In recent years, owing to the growing global demand for energy, dependence on fossil fuels, limited natural resources and environmental pollution, biofuels have attracted great interest as a source of renewable energy. However, the production of biofuels from plant biomass is still considered to be an expensive technology. In this context, the study of carbohydrate-binding […]
Agência FAPESP – Aprimorar coquetéis enzimáticos é caminho para etanol celulósico
15/05/2012 Por Fábio de Castro Agência FAPESP – Novos avanços científicos tornaram a produção de etanol celulósico realidade, mas ainda é preciso um esforço concentrado de pesquisa para torná-la economicamente viável em escala industrial. O caminho mais curto para cumprir esse objetivo é a intensificação dos estudos que visam aperfeiçoar e otimizar os coquetéis de enzimas […]
Mapping the lignin distribution in pretreated sugarcane bagasse by confocal and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.
Mapping the lignin distribution in pretreated sugarcane bagasse by confocal and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. Coletta VC, Rezende CA, da Conceição FR, Polikarpov I, Guimarães FE. BACKGROUND: Delignification pretreatments of biomass and methods to assess their efficacy are crucial for biomass-to-biofuels research and technology. Here, we applied confocal and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) […]
X-ray Structure and Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Endoglucanase 3 from Trichoderma harzianum: Structural Organization and Substrate Recognition by Endoglucanases That Lack Cellulose Binding Module
X-ray Structure and Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Endoglucanase 3 from Trichoderma harzianum: Structural Organization and Substrate Recognition by Endoglucanases That Lack Cellulose Binding Module Érica T. Prates, Ivana Stankovic, Rodrigo L. Silveira, Marcelo V. Liberato, Flávio Henrique-Silva, Nei Pereira Jr, Igor Polikarpov, Munir S. Skaf Plant biomass holds a promise for the production of […]
Effects of pretreatment on morphology, chemical composition and enzymatic digestibility of eucalyptus bark: a potentially valuable source of fermentable sugars for biofuel production – part 1
Effects of pretreatment on morphology, chemical composition and enzymatic digestibility of eucalyptus bark: a potentially valuable source of fermentable sugars for biofuel production – part 1. Lima MA, Lavorente GB, da Silva HK, Bragatto J, Rezende CA, Bernardinelli OD, de Azevedo ER, Gomez LD, McQueen-Mason SJ, Labate CA, Polikarpov I. BACKGROUND: In recent years, the growing demand for biofuels has encouraged the search for […]
Universidades estaduais paulistas criam doutorado em bioenergia
Com previsão de início para março de 2014, as três universidades estaduais paulistas vão organizar um programa de excelência em bioenergia, no qual os alunos terão oportunidade de estudar com os melhores especialistas nos diferentes aspectos do setor e poderão se conectar com os principais centros de pesquisa da área, no mundo. Com a proposta […]
Bumblebees sense electric fields in flowers
As they zero in on their sugary reward, foraging bumblebees follow an invisible clue: electric fields. Although some animals, including sharks, are known to have an electric sense, this is the first time the ability has been documented in insects. Read the full history in http://www.nature.com/news/bumblebees-sense-electric-fields-in-flowers-1.12480
Why poor sleep and forgetfulness plague the ageing brain
Old age tends to make us forgetful, and elderly people often have trouble sleeping too. Now a new study suggests that these two annoyances may be connected: age-related shrinking of a specific part of the cortex causes sleep disturbances, which in turn interfere with memory formation. http://www.nature.com/news/why-poor-sleep-and-forgetfulness-plague-the-ageing-brain-1.12303
Notable advances 2012
Notable advances 2012 From the microbiome to the microenvironment, certain areas of biomedicine saw fast-paced discovery this year. Here’s a rundown of the papers that helped these fields advance quickly in 2012. http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v18/n12/full/nm1212-1732.html
Joint x-ray crystallographic and molecular dynamics study of cellobiohydrolase I from trichoderma harzianum: deciphering the structural features of cellobiohydrolase catalytic activity
Textor LC, Colussi F, Silveira RL, Serpa V, de Mello BL, Muniz JR, Squina FM, Pereira N Jr, Skaf MS, Polikarpov I. Aiming to contribute towards the characterization of new, biotechnologically relevant cellulolytic enzymes, we report here the first crystal structure of the catalytic core domain of Cel7A (CBHI) from the filamentous fungus Trichoderma harzianum IOC 3844. Our structural studies and molecular dynamics […]