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Clostridium Acetobutylicum
''Clostridium acetobutylicum'', ATCC 824, is a commercially valuable bacterium sometimes called the "Weizmann Organism", after Jewish Russian-born biochemist Chaim Weizmann. A senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, England, he used them in 1916 as a bio-chemical tool to produce at the same time, jointly, acetone, ethanol, and n-butanol from starch. The method has been described since as the ABE process, (Acetone Butanol Ethanol fermentation process), yielding 3 parts of acetone, 6 of ''n''-butanol, and 1 of ethanol. Acetone was used in the important wartime task of casting cordite. The alcohols were used to produce vehicle fuels and synthetic rubber. Unlike yeast, which can digest only some sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide, ''C. acetobutylicum'' and other Clostridia can digest whey, sugar, starch, cellulose and perhaps certain types of lignin, yielding ''n''-butanol, propionic acid, ether, and glycerin. In genetic engineering In 2008, a strain of ''Escheric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of glycosidic bond, β(1→4) linked glucose, D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteria secrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer, organic polymer on Earth. The cellulose content of cotton fibre is 90%, that of wood is 40–50%, and that of dried hemp is approximately 57%. Cellulose is mainly used to produce paperboard and paper. Smaller quantities are converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and rayon. Conversion of cellulose from energy crops into biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol is under development as a renewable fuel source. Cellulose for industrial use is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton. Cellulose is also greatly affected by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butanol
Butanol (also called butyl alcohol) is a four-carbon alcohol with a formula of C4 H9 OH, which occurs in five isomeric structures (four structural isomers), from a straight-chain primary alcohol to a branched-chain tertiary alcohol; all are a butyl or isobutyl group linked to a hydroxyl group (sometimes represented as BuOH, ''sec''-BuOH, i-BuOH, and ''t''-BuOH). These are 1-butanol, two stereoisomers of ''sec''-butyl alcohol, isobutanol and ''tert''-butyl alcohol. Butanol is primarily used as a solvent and as an intermediate in chemical synthesis, and may be used as a fuel. Biologically produced butanol is called biobutanol, which may be ''n''-butanol or isobutanol. Isomers The unmodified term ''butanol'' usually refers to the straight chain isomer with the alcohol functional group at the terminal carbon, which is also known as 1-butanol. The straight chain isomer with the alcohol at an internal carbon is ''sec''-butyl alcohol or 2-butanol. The branched isomer with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acetone
Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly Volatile organic compound, volatile, and flammable liquid with a characteristic pungent odor. Acetone is miscibility, miscible with properties of water, water and serves as an important organic solvent in industry, home, and laboratory. About 6.7 million tonnes were produced worldwide in 2010, mainly for use as a solvent and for production of methyl methacrylate and bisphenol A, which are precursors to widely used plastics.Acetone World Petrochemicals report, January 2010Stylianos Sifniades, Alan B. Levy, "Acetone" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005. It is a common building block in organic chemistry. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reductase
In biochemistry, an oxidoreductase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of electrons from one molecule, the reductant, also called the electron donor, to another, the oxidant, also called the electron acceptor. This group of enzymes usually utilizes NADP+ or NADH, NAD+ as Cofactor (biochemistry), cofactors. Transmembrane oxidoreductases create electron transport chains in bacteria, Photosystem, chloroplasts and mitochondria, including respiratory complexes Respiratory complex I, I, complex II, II and complex III, III. Some others can associate with biological membranes as peripheral membrane proteins or be anchored to the membranes through a single transmembrane helix. in Membranome database Reactions For example, an enzyme that ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acyl-CoA
Acyl-CoA is a group of coenzyme A, CoA-based coenzymes that metabolize carboxylic acids. Fatty acyl-CoA's are susceptible to beta oxidation, forming, ultimately, acetyl-CoA. The acetyl-CoA enters the citric acid cycle, eventually forming several equivalents of Adenosine triphosphate, ATP. In this way, fats are converted to ATP, the common biochemical energy carrier. Functions Fatty acid activation Fats are broken down by conversion to acyl-CoA. This conversion is one response to high energy demands such as exercise. The oxidative degradation of fatty acids is a two-step process, catalyzed by Long-chain-fatty-acid—CoA ligase, acyl-CoA synthetase. Fatty acids are converted to their acyl phosphate, the precursor to acyl-CoA. The latter conversion is mediated by acyl-CoA synthase" :acyl-P + HS-CoA → acyl-S-CoA + Pi + H+ Three types of acyl-CoA synthases are employed, depending on the chain length of the fatty acid. For example, the substrates for medium chain acyl-CoA synthas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatty Acid
In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an Branched chain fatty acids, unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, from 4 to 28. Fatty acids are a major component of the lipids (up to 70% by weight) in some species such as microalgae but in some other organisms are not found in their standalone form, but instead exist as three main classes of esters: triglycerides, phospholipids, and cholesteryl esters. In any of these forms, fatty acids are both important diet (nutrition), dietary sources of fuel for animals and important structural components for cell (biology), cells. History The concept of fatty acid (''acide gras'') was introduced in 1813 by Michel Eugène Chevreul, though he initially used some variant terms: ''graisse acide'' and ''acide huileux'' ("acid fat" and "oi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enzyme
An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as product (chemistry), products. Almost all metabolism, metabolic processes in the cell (biology), cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps. The study of enzymes is called ''enzymology'' and the field of pseudoenzyme, pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis, which is often reflected in their amino acid sequences and unusual 'pseudocatalytic' properties. Enzymes are known to catalyze more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types. Other biocatalysts include Ribozyme, catalytic RNA molecules, also called ribozymes. They are sometimes descr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alkane
In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical trivial name that also has other meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon. In other words, an alkane consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure in which all the carbon–carbon bonds are single. Alkanes have the general chemical formula . The alkanes range in complexity from the simplest case of methane (), where ''n'' = 1 (sometimes called the parent molecule), to arbitrarily large and complex molecules, like hexacontane () or 4-methyl-5-(1-methylethyl) octane, an isomer of dodecane (). The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) defines alkanes as "acyclic branched or unbranched hydrocarbons having the general formula , and therefore consisting entirely of hydrogen atoms and saturated carbon atoms". However, some sources use the term to denote ''any'' saturated hydrocarbon, including those that are either monocyclic (i.e. the cycloalkanes) or polycycl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escherichia Coli
''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms. Most ''E. coli'' strains are part of the normal microbiota of the gut, where they constitute about 0.1%, along with other facultative anaerobes. These bacteria are mostly harmless or even beneficial to humans. For example, some strains of ''E. coli'' benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K2 or by preventing the colonization of the intestine by harmful pathogenic bacteria. These mutually beneficial relationships between ''E. coli'' and humans are a type of mutualistic biological relationship—where both the humans and the ''E. coli'' are benefitting each other. ''E. coli'' is expelled into the environment within fecal matter. The bacterium grows massi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glycerin
Glycerol () is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, viscous liquid. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in pharmaceutical formulations. Because of its three hydroxyl groups, glycerol is miscible with water and is Hygroscopy, hygroscopic in nature. Modern use of the word glycerine (alternatively spelled glycerin) refers to commercial preparations of less than 100% purity, typically 95% glycerol. Structure Although chirality, achiral, glycerol is prochirality, prochiral with respect to reactions of one of the two primary alcohols. Thus, in substituted derivatives, the Glycerophospholipid#Nomenclature and stereochemistry, stereospecific numbering labels the molecule with a ''sn''- prefix before the stem name of the molecule. Production Natural sources Glycerol is generally obtained from plant and animal sources where it occurs in triglycerides, est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
