The present disclosure relates to the use of beta-glucosidase to enhance the production efficiency of desired steviol glycosides, such as rebaudioside M (reb M).

Methods to reduce sticky and fluff induced rewinder breaks by reducing the adhesive character of adhesive materials, fluff and sticky contaminants in fibers are described. One method involves contacting the fibers with a composition containing at least one of each of a cellulase, a hemicellulase, a -glucosidase, a lipase, an esterase, a pectinase, a pectate lyase and a laccase for a sufficient time and in a sufficient amount to control the removal or controlling adhesive materials, fluff and sticky contaminants present in the fibers. Preferably, the fibers are recycled fibers originating from a variety of sources such as old corrugated containers, old newsprint, mixed office waste, and the like. Resulting paper products formed from the processed fibers are also described as well as methods to make them.

The present invention provides enzymes that have been optimized by implementation of Protein Repair One Stop Shop (PROSS), an algorithm that generates protein design(s) for enhanced stability without changing either enzymatic properties or enzyme active site conformation of the respective enzyme. The protein design(s) generated by PROSS introduce mutations to the amino acid sequence of a wild-type protein, resulting in a mutated amino acid sequence that encodes a variant of the wild-type enzyme, i.e., an enzyme variant, which has an enhanced stability, core packing, surface polarity and backbone rigidity, a higher functional expression, and/or a combination thereof, compared to the stability core packing, surface polarity and backbone rigidity, functional expression and/or a combination thereof, of the wild-type enzyme.

The invention relates to a product for use in the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of infections, said treatment comprising oral administration of the product, wherein the product is selected from a nutritional formulation, a food product, a dietary supplement, a beverage and a pharmaceutical product, said product containing carrot RG-I polysaccharides having the following combination features: a molecular weight in the range 10-300 kDa; a backbone consisting of galacturonic acid residues and rhamnose residues, said rhamnose residues being contained in alpha(1.fwdarw.4)-galacturonic-alpha(1.fwdarw.2)-rhamnose residues; the following monosaccharide composition: 20-60 mol. % galacturonic acid residues, wherein the individual galacturonic acids can be methylated and/or acetyl-esterified; 8-50 mol. % rhamnose residues; 0-40 mol. % arabinose residues; 0-40 mol. % galactose residues; molar ratio of galacturonic acid residues to rhamnose residues in the range of 5:1 to 1:1; galacturonic acid residues, rhamnose residues, arabinose residues and galactose residues together constitute at least 85 mol. % of the monosaccharide residues in the carrot RG-I polysaccharides.

These carrot RG-I polysaccharides can be produced by partially hydrolysing pectic polysaccharides present in a carrot pectin isolate. The effectiveness of carrot RG-I polysaccharides against infections is substantially improved by enzymatically hydrolysing the RG-I polysaccharides to remove at least part of the homogalacturonan component.

The invention provides a method of producing a hydrolysed pectic polysaccharide isolate that is enriched in rhamnogalacturonan-I, said method comprising the steps of: providing a pectin-rich substrate that has been obtained from plant material without the use of organic solvent, said pectin-rich substrate containing at least 3% by weight of dry matter of pectic polysaccharides; subjecting the pectin-rich substrate to enzymatic treatment to partially hydrolyse the pectic polysaccharides, said treatment enzymatic treatment comprising the use of one or more pectinases selected from pectin lyase (EC4.2.2.10), pectate lyase (EC 4.2.2.2), rhamnogalacturonan galacturonohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.173), endo-polygalacturonase (EC 3.2.1.15), exopolygalacturonase (EC 3.2.1.67 and EC 3.2.1.82); subjecting the partially hydrolysed pectic polysaccharides to ultrafiltration using an ultrafiltration membrane having a molecular weight cut-off in the range of 5 to 100 kDa; and recovering the ultrafiltration retentate.

The present invention further relates to the hydrolysed pectic polysaccharide isolate obtained by the present method and to a process of preparing a product selected from a nutritional formulation, a food product, a dietary supplement, a beverage or a pharmaceutical product, said process comprising addition of the aforementioned hydrolysed pectic polysaccharide isolate.

Provided are acidic thermophilic polygalacturonase TePG28A, encoding gene and application thereof. The amino acid sequence thereof is as shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 or SEQ ID NO. 2. The expressed acidic thermophilic polygalacturonase by means of cloning has advantages such as high enzyme activity and high stability; can adapt to the high temperature environment in the industrial production; has better application prospect; and can effectively degrade pectic substances such as polygalacturonic acid and pectin; and can be effectively applied to the industrial field of feed, food, and textile, etc.

The invention discloses a method for preparing rapeseed oil by a semi-solid aqueous enzymatic process, belonging to the field of functional foods and health care products. The present invention first prepares a semi-solid rapeseed paste with 3.5-4.5% moisture content, which is hydrolyzed by a mixture of pectinase, cellulase and alkaline protease to extract rapeseed oil. The resulting rapeseed oil contains high levels of active ingredients including totaxin, sterol, phenols and beta-carotene. The rapeseed oil of the invention can be added into animal feeds, which helps to reduce animal blood lipid levels and body weight. It can significantly reduce the contents of total triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDC-C in the blood, and, at the same time, increases the level of HDL-C in the blood. In addition, the rapeseed oil prepared by the present invention can relieve hepatic steatosis in hyperlipemia rats.

The present invention relates to a method for introducing a substance into a plant. The method of the present invention comprises the steps of: obtaining an enzymatically treated and isolated fertilized egg cell by (1-i) isolating a fertilized egg cell from a plant tissue containing a fertilized egg cell, and then treating the fertilized egg cell with an enzyme solution containing a plant tissue-degrading enzyme under a low-titer condition, (1-ii) treating a plant tissue containing a fertilized egg cell with an enzyme solution containing a plant tissue-degrading enzyme under a low-titer condition, and then isolating the fertilized egg cell that has been enzymatically treated, (1-iii) treating a plant tissue containing a fertilized egg cell with an enzyme solution containing a plant tissue-degrading enzyme under a low-titer condition, and simultaneously isolating the fertilized egg cell that has been enzymatically treated, (1-iv) isolating an egg cell and a sperm cell from a plant to produce a fertilized egg by fusing the cells, and then treating the fertilized egg cell with an enzyme solution containing a plant tissue-degrading enzyme under a low-titer condition, or (1-v) treating a plant tissue containing an egg cell with an enzyme solution containing a plant tissue-degrading enzyme under a low-titer condition, and then isolating the egg cell that has been enzymatically treated, and further fusing the egg cell with an isolated sperm cell; and (2) introducing a substance selected from the group consisting of nucleic acids, proteins, and peptides into the resultant enzymatically treated and isolated fertilized egg cell.

The present invention relates to a mutant fungal strain of Penicillium funiculosum MRJ-16 characterized by the ability to produce high titer of enzyme mixture comprising FPase, CMCase, Cellobiase, -glucosidase, endoglucanase, -L arabinofuranosidase, -xylosidase, xylanase, pectinase, cellobiohydrase and oxidases and produce enzymes in the presence of a catabolite repressor molecule like glucose and/or xylose. The titer of enzyme mixture produced using mutant fungal strain MRJ-16 is at least two fold higher than naive Penicillium funiculosum strain NCIM 1228, when used in a fermentation process. The mutant strain MRJ-16 with high hydrolytic activity and catabolite derepressed character is having application in the method of degrading or saccharifying biomass to produce valuable products for example-bioethanol.

The present invention relates to a composition, particularly a composition comprising digestive enzymes and appetite suppressant. The composition can be used for reducing appetite, inducing weight loss and/or promote food digestion in a subject in need thereof.