Abstract
Non-cellulosic polysaccharides constitute approximately one third of usable woody biomass for human exploitation. In contrast to cellulose, these substances are composed of several different types of unit monosaccharides and their backbones are substituted by various groups. Their structural diversity and recent examples of their modification in transgenic plants and mutants suggest they can be targeted for improving wood-processing properties, thereby facilitating conversion of wood in a biorefinery setting. Critical knowledge on their structure-function relationship is slowly emerging, although our understanding of molecular interactions responsible for observed phenomena is still incomplete. This review: (1) provides an overview of structural features of major non-cellulosic polysaccharides of wood, (2) describes the fate of non-cellulosic polysaccharides during biorefinery processing, (3) shows how the non-cellulosic polysaccharides impact lignocellulose processing focused on yields of either sugars or polymers, and (4) discusses outlooks for the improvement of tree species for biorefinery by modifying the structure of non-cellulosic polysaccharides.
Highlights
Reviewed by: Jozef Mravec, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Rosemary White, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
Non-cellulosic polysaccharides constitute approximately one third of usable woody biomass for human exploitation. These substances are composed of several different types of unit monosaccharides and their backbones are substituted by various groups
This review: (1) provides an overview of structural features of major non-cellulosic polysaccharides of wood, (2) describes the fate of non-cellulosic polysaccharides during biorefinery processing, (3) shows how the non-cellulosic polysaccharides impact lignocellulose processing focused on yields of either sugars or polymers, and (4) discusses outlooks for the improvement of tree species for biorefinery by modifying the structure of non-cellulosic polysaccharides
Summary
Xylan Content and Length Affect Saccharification and Plant Growth Xylan is a key factor of recalcitrance, mainly by reducing cellulose accessibility (Bura et al, 2009; De Martini et al, 2013), prompting efforts to reduce its content in hardwoods. Modest reductions in acetylation in KD RWA aspen (Pawar et al, 2017b) and in aspen expressing fungal xylan acetyl esterase AnAXE1 targeted to cell walls (Pawar et al, 2017a; Table 1) were well tolerated by plants These plants yielded 20–25% more glucose in enzymatic saccharification without pretreatment.
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