and can be applied in practical production as a silage additive.

The invention discloses a soil treatment agent for preventing and treating the root-knot nematode disease and a preparation method and an application method thereof. The soil treatment agent is prepared from a nematode killing main agent and a nematode killing synergist; the nematode killing main agent is prepared from a nematode killing organic raw material and a decomposition promoting accessory; when the nematode killing organic raw material is a solid organic raw material, the nematode killing organic raw material is prepared from at least one of crop straws and sugar refinery offcut; whenthe nematode killing organic raw material is a liquid organic raw material, the nematode killing organic raw material is prepared from at least one of alcohol fermentation liquor and molasses; the decomposition promoting accessory is prepared from at least one of organic catalytic material and a special microorganism. The soil treatment agent disclosed by the invention can secrete to generate a great amount of nematode killing substances, such as an cell wall degrading enzyme, acetic acid and the like, in the indigenous microorganism anaerobic decomposition process, and a rapidly created anaerobic environment can also kill nematodes, so that the number of nematodes in soil with a high root-knot nematode disease incidence rate and a proportion of the category in a nematode community are reduced, and a root-knot nematode disease incidence rate of succeeding crops is reduced.

The invention relates to enzymes, compositions, and methods for efficient hydrolysis of arabinans present in plant biomass. More specifically, the invention relates to arabinases and compositions comprising arabinases to improve cell wall degradation to efficiently use plant biomass for bio-energy production. The invention also relates to a method for preparing a prebiotic. The prebiotic may contain branched arabinan oligomers comprise α-(1,5)-linked arabinan backbone, and single substituted α-(1,3)-linked arabinose monomers attached to the backbone, or double substituted α-(1,2,3,5)-linked arabinose monomers attached to the backbone, or both. The invention also relates to a method for preparing fruit juice or wine. The invention also relates to a method for saccharification of a plant biomass. The invention also relates to a recombinant micro-organism genetically modified to express the enzymes of the present invention and optionally additional enzymes to achieve the disclosed methods.

The present invention relates, inter alia, to recombinant Gram-positive Clostridia host cells for producing solvents, fuels and / or chemical intermediates, and preferably ethanol, from plant cell walls comprising: (a) at least one nucleic acid encoding a plant cell wall degrading enzyme, wherein the host cells produce and secrete the plant cell wall degrading enzyme, (b) at least one nucleic acid encoding an enzyme that converts pyruvate to acetaldehyde and at least one nucleic acid encoding an enzyme that converts acetaldehyde to ethanol wherein the host cell is capable of expressing said nucleic acid, and, (c) a mutation in at least one nucleic acid encoding for an enzyme in a metabolic pathway which produces a metabolite other than acetaldehyde from pyruvate or ethanol from acetaldehyde, such that the mutation results in a reduced production of the metabolite.

The present disclosure relates to a process for extracting sugars from a pretreated lignocellulosic biomass. This process consists of contacting the pretreated lignocellulosic biomass with low charges of an aqueous peroxy acid (PA) solution to produce a liquid fraction (containing a small amount of lignin and hemicellulose degradation products) and a solid fraction containing cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The solid fraction can then be subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis with a variety of cell wall-degrading enzymes to produce a lignin-rich residue and a sugar solution that can be fermented to a variety of (bio)chem icals.

The invention discloses a method for extracting and separating cyclocarya paliurus flavonoids, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a, washing cyclocarya paliurus with clear water, dryingat the temperature of 40-50 DEG C, crushing the sample by a pulverizer and allowing to pass through a 40 mesh sieve; b, carrying out acidolysis; c, carrying out microbial fermentation degradation; d,carrying out compound enzymatic hydrolysis; e, carrying out acetone extraction; f, carrying out purification of crude flavonoids: purifying flavonoids with activated carbon. In the extraction processof the cyclocarya paliurus flavonoids, firstly, cell walls of cyclocarya paliurus are degraded by the preliminary microbial fermentation method, and some impurities, such as polysaccharides, are removed by microbial action; then the flavonoids are fully released by enzymatic hydrolysis. The method has no pollutant discharge in the whole technological process, is suitable for large-scale production, is beneficial to the development and utilization of cyclocarya paliurus resources, has the advantages of simple steps, low cost, strong operability and high output, and is prone to industrialized production.

The invention discloses a method of processing plant biomass. The method includes pretreating a plant or part thereof through mixing the plant or part thereof with liquid to form a mixture having a liquid to solid ratio of less than or equal to 15. Pretreating also includes providing conditions to maintain the mixture at a temperature less than or equal to 100 DEG C. The method also includes providing one or more enzyme for modification of at least one component of the plant or part thereof, and is selected from a transgenic plant made by agrobacterium mediated transformation using a plasmid having at least 90% of identical nucleotide sequence with one of the SEQ ID NOS: 206, 207, 209-230 and 232 to 279, a transgenic plant including a cell wall-degrading enzyme, and a transgenic plant including nucleic acid. The method for processing plant biomass can effectively improve the plant biomass.

Methods of preparing plant-derived virus like particles (VLPs) are provided. The method may comprise obtaining a plant, or plant matter comprising apoplast-localized VLPs, producing a protoplast / spheroplast fraction and apoplast fraction from the plant or plant matter, and recovering the apoplast fraction. The apoplast fraction comprises plant-derived VLPs. Alternatively, VLPs may be obtained from plant or plant matter comprising plant-derived VLPs by digesting the plant matter using a cell wall degrading enzyme composition to produced a digested fraction. The digested fraction is filtered to produced a filtered fraction, and the plant-derived VLPs are recovered from the filtered fraction.

Vectors for expression of proteins in plants are described. The proteins may be enzymes and the enzymes can be but are not limited to cell wall degrading enzymes. A number of plants designed to express specific cell wall degrading enzymes are provided. The plants may have industrial and / or agricultural applications. Methods and materials for making the expression vectors and for making the plants are provided. Processes for which the plants could be used in industrial and agricultural applications are also provided.

The present disclosure relates to a process for extracting sugars from a pretreated lignocellulosic biomass. This process consists of contacting the pretreated lignocellulosic biomass with low charges of an aqueous peroxy acid (PA) solution to produce a liquid fraction (containing a small amount of lignin and hemicellulose degradation products) and a solid fraction containing cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The solid fraction can then be subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis with a variety of cell wall-degrading enzymes to produce a lignin-rich residue and a sugar solution that can be fermented to a variety of (bio)chemicals.

This invention relates to novel enzymes and novel methods for producing the same. More specifically this invention relates to a variety of fungal enzymes. Nucleic acid molecules encoding such enzymes, compositions, recombinant and genetically modified host cells, and methods of use are described. The invention also relates to a method to convert lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars with enzymes that degrade the lignocellulosic material and novel combinations of enzymes, including those that provide a synergistic release of sugars from plant biomass. The invention also relates to a method to release cellular content by degradation of cell walls. The invention also relates to methods to use the novel enzymes and compositions of such enzymes in a variety of other processes, including washing of clothing, detergent processes, biorefining, deinking and biobleaching of paper and pulp, and treatment of waste streams.

Methods of preparing plant-derived proteins or suprastructure proteins, are provided. The method may comprise obtaining a plant, or plant matter comprising apoplast-localized proteins, or suprastructure proteins, producing a protoplast / spheroplast fraction and apoplast fraction from the plant or plant matter, and recovering the apoplast fraction. The apoplast fraction comprises plant-derived proteins or suprastructure proteins. Alternatively, the proteins, or suprastructure proteins, may be obtained from plant or plant matter comprising plant-derived proteins or suprastructure proteins, by digesting the plant matter using a cell wall degrading enzyme composition to produced a digested fraction. The digested fraction is filtered to produced a filtered fraction, and the plant-derived proteins or suprastructure proteins, are recovered from the filtered fraction.