Biomass is the most abundant organic macromolecules in nature, which is expected to achieve the brilliant of biorefinery equivalent to petroleum refining. However, it is considered as the future industry to human due to the complicated composition and transformation processes. The traditional lignocellulose bio-refining thoughts ignored the functional requirements of products, but spent a lot of energies to destruct macromolecule into small molecules, and then converted the small molecules into different products, which was high energy consumption and low atom economy. How to realize the biorefinery of lignocellulose is the key point and difficulty to achieve the biomass industry. An ideal biorefinery of lignocellulose should as far as possibly to obtain the maximum yield of each component, to maintain the integrity of the molecule, to optimize the utilization of raw materials and finally to realize the maximum value. Therefore, it requires the raw materials refining of lignocellosic biomass should be based on the relationship of structure, process transformation and related product characteristics. This special issue reports the latest advances in the fields of raw material refinery, refining technologies, conversion technologies of component.
Biomass ; Biotransformation ; Lignin ; chemistry

Fermentation inhibitors are toxic to cells, which is one of the bottlenecks for lignocellulose bio-refinery process. How to remove those inhibitors serves a key role in the bioconversion of lignocellulose. This article reviews the sources and the types of the inhibitors, especially the updated removal strategies including physical methods, chemical methods, biological methods and inhibitor-tolerant strain construction strategies. Based on these, we introduce a new bio-refinery model named "fractional conversion", which reduces the production of inhibitors at pretreatment stage, and a novel in situ detoxification method named "fermentation promoter exploitation technology". This review could provide new research ideas on the removal of fermentation inhibitors.
Biotechnology ; methods ; Biotransformation ; Fermentation ; Lignin ; chemistry

Two white rot fungi, Ceriporia sp. ZLY-2010 (CER) and Stereum hirsutum (STH) were used as biocatalysts for the biotransformation of (-)-alpha-pinene. After 96 hr, CER converted the bicyclic monoterpene hydrocarbon (-)-alpha-pinene into alpha-terpineol (yield, 0.05 g/L), a monocyclic monoterpene alcohol, in addition to, other minor products. Using STH, verbenone was identified as the major biotransformed product, and minor products were myrtenol, camphor, and isopinocarveol. We did not observe any inhibitory effects of substrate or transformed products on mycelial growth of the fungi. The activities of fungal manganese-dependent peroxidase and laccase were monitored for 15 days to determine the enzymatic pathways related to the biotransformation of (-)-alpha-pinene. We concluded that a complex of enzymes, including intra- and extracellular enzymes, were involved in terpenoid biotransformation by white rot fungi.
Biotransformation* ; Camphor ; Enzymes ; Fungi* ; Laccase ; Peroxidase

Protoberberine alkaloids belong to the quaternary ammonium isoquinoline alkaloids, and are the main active ingredients in traditional Chinese herbal medicines, like Coptis chinensis. They have been widely used to treat such diseases as gastroenteritis, intestinal infections, and conjunctivitis. Studies have shown that structural modification of the protoberberine alkaloids could produce derivative compounds with new pharmacological effects and biological activities, but the transformation mechanism is not clear yet. This article mainly summarizes the researches on the biotransformation and structure modification of protoberberine alkaloids mainly based on berberine, so as to provide background basis and new ideas for studies relating to the mechanism of protoberberine alkaloids and the pharmacological activity and application of new compounds.
Alkaloids ; Berberine ; Berberine Alkaloids ; Biotransformation ; Coptis

Food wastes are rich in nutrients and can be used for producing useful chemicals through biotransformation. Some oleaginous microorganisms can use food wastes to produce lipids and high value-added metabolites such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, squalene, and carotenoids. This not only reduces the production cost, but also improves the economic value of the products, thus has large potential for commercial production. This review summarized the advances in food waste treatment, with a focus on the lipid production by oleaginous microorganisms using food wastes. Moreover, challenges and future directions were prospected with the aim to provide a useful reference for related researchers.
Biofuels ; Biotransformation ; Food ; Lipids ; Refuse Disposal

The present study was designed to determine the intestinal bacterial metabolites of trollioside and isoquercetin and their antibacterial activities. A systematic in vitro biotransformation investigation on trollioside and isoquercetin, including metabolite identification, metabolic pathway deduction, and time course, was accomplished using a human intestinal bacterial model. The metabolites were analyzed and identified by HPLC and HPLC-MS. The antibacterial activities of trollioside, isoquercetin, and their metabolites were evaluated using the broth microdilution method with berberine as a positive control, and their potency was measured as minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). Our results indicated that trollioside and isoquercetin were metabolized by human intestinal flora through O-deglycosylation, yielding aglycones proglobeflowery acid and quercetin, respectively The antibacterial activities of both metabolites were more potent than that of their parent compounds. In conclusion, trollioside and isoquercetin are totally and rapidly transformed by human intestinal bacteria in vitro and the transformation favors the improvement of the antibacterial activities of the parent compounds.
Activation, Metabolic ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; metabolism ; Bacteria ; metabolism ; Benzoates ; metabolism ; Biotransformation ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Glucosides ; metabolism ; Humans ; Intestines ; microbiology ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Models, Biological ; Quercetin ; analogs & derivatives ; metabolism

Hypertension is a serious health problem due to high frequency and concomitant other diseases including cardiovascular and renal dysfunction. Olmesartan cilexetil is a new antihypertensive drug associated with angiotensin II receptor antagonist. This study was conducted to evaluate the mutagenicity of olmesartan cilexetil by bacterial reverse mutation test using Salmonella typhimurium (TA100, TA1535, TA98, and TA1537) and Escherichia coli (WP2 uvrA). At the concentrations of 0, 62, 185, 556, 1667, and 5000 microg/plate, olmesartan cilexetil was negative in both Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli regardless of presence or absence of metabolic activation system (S9 mix). These results demonstrate that olmesartan cilexetil does not induce bacterial reverse mutation.
Biotransformation ; Escherichia coli ; Hypertension ; Imidazoles ; Receptors, Angiotensin ; Salmonella typhimurium ; Tetrazoles

OBJECT: The aim of this study is to determine whether exposure to chlorpromazine causes mutagenicity and genetic disorders. METHOD: Ames (Salmonella typhimurium) test and Rec assay (Bacillus subtilis) were used as indicators for DNA damage. Furthermore, the levels of umu operon expression by measuring the beta-galactosidase activity were monitered with the SOS umu test using S. typhimurium 1535 containing plasmid pSK1002. And the host-mediated assay was used to investigate the muta-genicity of chlorpromazine after the activation with in vivo metabolic systems. RESULTS: From the results, chlorpromazine did not affect DNA of S. typhimurium and B. subtilis strains and showed no mutagenicity at the all concentrations tested. These phenomena was also similar to that after metabolic activation of chlorpromazine in in vivo system. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that chlorpromazine did not show the mutagenicity and genotoxicity by four different methods used in this study.
beta-Galactosidase ; Biotransformation ; Chlorpromazine* ; DNA ; DNA Damage ; Operon ; Plasmids

Biorefinery that utilizes renewable biomass for production of fuels, chemicals and bio-materials has become more and more important in chemical industry. Recently, steam explosion technology, acid and alkali treatment are the main biorefinery treatment technologies. Meanwhile, low temperature plasma technology has attracted extensive attention in biomass refining process due to its unique chemical activity and high energy. We systemically summarize the research progress of low temperature plasma technology for pretreatment, sugar platflow, selective modification, liquefaction and gasification in biomass refinery. Moreover, the mechanism of low temperature plasma in biorefinery and its further development were also discussed.
Biomass ; Biotechnology ; methods ; Biotransformation ; Chemical Industry ; Cold Temperature ; Plasma Gases

Combined with method of ketoconazole resistance screening, a 7alpha,15alpha-diOH-DHEA high-producing mutant Colletotrichum lini ST-1 was obtained by compound mutation of NTG and low energy N+ ion beam implantation. With the substrate concentration of 10 g/L DHEA, the molar yield of 7alpha,15alpha-diOH-DHEA reached 34.2%, increased by 46.2% than that of the original strain. Then we optimized the medium. First, Plackett-Burman design was used to evaluate the effects of medium components on molar yield of the product. Results show that glucose, yeast extract and MgSO4 x 7H2O were the important parameters for the biotransformation process. Subsequently, the path of steepest ascent was used to approach the optimal levels. To obtain the optimal levels, central composite design and response surface analysis were carried out. The optimal medium was as follows (g/L): glucose 26.34, yeast extract 12.15, corn flour 3.00, FeSO4 x 7H2O 0.015, MgSO4 x 7H2O 0.14, KH2PO4 0.90. Under the optimal conditions, the molar yield of 7alpha,15alpha-diOH-DHEA reached 49.3%, which was 44.2% higher than that of using the medium before optimization.
Biotransformation ; Colletotrichum ; metabolism ; Dehydroepiandrosterone ; chemistry ; Fermentation ; Hydroxylation ; Industrial Microbiology ; Mutation