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The conversion of cell wall biomass for biorefinery requires chemical or physical pretreatments to disrupt the recalcitrant plant cell walls and to make the cellulose accessible to enzymes. Considering representative softwood (pine) and hardwood (poplar) biomass, we studied the impact of two pretreatments on enzymatic saccharification and cell wall accessibility using fluorescence microscopy, in collaboration with SCION in New Zealand and the PICT platform from URCA. Lignin fluorescence properties (fluorescence lifetime) was positively correlated with glucose conversion and negatively correlated with lignin content and structure. The interaction between cell wall and fluorescent PEG probes, as evaluated using Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), showed high negative correlation with the probe size and was greatly increased by chlorite delignification. Thus the accessibility and interactions of small probes in pretreated biomass could be a relevant indicator of potential for saccharification, whereas fluorescence lifetime provides a new criteria for assessing relevant cell wall structural modifications related to enzymatic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass.

Read: Chabbert B, Terryn C, Herbaut M, Vaidya A, Habrant A, Paës G, Donaldson L. Fluorescence techniques can reveal cell wall organization and predict saccharification in pretreated wood biomass. Industrial Crops and Products 2018, 123, 84-92

Contacts: Dr Brigitte Chabbert, brigitte.chabbert@inra.fr
                 Dr Gabriel Paës, gabriel.paes@inra.fr