Abstract
The bacterial BcsA-B cellulose synthase synthesizes cellulose II when immobilized on nickel surfaces. To explore how lignin interacts with cellulose, lignin was polymerized either during or after cellulose formation from surface immobilized BcsA-B, leading to significant alterations in cellulose and lignin morphology. To facilitate lignin detection, polymerized coniferyl alcohol monolignols were detected by lignin autofluorescence. This compound was previously demonstrated as a suitable lignin monolignol exhibiting autofluorescence that enables lignin detection even at low concentrations. Cellulose and lignin coated nickel surfaces were studied under confocal microscopy, as well as by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). As a consequence of simultaneous lignin and cellulose deposition on the surface, cellulose microfibril morphology was altered. XRD data indicated that cellulose crystal size was significantly decreased by polymerized lignin incorporation, suggesting that simultaneous lignin polymerization prevents the proper assembly of cellulose microfibrils. In contrast, polymerizing lignin after cellulose synthesis yielded a cellulose that was very similar in character to control (lignin-free) samples in terms of crystal morphology.
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Acknowledgments
The Material Research Institute (MRI), The Pennsylvania State University with their characterization user facilities, supported this work. The U.S. Department of Agriculture under Award Number 11-JV-11111129-121 supports the sputter coating of Ni on silicon wafers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture under Award Number (USDA, NIFA Grant 2011-67009-20049) supports AFM, XRD and confocal microscopy experiments by S. Basu. BcsA-B enzyme preparation by J. Zimmer as well as confocal microscopy facility provided by C. Anderson were both supported by the Center for LignoCellulose Structure and Formation, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001090. We acknowledge N. Wonderling (MRI, PSU) for her assistance with XRD data analysis; T. Tighe (MRI, PSU) for providing extensive training on AFM and W. Drawl for sputter depositing Ni films on Si wafers.
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Basu, S., Catchmark, J.M., Brown, N.R. et al. BcsAB synthesized cellulose on nickel surface: polymerization of monolignols during cellulose synthesis alters cellulose morphology. Cellulose 27, 5629–5639 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03178-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03178-7