Sprucewood xylan

Sprucewood holocellulose was treated with an endo-p-1,4-mannanase isolated from Aspergillus niger and an endo-/3-1,4-xylanase, two avicelases, and a cellobiohydrolase C isolated from Trichoderma viride. The mannanase hydrolyzed about a quarter of the mannan in 2-3 days without xylan or cellulose degradation. The xylanase hydrolyzed about half the xylan with 10% mannan solubilization. The three cellulases hydrolyzed up to 45% of the cellulose and 20% of the xylan, accompanied by 40-70% solubilization of the mannan. Combined xylanase-mannanase treatment hydrolyzed about half the xylan and mannan. Addition of mannanase to to cellulose-treated samples increased the degradation of the cellulose and mannan. Micromorphological studies of the variously treated specimens revealed a loss of substances in P/Slf T, and adjacent zones of S2 of the tracheid wall. 

The xylanase hydrolyzed about half the xylan in the sprucewood holocellulose. This is in the range of the xylan degradation obtained in former studies with delignified beechwood (7,10,22). Boutelje et al. (5) reported only 20-30% xylan hydrolysis of sprucewood holocellulose by a xylanase, even after repeated treatments. They used the same holocellulose and a xylanase isolated from the same commercial enzyme preparation as were used in the mannanase treatment referred to above. The holocellulose contained only a low xylan portion and very little arabinose this could be the reason for the inferior degradation rate, and hence it is not surprising that no free arabinose was detected, in contrast to what... 

The three cellulases decomposed about 25-45% of the cellulose accompanied by solubilization of about 40-70% of the mannan and, by partial hydrolysis, of about 20% of the xylan present in the untreated sprucewood holocellulose. Based on the degradation products (cf. Table III, Columns 13-15, and Table II), the catalytic actions of the three cellulases—all isolated from Trichoderma viride—are similar or identical. The lower absolute degradation values obtained with cellobiohydrolase C might merely be a result of enzyme concentration. 

The combined action of xylanase and mannanase on sprucewood holocellulose increased the hydrolysis of hemicelluloses without any detectable attack of cellulose. At the end of the experiments—i.e., after 48 hr of xylanase incubation followed by 32 hr of combined xylanase-mannanase incubation—about half the hemicelluloses present in the starting material were selectively converted into low-molecular-weight sugars. The amount of mannan removed was two times higher than after 80 hr of incubation with mannanase only. Unexpectedly, the xylan dissolution was scarcely increased by the combined action of the two hemicellulases. 

Most of the mannan in the sprucewood holocellulose was hydrolyzed by the cellulase-mannanase treatments, and only about one-third of the xylan was dissolved and partly hydrolyzed into low-molecular-weight sugars. 

About a quarter of the mannan in the sprucewood holocellulose seems to be accessible to the mannanase. More mannan can be hydrolyzed only when the second hemicellulose becomes at least partly dissolved. The remaining mannan—less than half the initial amount— appears to be removable only together with cellulose degradation. In beechwood holocellulose, most of the main hemicellulose—i.e., the xylan —can be hydrolyzed rather selectively by the sole action of xylanase. This phenomenon could be due to the different molecular size of the two hemicellulases, mannanase about 24 A, xylanase about 18 A (JO), resulting in better diffusing conditions for the xylanase. However, the porosity of the... 

Heuser was also a pioneer in certain of his researches. He was one of the first to show that some types of oxidized cellulose, when treated with mineral acids, give carbon dioxide, thus indicating that carboxyl groups are present. In his studies on lignin, he educed evidence that this system might contain aromatic groups alkaline fusion of sprucewood lignin yielded protocatechuic acid and pyrocatechol, and Heuser and his coworkers obtained extensive (juantitative data in this area. Another early piece of work involved the preparation of purified xylan from straw. 

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