Optimising parameters for pilot scale steam explosion and continuous pressurised disc refining of Miscanthus and sugarcane bagasse for xylose and xylo-oligosaccharide release.

The first comparative pre-treatment study of Miscanthus (Mxg) and sugarcane bagasse (SCB) using steam explosion (SE) and pressurised disc refining (PDR) pretreatment to optimise xylose and xylo-oligosaccharide release is described. The current investigation aimed to 1) Develop optimised batch-wise steam explosion parameters for Mxg and SCB, 2) Scale from static batch steam explosion to dynamic continuous pressurised disc refining, 3) Identify, understand, and circumvent scale-up production hurdles. Optimised SE parameters released 82% (Mxg) and 100% (SCB) of the available xylan. Scaling to PDR, Miscanthus yielded 85% xylan, highlighting how robust scouting assessments for boundary process parameters can result in successful technical transfer. In contrast, SCB technical transfer was not straightforward, with significant differences observed between the two processes, 100% (SE) and 58% (PDR). This report underlines the importance of feedstock-specific pretreatment strategies to underpin process development, scale-up, and optimisation of carbohydrate release from biomass.

New aspects and strategies for methane mitigation from ruminants.

The growing demand for sustainable animal production is compelling researchers to explore the potential approaches to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from livestock that are mainly produced by enteric fermentation. Some potential solutions, for instance, the use of chemical inhibitors to reduce methanogenesis, are not feasible in routine use due to their toxicity to ruminants, inhibition of efficient rumen function or other transitory effects. Strategies, such as use of plant secondary metabolites and dietary manipulations have emerged to reduce the methane emission, but these still require extensive research before these can be recommended and deployed in the livestock industry sector. Furthermore, immunization vaccines for methanogens and phages are also under investigation for mitigation of enteric methanogenesis. The increasing knowledge of methanogenic diversity in rumen, DNA sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have paved the way for chemogenomic strategies by targeting methane producers. Chemogenomics will help in finding target enzymes and proteins, which will further assist in the screening of natural as well chemical inhibitors. The construction of a methanogenic gene catalogue through these approaches is an attainable objective. This will lead to understand the microbiome function, its relation with the host and feeds, and therefore, will form the basis of practically viable and eco-friendly methane mitigation approaches, while improving the ruminant productivity.

Laccase production by Coriolopsis caperata RCK2011: optimization under solid state fermentation by Taguchi DOE methodology.

Laccase production by Coriolopsis caperata RCK2011 under solid state fermentation was optimized following Taguchi design of experiment. An orthogonal array layout of L18 (2(1) × 3(7)) was constructed using Qualitek-4 software with eight most influensive factors on laccase production. At individual level pH contributed higher influence, whereas, corn steep liquor (CSL) accounted for more than 50% of the severity index with biotin and KH2PO4 at the interactive level. The optimum conditions derived were; temperature 30°C, pH 5.0, wheat bran 5.0 g, inoculum size 0.5 ml (fungal cell mass = 0.015 g dry wt.), biotin 0.5% w/v, KH2PO4 0.013% w/v, CSL 0.1% v/v and 0.5 mM xylidine as an inducer. The validation experiments using optimized conditions confirmed an improvement in enzyme production by 58.01%. The laccase production to the level of 1623.55 Ugds(-1) indicates that the fungus C. caperata RCK2011 has the commercial potential for laccase.

Optimizing anaerobic digestion by selection of the immobilizing surface for enhanced methane production.

Maximizing methane production while maintaining an appreciable level of process stability is a crucial challenge in the anaerobic digestion industry. In this study, the role of six parameters: the type of immobilizing supports, loading rate, inoculum levels, C:N ratio, trace nutrients concentrations and mixing rate, on methane production were investigated under thermophilic conditions (55 ± 1°C) with synthetic substrate medium. The immobilizing supports were Silica gel, Sand, Molecular Sieve and Dowex Marathon beads. A Taguchi Design of Experiment (DOE) methodology was employed to determine the effects of different parameters using an L(16) orthogonal array. Overall, immobilizing supports influenced methane production substantially (contributing 61.3% of the observed variation in methane yield) followed by loading rate and inoculum which had comparable influence (17.9% and 17.7% respectively). Optimization improved methane production by 153% (from 183 to 463 ml CH(4)l(-1)d(-1)).

Candida northwykensis sp. nov., a novel yeast isolated from the gut of the click beetle Melanotus villosus.

Two yeast morphotypes, BET 4(T) and BET 7, were isolated from the gut of click beetle Melanotus villosus. Click beetles were collected from the decaying timber within the woodlands of North Wyke Research, South West England, UK (latitude, 50°46'29″N; longitude, 3°55'23″W). Morphotype BET 7 was identified as Debaryomyces hansenii, and the other morphotype, BET 4(T), was found to differ from Priceomyces castillae and Priceomyces haplophilus, its closest phylogenetic neighbours, by 5.0% with respect to the nucleotide sequence of the D1/D2 domain of the large-subunit (LSU) rRNA gene, and by 8.0% with respect to the ribosomal internal-transcribed spacer (ITS) region. BET 4(T) also differ from P. castillae and P. haplophilus in a number of different phenotypic characteristics. Thus, based on the unique nucleotide sequences of its D1/D2 domain and ITS region, its physiological characteristics and an inability to sporulate, strain BET 4(T) is assigned the status of a new species of Candida, for which the name Candida northwykensis sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is BET 4(T) (NCYC 3525(T) = CBS 11370(T)).

Cryptococcus shivajii sp. nov.: a novel basidiomycetous yeast isolated from biogas reactor.

Five yeast morphotypes were isolated from biogas reactors at North Wyke Research, Okehampton, UK. Out of the five morphotypes, four were identified as known species. In contrast, the fifth morphotype strain, Bio10(T), was found to differ from Bullera dendrophila and Kwoniella mangroviensis, its closest phylogenetic neighbours, by 2.6-2.9% with respect to the nucleotide sequence of the D1/D2 domain of the 26S rRNA gene and by 5.6-6.2% with respect to the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1)-5.8S rRNA gene-ITS2 region. Bio10(T) also differs from these two species by a number of phenotypic characteristics. Thus, based on the phenotypic differences and phylogenetic analysis, strain Bio10(T) is assigned the status of a new species of Cryptococcus, for which the name Cryptococcus shivajii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Bio10(T) (NCYC 3541(T) = CBS 11374(T)).