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Polyethylene is the most commonly used plastic product, and its biodegradation is a worldwide problem. Latex clearing protein derived from Streptomyces sp. strain K30 (Lcp K30 ) has been reported to be able to break the carbon-carbon double bond inside oxidized polyethylene and is an effective biodegradation enzyme for polyethylene. However, the binding of the substrate to the enzyme was difficult due to the hydrophobic nature of polyethylene. Therefore, to further improve the efficiency of Lcp K30 , the effect of different anchor peptides on the binding capacity of Lcp K30 to the substrate was screened in this study. The results of fluorescence confocal microscopy showed that the anchoring peptide LCI had the most significant improvement in effect and was finally selected for further application in a UV-irradiated PE degradation system. The degradation results showed that LCI was able to improve the degradation efficiency of Lcp K30 by approximately 1.15 times in the presence of equimolar amounts of protein compared with wild-type. This study further improves the application of Lcp K30 in the field of polyethylene degradation by modification., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Latex clearing protein from Streptomyces sp. strain K30 (Lcp K30 ) is a natural oxidoreductase that can catalyse the cleavage of rubber through dioxygenation. It has significant potential applications in polymer degradation. However, its limited expression in engineered strains restricts its utility. This study aimed to enhance the soluble expression and enzyme activity of Lcp K30 in E. coli BL21 (DE3) by optimizing fermentation conditions and making molecular modifications. The enzyme activity reached 5.05 U·mL -1 by optimizing the induction conditions, adding cofactors, and using chemical chaperones, which was 237.1 % of the initial case. Further enhancements in soluble expression were achieved through site mutations guided by the PROSS server, resulting in 8 out of 13 mutants with increased protein expression, a high positive mutation rate of 61.5 %. Subsequently, combined mutants were created by merging single mutants with enhanced protein expression and enzyme activity. The top three double mutants, G91D/S149A, G91D/A210H, and G91D/H296P, displayed expression levels at 173.3 %, 173.3 %, and 153.3 % of the wild-type Lcp K30 , respectively. These mutants also exhibited enhanced fermentation enzyme activity, reaching 149.5 %, 250.0 %, and 420.2 % compared to the wild-type, along with improved specific activities. This study provides insights for the efficient production of Lcp K30 and a practical foundation for its application., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This is the first time to report a facile strategy to fabricate galactoglucomannan-based latex with highly transparent, hydrophobic and flexible characteristics by combining etherification with subsequent emulsion polymerization. The allylated galactoglucomannans (A-GGM) and galactoglucomannan-based latexes (GGM-L) were prepared and their chemical structure, substitution degree, molecular weight, conversion rate, particle size and zeta potential were characterized by ATR-FTIR, 1 HNMR, quantitative 13 CNMR, HP-SEC, HPLC and zeta-sizer nanometer analyzer, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of substitution degree on film surface roughness and homogeneity, water vapor permeability (WVP) and thermal stability were evaluated by AFM, SEM, WVP and TGA, respectively. The optimal GGM-L film exhibited 91.3% transmittance and 0.43% haze, 117° water contact angle, 31.2% elongation at break and 30.9 MPa ultimate tensile stress. The bio-based content of the GGM-L may reach about 99 wt%, which provides a promising avenue for polyolefin-based latex replacement for paper and paperboard applications., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Starch based bio-latex has been widely researched in the coating paper area for the purpose of partial replacement of petroleum-based binders. In this paper, a green and facile ball milling pretreatment was proposed to modify the starch granules before α-amylase hydrolysis by breaking up their crystalline structure, thus improving the accessibility and susceptibility of amylase into starch structure. It was found that the improved hydrolysis process after 8 h ball milling can generate suitable degree of polymerization of polysaccharides or oligosaccharides, which further facilitated the following H 2 O 2 oxidation and SHMP crosslinking processes. In addition, a mechanism was also demonstrated to illustrate the improvement induced by ball milling pretreatment. The prepared bio-latex with crosslinking-structure performed excellent adhesive properties when substituted 25 % of petroleum-based latex during paper coating application, which showed great potential in improving the economic, cost, and environment benefits of traditional production of coated paper., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest We would like to submit the enclosed manuscript entitled “Ball milling pretreatment facilitating α-amylase hydrolysis for production of starch-based bio-latex with high performance”, which we wish to be considered as a research paper for publication in “Carbohydrate Polymers”. There is no conflict of interest in this submission. I would like to declare on behalf of my co-authors that the work described is original research that has not been published previously, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. The research in the manuscript has been conducted under the guidance of international ethical standards., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study hierarchically-structured latex polymer coatings and self-supporting films were characterised and their suitability for cell growth studies was tested with Human Dermal Fibroblasts (HDF). Latex can be coated or printed on rigid or flexible substrates thus enabling high-throughput fabrication. Here, coverslip glass substrates were coated with blends of two different aqueous latex dispersions: hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) and hydrophilic carboxylated acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The nanostructured morphology and topography of the latex films was controlled by varying the mixing ratio of the components in the latex blend. Thin latex-coatings retain high transparency on glass allowing optical and high resolution imaging of cell growth and morphology. Compared to coverslip glass surfaces and commercial well-plates HDF cell growth was enhanced up to 150-250 % on latex surfaces with specific nanostructure. Growth rates were correlated with selected roughness parameters such as effective surface area (S q ), RMS-roughness (S dr ) and correlation length (S cl37 ). High-resolution confocal microscopy clearly indicated less actin stress-fibre development in cells on the latex surface compared to coverslip glass. The results show that surface nanotopography can, by itself, passively modulate HDF cell proliferation and cytoskeletal architecture., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This paper reports on an ionic-liquid assisted headspace gas chromatographic (HS-GC) for the determination of the content of alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) in its latex samples, in which the GC system was equipped with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD). The method was based on the AKD hydrolysis conducted in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (ionic-liquid) added medium at 100°C for 10min in a closed headspace sample vial, and the measured CO 2 (the resulting product of the hydrolysis) by HS-GC. The results showed that the present method has a good measurement precision (RSD <2.3%) and accuracy (recoveries from 96 - 105%), and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) is 0.9%. The present method is very suitable to be used for the routine check of AKD content in its latex sample in mill applications. The study also showed that the content of AKD in the tested commercial latex samples were in the range of 3.5-12%., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Spirooxazine (SO) is a class of important photochromic dyes for many applications, such as anti-counterfeiting printing, reversible memory photo devices and optical switching elements in molecular electronics. Since these dyes are expensive, improving their coloration efficiency in response to photo stimuli is of practical importance. In this study, a spirooxazine dye, 1,3-dihydro-1,3,3-trimethylspiro[2H-indole-2,3'-[3H]naphtha[2,1-b][1,4]oxazine], was dispersed into the substrate of a polystyrene acrylic latex emulsion to obtain a stable photochromic dye loaded latex. The photochromic latex was then applied on cellulose paper, and its coloration efficiency was significantly higher than the control (without the latex). Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation revealed that the spirooxazine dye was well dispersed into the matrix of the latex particles, which functioned as a carrier/dispersant for the photochromic dye. Other results, including color stability, and fatigue resistance, were also discussed., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)