Detection of Lignin-Polysaccharide Interactions

With an advanced biophysical analysis platform, CD BioSciences offers our customers services for the detection of lignin-polysaccharide interactions. Exploring detailed information on cell wall structure opens up the possibility for researchers to optimize cell wall properties for the efficient use of lignin to generate sustainable bioenergy.

Background

The secondary cell wall contains most of the plant biomass and is a supramolecular network of aromatic polymers and carbohydrates. This complex structure provides mechanical support for the upright growth of plants as well as a conduit for the long-distance transport of water and nutrients. But it also poses the challenge that researchers have had difficulty chemically and enzymatically processing lignocellulosic material during biofuel production, limiting the efficient generation of sustainable bioenergy.

In the secondary cell walls of woody materials, cellulose microfibril bundles are typically encapsulated by xylan-lignin complexes and cross-linked by glucomannan. Currently, the interactions between wall polymers are only rarely characterized and understood due to the technical limitations inherent in traditional analytical methods. Traditional methods that rely on the isolation and purification of specific components inevitably disrupt the physical state of biomolecules and molecular interactions, giving us considerable difficulty in characterizing detailed molecular information about the cell wall structure. A variety of new biophysical analytical methods have recently been developed to alleviate this limitation.

Fig.1 A model of lignin-polysaccharide packing and secondary cell wall architecture. (Kang, 2019)

Our Services

The development of biophysical analytical methods such as solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) and dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) techniques have opened up the possibility of characterizing detailed molecular information about the structure of the cell wall. With these methods with excellent resolution and sensitivity, we offer our customers services for the detection of lignin-carbohydrate interactions, including but not limited to:

• Study of structural polymorphisms in lignin and polysaccharides in secondary cell walls.
• We identify packing interactions through intermolecular cross peaks, providing fine details on the spatial proximity (rather than covalent bonding) of cell wall polymers.
• We probe polymer mobilities on microsecond and millisecond time scales through relaxation curves.
• Detection of the hydration profile of secondary cell walls.

Applications

• Study on the supramolecular structure of cell walls.
• Promoting the development of crops with higher digestibility.
• Improving the efficiency of biomass deconstruction and conversion to biofuels.

Our Advantages

• Leading technology
• Creative professional R&D team
• Detailed characterization data
• Cost-effective and efficient services

CD BioSciences has a team of highly qualified experts to meet your scientific needs in the field of plant cell wall structure research. Our stringent quality control system ensures that we deliver high-quality results to you within the estimated time frame. If you require services related to the characterization of lignin-carbohydrate interactions, please contact us.

Reference

1. Kang, X.; et al. Lignin-polysaccharide interactions in plant secondary cell walls revealed by solid-state NMR. Nature communications. 2019, 10(1): 1-9.