The SINAT E3 ubiquitin ligases regulate ABA signaling by modulating the protein stability of ESCRT components FREE1 and VPS23A.

Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable resource that is widely abundant and can be used to produce biofuels such as methanol and ethanol. Because biofuels have the potential to alleviate shortages of energy in today’s world, they have attracted much research attention. The pretreatment of lignocellulose is an important step in the conversion of biomass products. The pretreatment can destroy the crosslinking effect of lignin and hemicellulose on cellulose, remove lignin, degrade hemicellulose, and change the crystal structure of cellulose. The reaction area between the enzyme and the substrate is enlarged, and the yield of subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation products is significantly increased. Conventional pretreatment methods help convert lignocellulosic material to sugars, but the treatments also produce some inhibitors, which are mainly organic acids, aldehydes, phenols, and other substances. They may affect the subsequent saccharification and growth of fermentation microorganisms, thereby reducing the bioconversion of the lignocellulose. It is therefore necessary to take effective means of detoxification. This paper reviews lignocellulose pretreatment methods, with an emphasis on inhibitors and their management. A summary is provided of detoxification methods, and the future use of lignocellulosic biomass for fuels prospects.

The phytohormone gibberellic acids (GAs) play a crucial role in the processes of growth, organ development, and secondary metabolism. However, the mechanism of exogenous GA₃ regulating the growth and flavonoid synthesis in Phellodendron chinense Schneid (P. chinense Schneid) seedlings remains unclear. In this study, the physicochemical properties, gene expression level, and secondary metabolite of P. chinense Schneid seedlings under GA₃ treatment were investigated. The results showed that GA₃ significantly improved the plant height, ground diameter, fresh weight, chlorophyll content, soluble substance content, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase activities. This was accompanied by elevated relative expression levels of Pc(S)-GA2ox, Pc(S)-DELLA, Pc(S)-SAUR50, Pc(S)-PsaD, Pc(S)-Psb 27, Pc(S)-PGK, Pc(S)-CER3, and Pc(S)-FBA unigenes. Conversely, a notable reduction was observed in the carotenoid content, catalase activity and the relative expression abundances of Pc(S)-KAO, Pc(S)-GID1/2, and Pc(S)-GH 3.6 unigenes in leaves of P. chinense Schneid seedlings (p < 0.05). Furthermore, GA₃ evidently decreased the contents of pinocembrin, pinobanksin, isosakuranetin, naringin, naringenin, (−)-epicatechin, tricetin, luteolin, and vitexin belonged to flavonoid in stem bark of P. chinense Schneid seedlings (p < 0.05). These results indicated that exogenous GA₃ promoted growth through improving chlorophyll content and gene expression in photosynthesis and phytohormone signal pathway and inhibited flavonoid synthesis in P. chinense Schneid seedlings.

Cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) is one of the cellulase auxiliary proteins, which is widely used in the field of biomass degradation. However, how to efficiently and cheaply apply it in industrial production still needs further research. Aspergillus niger C112 is a significant producer of cellulase and has a relatively complete lignocellulose degradation system, but its CDH activity was only 3.92 U. To obtain a recombinant strain of A. niger C112 with high cellulases activity, the CDH from the readily available white-rot fungus Grifola frondose had been heterologously expressed in A. niger C112, under the control of the gpdA promoter. After cultivation in the medium with alkali-pretreated poplar fiber as substrate, the enzyme activity of recombinant CDH reached 36.63 U/L. Compared with the original A. niger C112, the recombinant A. niger transformed with Grifola frondosa CDH showed stronger lignocellulase activity, the activities of cellulases, β-1, 4-glucosidase and manganese peroxidase increased by 28.57, 35.07 and 121.69%, respectively. The result showed that the expression of the gcdh gene in A. niger C112 could improve the activity of some lignocellulose degrading enzymes. This work provides a theoretical basis for the further application of gcdh gene in improving biomass conversion efficiency.