Xylooligomers are strong inhibitors of cellulose hydrolysis by enzymes.

Typically, the enzymatic hydrolysis rate of lignocellulosic biomass is fast initially but then slows down more rapidly than can be explained by just consumption of substrate. Although several factors including enzyme inhibition, enzyme deactivation, a drop in substrate reactivity, or nonproductive binding of enzyme to lignin could be responsible for this loss of effectiveness, we recently reported evidence that xylose, xylan, and xylooligomers dramatically decrease conversion rates and yields, but clarification was still needed for the magnitude of their effect. Therefore, in this study, xylan and various xylooligomers were added to Avicel hydrolysis at low enzyme loadings and found to have a greater effect than adding equal amounts of xylose derived from these materials or when added separately. Furthermore, xylooligomers were more inhibitory than xylan or xylose in terms of a decreased initial hydrolysis rate and a lower final glucose yield even for a low concentration of 1.67 mg/ml. At a higher concentration of 12.5mg/ml, xylooligomers lowered initial hydrolysis rates of Avicel by 82% and the final hydrolysis yield by 38%. Mixed DP xylooligomers showed strong inhibition on cellulase enzymes but not on beta-glucosidase enzymes. By tracking the profile change of xylooligomers, a large portion of the xylooligomers was found to be hydrolyzed by Spezyme CP enzyme preparations, indicating competitive inhibition by mixed xylooligomers. A comparison among glucose sugars and xylose sugars also showed that xylooligomers were more powerful inhibitors than well-established glucose and cellobiose.