The extracytoplasmic, cell-bound beta-1,4-glucosidase of Candida wickerhamii was characterized kinetically. The enzyme was found to produce glucose from cellobiose and cellodextrins (degree of polymerization from three to six) by catalyzing the removal of the terminal glucose moiety from the nonreducing end of these beta-glucans. The Km values for the series, cellobiose through cellohexaose, we...

BACKGROUND The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels (second-generation biofuel production) is an environmentally friendlier alternative to petroleum-based energy sources. Enzymatic deconstruction of lignocellulose, catalyzed by filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus nidulans, releases a mixture of mono- and polysaccharides, including hexose (glucose) and pentose (xylose) sugars, cel...

D-glucopyranose-derived and L-idopyranose-derived piperidine nitrones were synthesized in good overall yields through six-step reaction sequence starting from readily available 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-D-glucopyranose. The method is efficient and could be general for the synthesis of aldohexose-derived piperidine nitrones which are precursors of piperidine iminosugars.

We demonstrate improved ethanol yield and productivity through cofermentation of cellobiose and galactose by an engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain expressing genes coding for cellodextrin transporter (cdt-1) and intracellular β-glucosidase (gh1-1) from Neurospora crassa. Simultaneous fermentation of cellobiose and galactose can be applied to producing biofuels from hydrolysates of marin...

Glucose repression is one of the main limitations in mixed lignocellulosic sugar fermentation for cost-effective production of fuels and chemicals. Here we report a novel strategy to overcome glucose repression by co-expressing a cellobiose transporter and a β-glucosidase in an engineered d-xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. The resulting strain can simultaneously utilize cellobi...

Reduction of H2O2-oxidized manganese peroxidase (MnP), lignin peroxidase and, to some extent, horseradish peroxidase, was studied in the presence of cellobiose oxidase (CbO) and cellobiose. It was found that the reversion rates for MnP compound II and lignin peroxidase compound II back to native enzymes increased significantly in the presence of CbO and cellobiose. However, the reduction of cyt...

Neural networks and hybrid models were used to study substrate and product inhibition observed in the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellobiose at 40oC, 50oC and 55oC, pH 4.8, using cellobiose solutions with or without the addition of exogenous glucose. Firstly, the initial velocity method and nonlinear fitting with Statistica were used to determine the kinetic parameters for either the uncompetitive ...

The availability of oxygen (O(2)) in aerated (i.e., water-unsaturated) soils affects the metabolic activities of aerobic and anaerobic soil prokaryotes that degrade plant-derived saccharides. Fluctuating availabilities of O(2) were imposed on agricultural soil slurries supplemented with cellobiose. Slurries were subjected to oxic conditions (48 h), followed by an anoxic period (120 h) and a fin...

Cellobiose phosphorylase, a member of the glycoside hydrolase family 94, catalyses the reversible phosphorolysis of cellobiose into alpha-D-glucose 1-phosphate and D-glucose with inversion of the anomeric configuration. The substrate specificity and reaction mechanism of cellobiose phosphorylase from Cellvibrio gilvus have been investigated in detail. We have determined the crystal structure of...

Probiotics, prebiotics, and combinations thereof, that is, synbiotics, are known to exert beneficial health effects in humans; however interactions between pro- and prebiotics remain poorly understood at the molecular level. The present study describes changes in abundance of different proteins of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM (NCFM) when grown on the potential prebioti...