近日，華中農業大學生物質與生物能源團隊于國際綠色化學領域期刊Green Chemistry在線發表了題為Distinct cellulose nanofibrils generated for improved Pickering emulsions and lignocellulose-degradation enzymes secretion coupled with high bioethanol production in natural rice mutant的研究論文，于國際高分子化學領域期刊Carbohydrate Polymers刊發了題為Insights into pectin dominated enhancements for elimination of toxic Cd and dye coupled with ethanol production in desirable lignocelluloses的研究論文。這兩項研究利用優質水稻天然突變體，發現纖維素納米結構缺陷增強功能材料特性的微觀機理，解析果膠糖醛酸去除重金屬和有機染料的作用機制，并構建秸稈纖維乙醇聯產高值生物材料技術體系，從而開辟基于遺傳背景的農業廢棄物綠色高效利用的新路徑。   　　農作物秸稈蘊含豐富的生物質資源，降解轉化為“零碳”生物能源和高值生物制品，可助力我國“雙碳”目標實現，促進農業可持續發展和現代農業產業鏈延長。然而，植物細胞壁天然抗降解屏障制約了生物質的全面綜合利用，遺傳改良細胞壁結構，可從源頭解決農作物秸稈高值利用效率低、成本高、易二次污染的瓶頸問題。纖維素納米纖維（CNF）因其納米尺寸和界面效應，具有比表面積大、穩定性強、分散性好和反應活性高等優勢，但其制備工藝能耗高或存在化學污染，限制了CNF的大規模應用。本研究發現，與普通水稻相比，天然水稻細胞壁突變體（Osfc16）秸稈的直接酶解效率顯著提高37%，纖維乙醇產率顯著提高19%，具有抗降解屏障降低的優良特性。同時，在更少循環次數的高壓均質工藝下，酶解殘渣中產生的CNF，其液滴粒徑更小、界面活性更高，改善了皮克林乳化劑的乳液性能和儲存穩定性。此外，還發現低劑量的CNF可以作為里氏木霉分泌纖維素酶復合物的有效誘導劑，誘導酶的蛋白質產量提高99%，內切葡聚糖酶和木聚糖酶活性分別提高27%和51%。該研究揭示了由低抗性木質纖維素產生新型CNF的多重作用，為充分利用生物質生產具有成本效益的生物乙醇和高價值的生物產品提供了一種綠色新型技術（Green Chemistry, 2022, DOI:10.1039/D1GC04447H）。   　　果膠是一類富含半乳糖醛酸的細胞壁多糖，具有豐富的活性基團，對重金屬和化學染料具有潛在的吸附性能。本研究發現，重金屬鎘（Cd）脅迫激活細胞壁網絡動態調節，促進果膠在細胞壁中的沉積，而天然水稻細胞壁突變體（Osfc16）表現出更強的去甲酯化半乳糖醛酸積累能力和微量Cd富集能力。同時，重金屬使細胞壁產生結構缺陷，進一步降低了細胞壁的抗降解性，顯著增強生物質酶解糖化效率和生物乙醇產率，并且生物質的預處理工藝能夠同步提取回收90%的Cd。利用果膠的特性，從富含果膠的柑橘皮中提取糖醛酸，與乙醇發酵殘渣進行化學交聯，生成一種同時吸附Cd和亞甲基藍（MB）的增強型生物吸附劑。該研究闡明了果膠在Cd和MB吸附以及生物質酶促糖化中的多重作用機制，為農田重金屬和化工染料的減污修復，植物修復收獲物的無害化處理，農業廢棄物的增值利用和重金屬的回收處置，提供了新思路（Carbohydrate Polymers, 2022, 286:119298）。   　　華中農業大學生物質能團隊王艷婷高級工程師為兩篇文章的通訊作者，博士生彭昊和趙雯悅碩士為Green Chemistry的共同第一作者，博士生余華為Carbohydrate Polymers第一作者，團隊彭良才教授、夏濤副教授、食科院劉石林教授、理學院王運教授、湖北文理學院余海忠教授等參與研究。   　　Green Chemistry摘要：   　　Although lignocellulose represents enormous and sustainable biomass resource convertible for biofuels and bioproducts, the green-like and cost-effective technology is increasingly considered to generate value-added bioproducts along with biofuel production. Herein, this study took advantage of the natural rice mutant （Osfc16） that is of recalcitrance-reduced lignocellulose, and performed a direct enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw to achieve significantly raised bioethanol yield by 19% at p < 0.01, compared with wild type. Meanwhile, this work generated optimal cellulose nanofibrils （CNFs） from the remaining enzymatic residues under much less cycles of high-pressure homogenization. Notably, due to their characteristic surfaces, the CNFs at low dosage could not only act as the effective inducer for T. reesei secretion of cellulases complexes with significantly raised protein yields by 99% and enzymes （endoglucanases and xylanases） activities by 27% and 51% by using full rice straw as carbon source, but also play a more efficient stabilizer role for improving almost all major parameters of Pickering emulsions including emulsion index, droplet size, interfacial tension, zeta potential, water holding capacity and storage condition, compared to other chemical inducers and stabilizers （CNFs, proteins, starch） that have been applied in previous studies. Hence, this study has proposed a mechanism model to elucidate why the desirable rice mutant enables to generate the distinct CNFs that are favor for Pickering emulsions stabilization and mixed-cellulases induction coupled with relatively low-cost bioethanol production, providing multiple non-chemical processes as novel green-like technology for complete biomass utilization towards low-cost bioethanol production and high-value bioproducts.   　　原文鏈接：   　　https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2022/GC/D1GC04447H   　　Carbohydrate Polymers摘要：   　　Pectin is a minor wall polysaccharide with potential applications for bioproducts. Despite the application of specific plants and biomass-based sorbents for environmental remediation, little has been reported about characteristic roles of pectin. Using the natural rice mutant （Osfc16） treated with Cd, this study explored that pectin could predominately enhance Cd accumulation with lignocellulose, mainly due to remarkably raised uronic acids deposition. The Cd-treatment further reduced lignocellulose recalcitrance for significantly enhanced biomass saccharification and bioethanol production along with almost complete Cd release. Using all remaining fermentation rice residues that are of typical ribbon-structure and large surface, this study generated novel biosorbents by optimal chemical oxidation with the pectin extraction from citrus peels, and examined consistently raised Cd and methylene blue （MB） adsorption capacities. Therefore, this work has proposed a mechanism model about multiple pectin enrichment roles for Cd and MB removals in agricultural and industry locations with full lignocellulose utilization towards bioethanol production.   　　原文鏈接：   　　https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144861722002028