Predicting Enzyme Adsorption to Lignin Films by Calculating Enzyme Surface Hydrophobicity

Abstract

Background:Lignin is a plant cell wall polymer that inhibits enzymatic saccharification of polysaccharides for the production of biofuel. Results: The adsorption of enzymes to lignin surfaces correlates to solvent-exposed hydrophobic clusters. Conclusion: Hydrophobicity, not surface charge, identifies proteins that preferentially adsorb to lignin. Significance: The method could be used to design improved cellulase cocktails to lower the cost of biofuel production.

Key interactions of surfactants in therapeutic protein formulations: A review

“…factors (e.g. size, structural stability, and exposed hydrophobic patch distribution [76,77]), literature suggests greater adsorption to hydrophobic surfaces (regardless of protein properties) and by more hydrophobic proteins (regardless of surface properties [74,78]). Polysorbates appear to be most effective at competing and desorbing proteins from moderately hydrophobic surfaces [74,75].…”

Lignin-based polyoxyethylene ether enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocelluloses by dispersing cellulase aggregates

“…The mechanism of enhancing the enzymatic hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose with high lignin content by EHL-PEG 3.2.1. Effect of EHL-PEG on the nonproductive adsorption of cellulase on the lignin film QCM-D has been reported to monitor the adsorption behavior of polyelectrolyte (Norgren et al, 2007), soy protein (Salas et al, 2013) and cellulase (Rahikainen et al, 2013;Sammond et al, 2014) on the lignin film in real time dynamics. Here, QCM-D was used to investigate the effect of EHL-PEG and PEG4600 on the nonproductive adsorption of cellulase on the lignin film.…”

Cosolvent pretreatment in cellulosic biofuel production: effect of tetrahydrofuran-water on lignin structure and dynamics

“…These yields, along with other characterization work under similar thermochemical pretreatment, 23 suggest that the chemical structure of lignin is altered by THF in CELF pretreatment. In most aqueous-based pretreatments, lignin is not removed entirely from biomass; instead, lignin and pseudolignin (material generated by the combination of lignin and hemi-cellulose degradation products 24,25 ) aggregates onto the cellulose surface, blocking enzymatic access to cellulose and binding unproductively to the enzymes, 12,13,[26][27][28][29][30] an undesirable behavior for the production of biofuels. This coalescence of lignin in water can be understood in a general framework of the "quality" of a solvent relative to a polymer.…”