Non-photosynthetic plastids as hosts for metabolic engineering

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silas Busck Mellor ◽  
James B.Y.H. Behrendorff ◽  
Agnieszka Zygadlo Nielsen ◽  
Poul Erik Jensen ◽  
Mathias Pribil

Using plants as hosts for production of complex, high-value compounds and therapeutic proteins has gained increasing momentum over the past decade. Recent advances in metabolic engineering techniques using synthetic biology have set the stage for production yields to become economically attractive, but more refined design strategies are required to increase product yields without compromising development and growth of the host system. The ability of plant cells to differentiate into various tissues in combination with a high level of cellular compartmentalization represents so far the most unexploited plant-specific resource. Plant cells contain organelles called plastids that retain their own genome, harbour unique biosynthetic pathways and differentiate into distinct plastid types upon environmental and developmental cues. Chloroplasts, the plastid type hosting the photosynthetic processes in green tissues, have proven to be suitable for high yield protein and bio-compound production. Unfortunately, chloroplast manipulation often affects photosynthetic efficiency and therefore plant fitness. In this respect, plastids of non-photosynthetic tissues, which have focused metabolisms for synthesis and storage of particular classes of compounds, might prove more suitable for engineering the production and storage of non-native metabolites without affecting plant fitness. This review provides the current state of knowledge on the molecular mechanisms involved in plastid differentiation and focuses on non-photosynthetic plastids as alternative biotechnological platforms for metabolic engineering.

Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 832
Author(s):  
Ruipu Mu ◽  
Zhaoshuai Wang ◽  
Max C. Wamsley ◽  
Colbee N. Duke ◽  
Payton H. Lii ◽  
...  

Nowadays, biocatalysts have received much more attention in chemistry regarding their potential to enable high efficiency, high yield, and eco-friendly processes for a myriad of applications. Nature’s vast repository of catalysts has inspired synthetic chemists. Furthermore, the revolutionary technologies in bioengineering have provided the fast discovery and evolution of enzymes that empower chemical synthesis. This article attempts to deliver a comprehensive overview of the last two decades of investigation into enzymatic reactions and highlights the effective performance progress of bio-enzymes exploited in organic synthesis. Based on the types of enzymatic reactions and enzyme commission (E.C.) numbers, the enzymes discussed in the article are classified into oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, and lyases. These applications should provide us with some insight into enzyme design strategies and molecular mechanisms.


Author(s):  
David P. Bazett-Jones ◽  
Mark L. Brown

A multisubunit RNA polymerase enzyme is ultimately responsible for transcription initiation and elongation of RNA, but recognition of the proper start site by the enzyme is regulated by general, temporal and gene-specific trans-factors interacting at promoter and enhancer DNA sequences. To understand the molecular mechanisms which precisely regulate the transcription initiation event, it is crucial to elucidate the structure of the transcription factor/DNA complexes involved. Electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) provides the opportunity to visualize individual DNA molecules. Enhancement of DNA contrast with ESI is accomplished by imaging with electrons that have interacted with inner shell electrons of phosphorus in the DNA backbone. Phosphorus detection at this intermediately high level of resolution (≈lnm) permits selective imaging of the DNA, to determine whether the protein factors compact, bend or wrap the DNA. Simultaneously, mass analysis and phosphorus content can be measured quantitatively, using adjacent DNA or tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) as mass and phosphorus standards. These two parameters provide stoichiometric information relating the ratios of protein:DNA content.


Author(s):  
Basem M. Abdallah ◽  
Hany M. Khattab

: The isolation and culture of murine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal stem cells (mBMSCs) have attracted great interest in terms of the pre-clinical applications of stem cells in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In addition, culturing mBMSCs is important for studying the molecular mechanisms of bone remodelling using relevant transgenic mice. Several factors have created challenges in the isolation and high-yield expansion of homogenous mBMSCs; these factors include low frequencies of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal stem cells (BMSCs) in bone marrow, variation among inbred mouse strains, contamination with haematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs), the replicative senescence phenotype and cellular heterogeneity. In this review, we provide an overview of nearly all protocols used for isolating and culturing mBMSCs with the aim of clarifying the most important guidelines for culturing highly purified mBMSC populations retaining in vitro and in vivo differentiation potential.


Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 301
Author(s):  
Xingjia Li ◽  
Zhi Shi ◽  
Xiuli Zhang ◽  
Xiangjian Meng ◽  
Zhiqiang Huang ◽  
...  

The effect of testing temperature and storage period on the polarization fatigue properties of poly (vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF–TrFE)) ultrathin film devices were investigated. The experimental results show that, even after stored in air for 150 days, the relative remanent polarization (Pr/Pr(0)) of P(VDF–TrFE) of ultrathin films can keep at a relatively high level of 0.80 at 25 °C and 0.70 at 60 °C. To account for this result, a hydrogen fluoride (HF) formation inhibition mechanism was proposed, which correlated the testing temperature and the storage period with the microstructure of P(VDF–TrFE) molecular chain. Moreover, a theoretical model was constructed to describe the polarization fatigue evolution of P(VDF–TrFE) samples.


Author(s):  
Jianhua Yuan ◽  
Jianglin Cao ◽  
Fei Yu ◽  
Jie Ma ◽  
Dong Zhang ◽  
...  

Biomanufacturing of metal/metallic nanomaterials with the ordered micro/nanostructures and controllable functions is of great importance in both fundamental studies and practical applications, due to their low toxicity, less pollution production,...


Weed Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Qian Yang ◽  
Xia Yang ◽  
Zichang Zhang ◽  
Jieping Wang ◽  
Weiguo Fu ◽  
...  

Abstract Barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) is a noxious grass weed which infests rice fields and causes huge crop yield losses. In this study, we collected twelve E. crus-galli populations from rice fields of Ningxia province in China and investigated the resistance levels to acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor penoxsulam and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) inhibitor cyhalofop-butyl. The results showed that eight populations exhibited resistance to penoxsulam and four populations evolved resistance to cyhalofop-butyl. Moreover, all of the four cyhalofop-butyl-resistant populations (NX3, NX4, NX6 and NX7) displayed multiple-herbicide-resistance (MHR) to both penoxsulam and cyhalofop-butyl. The alternative herbicides bispyribac-sodium, metamifop and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl cannot effectively control the MHR plants. To characterize the molecular mechanisms of resistance, we amplified and sequenced the target-site encoding genes in resistant and susceptible populations. Partial sequences of three ALS genes and six ACCase genes were examined. A Trp-574-Leu mutation was detected in EcALS1 and EcALS3 in two high-level (65.84- and 59.30-fold) penoxsulam-resistant populations NX2 and NX10, respectively. In addition, one copy (EcACC4) of ACCase genes encodes a truncated aberrant protein due to a frameshift mutation in E. crus-galli populations. None of amino acid substitutions that are known to confer herbicide resistance were detected in ALS and ACCase genes of MHR populations. Our study reveals the widespread of multiple-herbicide resistant E. crus-galli populations at Ningxia province of China that exhibit resistance to several ALS and ACCase inhibitors. Non-target-site based mechanisms are likely to be involved in E. crus-galli resistance to the herbicides, at least in four MHR populations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Thisgaard ◽  
Joel Kumlin ◽  
Niels Langkjær ◽  
Jansen Chua ◽  
Brian Hook ◽  
...  

Abstract Background With increasing clinical demand for gallium-68, commercial germanium-68/gallium-68 ([68Ge]Ge/[68Ga]Ga) generators are incapable of supplying sufficient amounts of the short-lived daughter isotope. In this study, we demonstrate a high-yield, automated method for producing multi-Curie levels of [68Ga]GaCl3 from solid zinc-68 targets and subsequent labelling to produce clinical-grade [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 and [68Ga]Ga-DOTATATE. Results Enriched zinc-68 targets were irradiated at up to 80 µA with 13 MeV protons for 120 min; repeatedly producing up to 194 GBq (5.24 Ci) of purified gallium-68 in the form of [68Ga]GaCl3 at the end of purification (EOP) from an expected > 370 GBq (> 10 Ci) at end of bombardment. A fully automated dissolution/separation process was completed in 35 min. Isolated product was analysed according to the Ph. Eur. monograph for accelerator produced [68Ga]GaCl3 and found to comply with all specifications. In every instance, the radiochemical purity exceeded 99.9% and importantly, the radionuclidic purity was sufficient to allow for a shelf-life of up to 7 h based on this metric alone. Fully automated production of up to 72.2 GBq [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 was performed, providing a product with high radiochemical purity (> 98.2%) and very high apparent molar activities of up to 722 MBq/nmol. Further, manual radiolabelling of up to 3.2 GBq DOTATATE was performed in high yields (> 95%) and with apparent molar activities (9–25 MBq/nmol) sufficient for clinical use. Conclusions We have developed a high-yielding, automated method for the production of very high amounts of [68Ga]GaCl3, sufficient to supply proximal radiopharmacies. The reported method led to record-high purified gallium-68 activities (194 GBq at end of purification) and subsequent labelling of PSMA-11 and DOTATATE. The process was highly automated from irradiation through to formulation of the product, and as such comprised a high level of radiation protection. The quality control results obtained for both [68Ga]GaCl3 for radiolabelling and [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 are promising for clinical use.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-soo Park ◽  
Oleksandr Khoma ◽  
Hans Van Der Wall ◽  
Gregory Falk

Abstract   No gold-standard investigation exists for laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). Multichannel intraluminal impedance (MII)-pH testing has uncertain utility in LPR. Meanwhile, reflux scintigraphy allows immediate and delayed visualisation of tracer reflux in the esophagus, pharynx, and lungs. The present study aimed to correlate MII-pH and scintigraphic reflux results in patients with primary LPR. Methods Consecutive patients with LPR underwent MII-pH and scintigraphic reflux studies. Abnormal values for MII-pH results were defined from existing literature. MII-pH and scintigraphic data were correlated. Results 105 patients with LPR (31 males (29.5%), median age 60 years (range: 20–87)) were studied. Scintigraphic reflux was seen in the pharynx in 94 (90.4%), and in the proximal esophagus in 94 (90.4%). Delayed scintigraphic contamination of the pharynx was seen in 101 patients (96.2%) and in the lungs of 56 patients (53.3%). Abnormal reflux was seen in the distal esophagus in 12.4%, proximal esophagus in 25.7%, and in the pharynx in 82.9%. Patients with poor scintigraphic clearance had higher Demeester scores (p = 0.043), more proximal reflux episodes (p = 0.046), more distal acid reflux episodes (p = 0.023), and longer bolus clearance times (p = 0.002). Conclusion Reflux scintigraphy has a high yield in LPR patients. Scintigraphic time-activity curves correlated with validated MII-pH results. A high rate of pulmonary microaspiration was found in LPR patients. This study demonstrated a high level of pharyngeal contamination by scintigraphy and MII-pH, which supports the use of digital reflux scintigraphy in diagnosing LPR.


1990 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 569-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dierk Scheel ◽  
Jane E. Parker

Abstract Plants defend themselves against pathogen attack by activating a whole set of defense responses, most of them relying on transcriptional activation of plant defense genes. The same responses are induced by treatment of plant cells with elicitors released from the pathogen or from the plant surface. Several plant/elicitor combinations have been used successfully as experimental systems to investigate the molecular basis of plant defense responses. Receptor-like structures on the plasma membrane of plant cells appear to bind the elicitors. Thereby, intracellular signal transduction chains are initiated which finally result in the activation of plant defense genes. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of early processes in plant defense responses, as provided by these studies, may in the long term help to develop environmentally safe plant protection methods for agriculture.


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