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BackgroundNon-productive cellulase adsorption onto lignin has always been deemed to negatively affect the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic feedstocks. Therefore, understanding enzyme-lignin interactions is essential for the development of enzyme mixtures, the processes of lignocellulose hydrolysis, and the genetic modification of lignocellulosic biomass and enzymes. In this work, we examined the properties of six lignins from diverse types of lignocellulosic biomass (aspen, pine, corn stover, kenaf, and two Arabidopsis lines, wild-type and SALK mutant of fah1) to determine the mechanism of differences in their adsorption of enzymes.ResultsWe found that lignin sources affected enzyme adsorption using structural features, such as functional groups and lignin composition. Guaiacyl (G) lignin had a higher adsorption capacity on enzymes than syringyl (S) lignin. The low S/G ratio and high uniform lignin fragment size had good correlations with high adsorption capacity. A higher content of phenolic hydroxyl groups and a lower content of carboxylic acid groups resulted in stronger adsorption affinity for corn stover lignin (CL) than for kenaf lignin (KL) and aspen lignin (AL). The lower amount of aliphatic hydroxyls that reduced hydrophobic interactions could explain the higher adsorption capacity of pine lignin (PL) than CL. Enzyme activity assays, as well as the hydrolysis of Avicel, phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose (PASC), and holocellulose, were performed to study the behaviors of mono-component enzymes that resulted in adsorption. We found that cellobiohydrolase (CBH) and xylanase were adsorbed the most by all lignins, endoglucanase (EG) showed less inhibition, and β-glucosidase (BG) was the least affected by lignins, indicating the important role of carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) in protein adsorption.ConclusionLignin sources affect enzyme adsorption using structural features and lignin composition, such as S/G ratio, carboxylic acid, aliphatic hydroxyl, and phenolic hydroxyl. For mono-component enzymes, the adsorption capacity decreased in the order CBH, xylanase > EG > BG. These investigations revealed the difference in lignin properties between diverse biomass and adsorption capacity of enzymes to lignins, and the possible underlying mechanism. The results can also serve as a reference for the genetic modification of lignocellulosic biomass and enzymes.

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BackgroundIn the bioconversion of lignocellulosic substrates, the adsorption behavior of cellulase onto lignin has a negative effect on enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, decreasing glucose production during enzymatic hydrolysis, thus decreasing the yield of fermentation and the production of useful products. Understanding the interaction between lignin and cellulase is necessary to optimize the components of cellulase mixture, genetically engineer high-efficiency cellulase, and reduce cost of bioconversion. Most lignin is not removed during liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment, and the characteristics of lignin in solid substrate are also changed. To understand the interactions between cellulase and lignin, this study investigated the change in the characteristics of lignin obtained from corn stover, as well as the behavior of cellulase adsorption onto lignin, under various severities of LHW pretreatment.ResultsLHW pretreatment removed most hemicellulose and some lignin in corn stover, as well as improved enzymatic digestibility of corn stover. After LHW pretreatment, the molecular weight of lignin obviously increased, whereas its polydispersity decreased and became more negative. The hydrophobicity and functional groups in lignin also changed. Adsorption of cellulase from Penicillium oxalicum onto lignin isolated from corn stover was enhanced after LHW pretreatment, and increased under increasing pretreatment severity. Different adsorption behaviors were observed in different lignin samples and components of cellulase mixtures, even in different cellobiohydrolases (CBHs), endo-beta-1, 4-glucanases (EGs). The greatest reduction in enzyme activity caused by lignin was observed in CBH, followed by that in xylanase and then in EG and β-Glucosidase (BGL). The adsorption behavior exerted different effects on subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of various biomass substrates. Hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions may be important factors affecting different adsorption behaviors between lignin and cellulase.ConclusionsLHW pretreatment changed the characteristics of the remaining lignin in corn stover, thus affected the adsorption behavior of lignin toward cellulase. For different protein components in cellulase solution from P. oxalicum, electrostatic action was a main factor influencing the adsorption of EG and xylanase onto lignin in corn stover, while hydrophobicity affected the adsorption of CBH and BGL onto lignin.

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