The adsorption of polysaccharide guar gum and starch additives and their interactions with cellulosic fiber and fines, as well as soluble and colloidal carbohydrates, present in wood pulp suspensions were investigated by employing HPLC and spectrophotometry. A unique phenomenon, i.e. carbohydrate uptake or ‘substraction’, was observed to occur in a variety of cellulosic systems [whole pulp, was...

Liquid crystalline cellulosic-based solutions described by distinctive properties are at the origin of different kinds of multifunctional materials with unique characteristics. These solutions can form chiral nematic phases at rest, with tuneable photonic behavior, and exhibit a complex behavior associated with the onset of a network of director field defects under shear. Techniques, such as Nu...

The concentration and composition of suspended particulate food available to estuarine suspension-feeding bivalve molluscs varies temporarily and spatially. Non-algal food sources may be important to suspension-feeders when algal concentrations are seasonally low or where there are high concentrations of suspended detrital material and bacteria, as found withln marshes. We carried out a series ...

Alkaline solutions of hydrogen peroxide partially delignify wheat straw and other lignocellulosic materials, leaving a cellulosic residue that is highly susceptible to enzymatic digestion by cellulase. The delignification reaction is strongly dependent upon the pH of the reaction mixture, with an optimum at pH 11.5-11.6, pKa for the dissociation H(2)O(2) right harpoon over left harpoon H(+) + H...

Lignocellulosic biomass is a sustainable industrial substrate. Copper-dependent lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) contribute to the degradation of lignocellulose and increase the efficiency of biofuel production. LPMOs can contain non-catalytic carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs), but their role in the activity of these enzymes is poorly understood. Here we explored the importance of ...

Pectin, the major non-cellulosic component of primary cell wall can be degraded by polygalacturonases (PGs) and pectin methylesterases (PMEs) during pathogen attack on plants. We characterized two novel enzymes, VdPG2 VdPME1, from fungal plant Verticillium dahliae. VdPME1 was most active citrus methylesterified (55–70%) at pH 6 a temperature 40 °C, while polygalacturonic acid 5 50 °C. Using LC-...

Introduction In 2007 the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) established that by 2022, 36 billion gallons of biofuel are to come from renewable fuel sources. More specifically, the mandate requires the production of cellulosic biofuels to increase to 16 billion gallons ethanol equivalent annually by 2022 (Energy Independence and Security Act, 2007). Cellulosic biofuels are derived from ...

BACKGROUND A vast number of organisms are known to produce structurally diversified cellulases capable of degrading cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer on earth. The generally accepted paradigm is that the carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) of cellulases are required for efficient saccharification of insoluble substrates. Based on sequence data, surprisingly more than 60% of the cellulases...