TALEN-mediated targeted mutagenesis of more than 100 COMT copies/alleles in highly polyploid sugarcane improves saccharification efficiency without compromising biomass yield.

Sugarcane is the world's most efficient feedstock for commercial production of bioethanol due to its superior biomass production and accumulation of sucrose in stems. Integrating first- and second-generation ethanol conversion processes will enhance the biofuel yield per unit area by utilizing both sucrose and cell wall-bound sugars for fermentation. RNAi suppression of the lignin biosynthetic gene caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) has been demonstrated to improve bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. Genome editing has been used in a number of crops for creation of loss of function phenotypes but is very challenging in sugarcane due to its highly polyploid genome. In this study, a conserved region of COMT was targeted with a single-transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) pair for multi-allelic mutagenesis to modify lignin biosynthesis in sugarcane. Field-grown TALEN-mediated COMT mutants showed up to 19.7% lignin reduction and significantly decreased syringyl to guaiacyl (S/G) ratio resulting in an up to 43.8% improved saccharification efficiency. Biomass production of COMT mutant lines with superior saccharification efficiency did not differ significantly from the original cultivar under replicated field conditions. Sanger sequencing of cloned COMT amplicons (1351-1657 bp) revealed co-editing of 107 of the 109 unique COMT copies/alleles in vegetative progeny of line CB6 using a single TALEN pair. Line CB6 combined altered cell wall composition and drastically improved saccharification efficiency with good agronomic performance. These findings confirm the feasibility of co-mutagenesis of a very large number of target alleles/copies for improvement in crops with complex genomes.

Structural changes of corn stover lignin during acid pretreatment.

In this study, raw corn stover was subjected to dilute acid pretreatments over a range of severities under conditions similar to those identified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in their techno-economic analysis of biochemical conversion of corn stover to ethanol. The pretreated corn stover then underwent enzymatic hydrolysis with yields above 70 % at moderate enzyme loading conditions. The enzyme exhausted lignin residues were characterized by ³¹P NMR spectroscopy and functional moieties quantified and correlated to enzymatic hydrolysis yields. Results from this study indicated that both xylan solubilization and lignin degradation are important for improving the enzyme accessibility and digestibility of dilute acid pretreated corn stover. At lower pretreatment temperatures, there is a good correlation between xylan solubilization and cellulose accessibility. At higher pretreatment temperatures, lignin degradation correlated better with cellulose accessibility, represented by the increase in phenolic groups. During acid pretreatment, the ratio of syringyl/guaiacyl functional groups also gradually changed from less than 1 to greater than 1 with the increase in pretreatment temperature. This implies that more syringyl units are released from lignin depolymerization of aryl ether linkages than guaiacyl units. The condensed phenolic units are also correlated with the increase in pretreatment temperature up to 180 °C, beyond which point condensation reactions may overtake the hydrolysis of aryl ether linkages as the dominant reactions of lignin, thus leading to decreased cellulose accessibility.

Reducing acid in dilute acid pretreatment and the impact on enzymatic saccharification.

Dilute acid pretreatment is a leading pretreatment technology for biomass to ethanol conversion due to the comparatively low chemical cost and effective hemicellulose solubilization. The conventional dilute acid pretreatment processes use relatively large quantities of sulfuric acid and require alkali for pH adjustment afterwards. Significant amounts of sulfate salts are generated as by-products, which have to be properly treated before disposal. Wastewater treatment is an expensive, yet indispensable part of commercial level biomass-to-ethanol plants. Therefore, reducing acid use to the lowest level possible would be of great interest to the emerging biomass-to-ethanol industry. In this study, a dilute acid pretreatment process was developed for the pretreatment of corn stover. The pretreatment was conducted at lower acid levels than the conventional process reported in the literature while using longer residence times. The study indicates that a 50% reduction in acid consumption can be achieved without compromising pretreatment efficiency when the pretreatment time was extended from 1-5 min to 15-20 min. To avoid undesirable sugar degradation and inhibitor generation, temperatures should be controlled below 170°C. When the sulfuric acid-to-lignocellulosic biomass ratio was kept at 0.025 g acid/g dry biomass, a cellulose-to-glucose conversion of 72.7% can be achieved at an enzyme loading of 0.016 g/g corn stover. It was also found that acid loading based on total solids (g acid/g dry biomass) governs the pretreatment efficiency rather than the acid concentration (g acid/g pretreatment liquid). While the acid loading on lignocellulosic biomass may be achieved through various combinations of solids loading and acid concentration in the pretreatment step, this work shows that it is unlikely to reduce acid use without undermining pretreatment efficiency simply by increasing the solid content in pretreatment reactors, therefore acid loading on biomass is indicated to be the key factor in effective dilute acid pretreatment.

Efficient sugar release by the cellulose solvent-based lignocellulose fractionation technology and enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis.

Efficient liberation of fermentable soluble sugars from lignocellulosic biomass waste not only decreases solid waste handling but also produces value-added biofuels and biobased products. Industrial hemp, a special economic crop, is cultivated for its high-quality fibers and high-value seed oil, but its hollow stalk cords (hurds) are a cellulosic waste. The cellulose-solvent-based lignocellulose fractionation (CSLF) technology has been developed to separate lignocellulose components under modest reaction conditions (Zhang, Y.-H. P.; Ding, S.-Y.; Mielenz, J. R.; Elander, R.; Laser, M.; Himmel, M.; McMillan, J. D.; Lynd, L. R. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007, 97 (2), 214- 223). Three pretreatment conditions (acid concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time) were investigated to treat industrial hemp hurds for a maximal sugar release: a combinatorial result of a maximal retention of solid cellulose and a maximal enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis. At the best treatment condition (84.0% H3PO4 at 50 degrees C for 60 min), the glucan digestibility was 96% at hour 24 at a cellulase loading of 15 filter paper units of cellulase per gram of glucan. The scanning electron microscopic images were presented for the CSLF-pretreated biomass for the first time, suggesting that CSLF can completely destruct the plant cell-wall structure, in a good agreement with the highest enzymatic cellulose digestibility and fastest hydrolysis rate. It was found that phosphoric acid only above a critical concentration (83%) with a sufficient reaction time can efficiently disrupt recalcitrant lignocellulose structures.