Chemistry Department

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    Strategy for Adapting Wine Yeasts for Bioethanol Production
    ( 2009-01-22) Ooi, Beng Guat ; Lankford, Kevin R.
    The Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeast strains 71B-1122 and K1-V1116 were used to derive strains that could tolerate and produce higher ethanol yields. Respiratory-deficient mutants resistant to 500 µg/mL lycorine were isolated. Two mutants, 71B-1122 YEBr L3 and K1-V1116 YEBr L4, were shown to achieve about 10% and 18% improvement in their glucose-to-ethanol conversion efficiency compared to their respective parent strains. The K1-V1116 YEBr L4 in particular can tolerate an ethanol yield of 18.8 ± 0.8% at 3.5 weeks of fermentation and continued to consume most of the sugar until less than 1% glucose was left.
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    Overcoming the Recalcitrance for the Conversion of Kenaf Pulp to Glucose via Microwave-Assisted Pre-Treatment Processes
    ( 2011-02-21) Ooi, Beng Guat ; Rambo, Ashley L. ; Hurtado, Miguel A.
    This study evaluates the pre-treatment of cellulose from kenaf plant to yield sugar precursors for the production of ethanol or butanol for use as biofuel additives. In order to convert the crystalline cellulosic form to the amorphous form that can undergo enzymatic hydrolysis of the glycosidic bond to yield sugars, kenaf pulp samples were subjected to two different pre-treatment processes. In the acid pre-treatment, the pulp samples were treated with 37.5% hydrochloric acid in the presence of FeCl3 at 50 °C or 90 °C whereas in the alkaline method, the pulp samples were treated with 25% sodium hydroxide at room temperature and with 2% or 5% sodium hydroxide at 50 °C. Microwave-assisted NaOH-treatment of the cellulose was also investigated and demonstrated to be capable of producing high glucose yield without adverse environmental impact by circumventing the use of large amounts of concentrated acids i.e., 83-85% phosphoric acid employed in most digestion processes. The treated samples were digested with the cellulase enzyme from Trichoderma reesei. The amount of glucose produced was quantified using the Quantichrom glucose bioassay for assessing the efficiency of glucose production for each of the treatment processes. The microwave-assisted alkaline pre-treatment processes conducted at 50 °C were found to be the most effective in the conversion of the crystalline cellulose to the amorphous form based on the significantly higher yields of sugar produced by enzymatic hydrolysis compared to the untreated sample.
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    Molecular details of ligand selectivity determinants in a promiscuous β-glucan periplasmic binding protein
    ( 2013-09-27) Munshi, Parthapratim ; Stanley, Christopher B ; Ghimire-Rijal, Sudipa ; Lu, Xun ; Myles, Dean A ; Cuneo, Matthew J
    Background Members of the periplasmic binding protein (PBP) superfamily utilize a highly conserved inter-domain ligand binding site that adapts to specifically bind a chemically diverse range of ligands. This paradigm of PBP ligand binding specificity was recently altered when the structure of the Thermotoga maritima cellobiose-binding protein (tmCBP) was solved. The tmCBP binding site is bipartite, comprising a canonical solvent-excluded region (subsite one), adjacent to a solvent-filled cavity (subsite two) where specific and semi-specific ligand recognition occur, respectively.