Objective
The present project has the general aims:
(1) to optimize selective processes for lignocellulosic wastes fractionation using hydrothermal-based treatments producing crude xylo-oligosaccharides syrups;
(2) to purify different xylo-oligosaccharides as intermediate or end products for pharmaceutical and food applications;
(3) to resolve the structure of novel oligosaccharides with biological activity obtained from lignocellulosic wastes;
(4) obtention of a fast xylo-oligosaccharide degrading recombinant Debaryomyces hansenii;
(5) optimization of the fermentation of xylo-oligosaccharides-based and xylose-based media for xylitol production in batch reactors using wild and recombinant yeast strains;
(6) feasibility of novel industrial processes for oligosaccharide and xylitol production: technical and economical considerations.
In this proposal we will study the processing of plant raw materials, such as agro-industrial, agricultural and forest wastes into higher added-value final or intermediate products by using physical, chemical and biotechnological processes. Hemicellulose-lich plant wastes will be fractionated by physical treatments minimizing the environmental impact (avoiding acid, alkali or organosoly additions) to selectively release the xylan fraction, from the remaining plant biomass. The goal is to optimize an integrated process for biomass fractionation that can be used for different biomass wastes producing diethetic edulcorants (xylitol) and xylo-oligosaccharides, the latter as intermediate products for pharmaceutical and food applications. The xylo-oligosaccharides will be extensively purified, structurally characterized and their biological activity as anti-inflamatory or anti-tumoural agent will be quantified.
Xylo-oligosaccharide syrups will be obtained by optimizing different hydrothermal treatments, depending of the raw material. A user-friendly format model will be developed for process assessment. The xylo-oligosaccharide mixtures will be separated and isolated by preparative size exclusion (HPAEC) chromatography. Structural analysis to identify the range of substituted oligosaccharides carrying a residual arabinose, acetyl or 4-0-methylglucuronic substituent will be subject of study diggesting the oligosaccharides with pure and well characterized enzymes. For both pharmaceutical and food industrial applications, we foresee to focus the research on oligosaccharides, mainly from DP range of 2-7. One of the partners (a SME company) will focus its research efforts to develop application technologies for some of the xylooligosaccharides as additive for healthier foods.
Alternatively, crude xylo-oligosaccharide syrups will be used as fermentation media for xylitol production. As wild yeast strains do not easily use oligosaccharides as C-source but only after hydrolysis to mono-saccharides, the cloning of the ß-xylanase, ß -xylosidase and a-L-arabinofuranosidase genes from fungi into Debaryomyces hansenii will be carried out in order to produce directly xylitol from xylo- or arabino-xylo-oligosaccharides. Another approach is engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae with the above genes plus xylose reductase gene for xylitol production.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology mycology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules carbohydrates
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
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Coordinator
1699 Lisboa
Portugal
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