33 The microbial conversion of plant biomass to valuable products in a consolidated bioprocess 34 could greatly increase the ecologic and economic impact of a biorefinery. Current strategies 35 for hydrolysis of plant material mostly rely on the external application of carbohydrate-active 36 enzymes (CAZymes). Alternatively, production organisms can be engineered to secrete 37 CAZymes to reduce...

BACKGROUND Large-scale production of effective cellulose hydrolytic enzymes is the key to the bioconversion of agricultural residues to ethanol. The goal of this study was to develop a rice plant as a bioreactor for the large-scale production of cellulose hydrolytic enzymes via genetic transformation, and to simultaneously improve rice straw as an efficient biomass feedstock for conversion of c...

Hydrolytic enzymes from hypopharyngeal gland extracts of newly emerged, nurse and foraging workers of two eusocial bees, Scaptotrigona postica, a native Brazilian stingless bee, and the Africanized honey bee (Apis mellifera) in Brazil, were compared. The hypopharyngeal gland is rich in enzymes in both species. Fifteen different enzymes were found in the extracts, with only a few quantitative di...

BACKGROUND Enzymatic breakdown of lignocellulosic biomass is a known bottleneck for the production of high-value molecules and biofuels from renewable sources. Filamentous fungi are the predominant natural source of enzymes acting on lignocellulose. We describe the extraordinary cellulose-deconstructing capacity of the basidiomycete Laetisaria arvalis, a soil-inhabiting fungus. RESULTS The L....

Little attention has been given to the occurrence of exocellular hydrolytic enzymes associated with the roots of higher plants. Such enzymes, if present, could solubilize macromolecular constituents of organic soils, permitting uptake and utilization by the plant of the resultant low molecular weight organic compounds. The present work supports this concept by demonstrating that several exocell...

The mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus has nutritional and medicinal characteristics that depend on the growth substrate. In nature, this fungus grows on dead wood, but it can be artificially cultivated on agricultural wastes (coffee husks, eucalyptus sawdust, corncobs and sugar cane bagasse). The degradation of agricultural wastes involves some enzyme complexes made up of oxidative (laccase, mangane...

Histochemical observations were carried out on various hydrolytic enzymes in the spontaneous mammary carcinoma of C3H-strain mice. Alkaline phosphatase activity was observed in the luminal border of the tubular structure and in the periluminal surface, which showed a cystic dilatation in ducts and papillae. Capillaries in the stroma showed a high enzymatic activity. Acid phosphatase activity wa...

During the course of survey of halophilic microorganisms, a total of sixteen bacterial isolates were obtained from coastal solar salterns of Orissa and West Bengal, India. Morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics of these isolates indicate that majority of them belong to the genus Halomonas, however, members belonging to Cobetia and Halococcus were not uncommon. These isolat...

Experimental myocardial infarction was produced in 32 mongrel dogs. The changes in activity of four lysosomal enzymes (acid phosphatase, glucuronidase, deoxyribonuclease, and •y-glutamyl-transpeptidase) were examined in the soluble and the particle-bound fraction. The pattern of changes in free and particle-bound enzyme activity observed was similar for all four enzymes. During the first 48 hou...

Gelatinized wheat, potato and waxy maize starches were treated enzymatically in order to increase the degree of branching of the amylopectin fraction and thereby change the starch degradation profile towards a higher proportion of slowly digestible starch (SDS). The materials were characterized by single-pulse (1)H HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy and in vitro digestion profile according to the Englyst ...