Publications by authors named "Liangcai Peng"

Although plant evolution has offered diverse biomass resources, the production of high-quality biochar from desirable lignocelluloses remains unexplored. In this study, distinct lignocellulose substrates derived from eight representative plant species were employed to prepare biochar samples under three different temperature treatments. Correlation analysis showed that only hemicellulose was a consistently positive factor of lignocellulose substrates to account for the dye-adsorption capacities of diverse biochar samples.

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In this study, 15 plant species representing plant evolution were selected, and distinct lignocellulose compositions for largely varied biomass enzymatic saccharification were detected. By comparison, the acid-pretreated lignocellulose of rice mutant was of the highest Congo-red adsorption (298 mg/g) accounting for cellulose accessibility, leading to complete cellulose hydrolysis and high bioethanol production. By conducting oxidative-catalysis with the acid-pretreated lignocellulose of moss plant, the optimal biosorbent was generated with maximum Cd/Pb adsorption (54/118 mg/g), mainly due to half-reduced cellulose polymerization degree and raised functional groups accountable for multiple physical and chemical interactions.

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Crop straws provide enormous lignocellulose resources transformable for sustainable biofuels and valuable bioproducts. However, lignocellulose recalcitrance basically restricts essential biomass enzymatic saccharification at large scale. In this study, the mushroom-derived cellobiohydrolase (LeGH7) was introduced into Trichoderma reesei (Rut-C30) to generate two desirable strains, namely GH7-5 and GH7-6.

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Hemicellulose, as a primary component of plant cell walls, constitutes approximately one third of cell wall dry matter and ranks as the second abundant renewable biomass resource in the nature after cellulose. Hemicellulose is tightly cross-linked with cellulose, lignin and other components in the plant cell wall, leading to lignocellulose recalcitrance. However, precise genetic modifications of plant cell walls can significantly improve the saccharification efficiency of lignocellulose while ensuring normal plant growth and development.

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As lignocellulose recalcitrance principally restricts for a cost-effective conversion into biofuels and bioproducts, this study re-selected the brittle stalk of corn mutant by MuDR-transposon insertion, and detected much reduced cellulose polymerization and crystallinity. Using recyclable CaO chemical for biomass pretreatment, we determined a consistently enhanced enzymatic saccharification of pretreated corn brittle stalk for higher-yield bioethanol conversion. Furthermore, the enzyme-undigestible lignocellulose was treated with two-step thermal-chemical processes via FeCl catalysis and KOH activation to generate the biochar with significantly raised adsorption capacities with two industry dyes (methylene blue and Congo red).

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Crop straws provide enormous biomass residues applicable for biofuel production and trace metal phytoremediation. However, as lignocellulose recalcitrance determines a costly process with potential secondary waste liberation, genetic modification of plant cell walls is deemed as a promising solution. Although pectin methylation plays an important role for plant cell wall construction and integrity, little is known about its regulation roles on lignocellulose hydrolysis and trace metal elimination.

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Malic acid (MA) plays an important role in plant tolerance to toxic metals, but its effect in restricting the transport of harmful metals remains unclear. In this study, japonica rice NPB and its fragile-culm mutant fc8 with low cellulose and thin cell wall were used to investigate the influence of MA on the accumulation of 4 toxic elements (Cd, Pb, Ni, and Cr) and 8 essential elements (K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and Mo) in rice. The results showed that fc8 accumulated less toxic elements but more Ca and glutamate in grains and vegetative organs than NPB.

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The selective permeation of glutamate receptor channels (GLRs) for essential and toxic elements in plant cells is poorly understood. The present study found that the ratios between cadmium (Cd) and 7 essential elements (i.e.

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In this study, bacterial BsEXLE1 gene was overexpressed into T. reesei (Rut-C30) to generate a desirable engineered TrEXLX10 strain. While incubated with alkali-pretreated Miscanthus straw as carbon source, the TrEXLX10 secreted the β-glucosidases, cellobiohydrolases and xylanses with activities raised by 34%, 82% and 159% compared to the Rut-C30.

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Cellulosic ethanol is regarded as a perfect additive for petrol fuels for global carbon neutralization. As bioethanol conversion requires strong biomass pretreatment and overpriced enzymatic hydrolysis, it is increasingly considered in the exploration of biomass processes with fewer chemicals for cost-effective biofuels and value-added bioproducts. In this study, we performed optimal liquid-hot-water pretreatment (190 °C for 10 min) co-supplied with 4% FeCl to achieve the near-complete biomass enzymatic saccharification of desirable corn stalk for high bioethanol production, and all the enzyme-undigestible lignocellulose residues were then examined as active biosorbents for high Cd adsorption.

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Plant cellulose microfibrils are increasingly employed to produce functional nanofibers and nanocrystals for biomaterials, but their catalytic formation and conversion mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we characterize length-reduced cellulose nanofibers assembly in situ accounting for the high density of amorphous cellulose regions in the natural rice fragile culm 16 (Osfc16) mutant defective in cellulose biosynthesis using both classic and advanced atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques equipped with a single-molecular recognition system. By employing individual types of cellulases, we observe efficient enzymatic catalysis modes in the mutant, due to amorphous and inner-broken cellulose chains elevated as breakpoints for initiating and completing cellulose hydrolyses into higher-yield fermentable sugars.

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A low temperature alkali (LTA) pretreatment method was used to treat wheat straw. In order to obtain good results, different factors like temperature, incubation time, NaOH concentration and solid to liquid ratio for the pretreatment process were optimized. Wheat straw is a potential biomass for the production of monomeric sugars.

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In this study, optimal ultrasound pretreatment was performed with recalcitrance-reduced rice mutant straw to effectively extract lignin and hemicellulose for improved cellulose accessibility. Intermittent ultrasound-assistant enzymatic hydrolyses were followed to maintain more cellulases unlock and less cellulose surface block with lignin for raised hexose yield at 81 % (% cellulose) and bioethanol concentration at 9.9 g/L, which was higher than those of other mechanical pretreatments as previously conducted.

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Lignocellulose represents the most abundant carbon-capturing substance that is convertible for biofuels and bioproduction. Although biomass pretreatments have been broadly applied to reduce lignocellulose recalcitrance for enhanced enzymatic saccharification, they mostly require strong conditions with potential secondary waste release. By classifying all major types of pretreatments that have been recently conducted with different sources of lignocellulose substrates, this study sorted out their distinct roles for wall polymer extraction and destruction, leading to the optimal pretreatments evaluated for cost-effective biomass enzymatic saccharification to maximize biofuel production.

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The present study describes the cloning, expression, purification and characterization of the xylosidase gene (1650 bp) from a thermophilic bacterium into BL21 (DE3) using the expression vector pET-21a(+) for utilization in biofuel production. The recombinant xylosidase enzyme was purified to homogeneity by heat treatment and immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE determined that the molecular weight of purified xylosidase was 60 kDa.

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The β-xylanase gene (DCE06_04615) with 1041 bp cloned from was expressed into BL21 DE3. The cloned β-xylanase was covalently bound to iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles coated with silica utilizing carbodiimide. The size of the immobilized MNPs (50 nm) and their binding with β-xylanase were characterized by Fourier-transform electron microscopy (FTIR) (a change in shift particularly from C-O to C-N) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (spherical in shape and 50 nm in diameter).

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The present study describes the cloning of the cellobiohydrolase gene from a thermophilic bacterium and its expression in BL21(DE3) utilizing the expression vector pET-21a(+). The optimization of various parameters (pH, temperature, isopropyl β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) concentration, time of induction) was carried out to obtain the maximum enzyme activity (2.78 ± 0.

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Pectin is a minor wall polysaccharide with potential applications for bioproducts. Despite the application of specific plants and biomass-based sorbents for environmental remediation, little has been reported about characteristic roles of pectin. Using the natural rice mutant (Osfc16) treated with Cd, this study explored that pectin could predominately enhance Cd accumulation with lignocellulose, mainly due to remarkably raised uronic acids deposition.

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Background: As a major component of plant cell walls, cellulose provides the most abundant biomass resource convertible for biofuels. Since cellulose crystallinity and polymerization have been characterized as two major features accounting for lignocellulose recalcitrance against biomass enzymatic saccharification, genetic engineering of cellulose biosynthesis is increasingly considered as a promising solution in bioenergy crops. Although several transcription factors have been identified to regulate cellulose biosynthesis and plant cell wall formation, much remains unknown about its potential roles for genetic improvement of lignocellulose recalcitrance.

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Cytochimera potato plants, which mixed with diploid and tetraploid cells, could cause the highest and significantly increased biomass yield than the polyploid and diploid potato plants. Polyploidization is an important approach in crop breeding for agronomic trait improvement, especially for biomass production. Cytochimera contains two or more mixed cells with different levels of ploidy, which is considered a failure in whole genome duplication.

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Banana is a major fruit crop grown in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Among cultivars, "FenJiao, FJ" ( spp. ABB, Pisang Awak subgroup) is a popular variety of bananas, due to its better sugar-acid blend and relatively small fruit shape.

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Banana is a major fruit crop throughout the world with abundant lignocellulose in the pseudostem and rachis residues for biofuel production. In this study, we collected a total of 11 pseudostems and rachis samples that were originally derived from different genetic types and ecological locations of banana crops and then examined largely varied edible carbohydrates (soluble sugars, starch) and lignocellulose compositions. By performing chemical (HSO, NaOH) and liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatments, we also found a remarkable variation in biomass enzymatic saccharification and bioethanol production among all banana samples examined.

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