Articles

Construction and characterization of a high-quality cDNA library of Cymbidium faberi suitable for yeast one- and two-hybrid assays

Cymbidium faberi is one of the oldest cultivars of oriental orchids, with an elegant flower fragrance. In order to investigate the molecular mechanism and the functions of related proteins in the methyl jasmonate...

Authors: Yanqin Xu, Junjiang Zhou, Qingqing Liu, Kunpeng Li and Yin Zhou

Intein-mediated recombinant expression of monomeric B22Asp desB30 insulin

Insulin controls hyperglycemia caused by diabetes, and virtually all treatments require exogenous insulin. However, the product’s extensive post-translational modifications have hindered the manufacture of rec...

Authors: Minmin Zhang, Yunlong Zhang, Bingnan Wu, Yanhao Peng, Altaf Ahmed Simair, Geoffery W. Siegel, Changrui Lu and Ting Chen

Screening of cellulolytic bacteria from rotten wood of Qinling (China) for biomass degradation and cloning of cellulases from Bacillus methylotrophicus

Cellulosic biomass degradation still needs to be paid more attentions as bioenergy is the most likely to replace fossil energy in the future, and more evaluable cellulolytic bacteria isolation will lay a found...

Authors: Lingling Ma, Yingying Lu, Hong Yan, Xin Wang, Yanglei Yi, Yuanyuan Shan, Bianfang Liu, Yuan Zhou and Xin Lü

Development and applications of a monoclonal antibody against caprine interferon-gamma

Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is an important mediator of type I immune response and has antiviral, immunoregulatory and anti-tumor properties, plays a wide range of roles in inflammation and autoimmune diseases. T...

Authors: Wen-Tao Ma, Qi Liu, Meng-Xia Ning, Yu-Xu Qi, Saad Rehman and De-Kun Chen

Optimized production of a biologically active Clostridium perfringens glycosyl hydrolase phage endolysin PlyCP41 in plants using virus-based systemic expression

Clostridium perfringens, a gram-positive, anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium, is the third leading cause of human foodborne bacterial disease and a cause of necrotic enteritis in poultry. It is controlled using anti...

Authors: Rosemarie W. Hammond, Steven M. Swift, Juli A. Foster-Frey, Natalia Y. Kovalskaya and David M. Donovan

The next generation of biopanning: next gen sequencing improves analysis of bacterial display libraries

Bacterial surface display libraries are a popular tool for novel ligand discovery due to their ease of manipulation and rapid growth rates. These libraries typically express a scaffold protein embedded within ...

Authors: Sarah D. Stellwagen, Deborah A. Sarkes, Bryn L. Adams, Mia A. Hunt, Rebecca L. Renberg, Margaret M. Hurley and Dimitra N. Stratis-Cullum

Fecal DNA isolation and degradation in clam Cyclina sinensis: noninvasive DNA isolation for conservation and genetic assessment

To avoid destructive sampling for conservation and genetic assessment, we isolated the DNA of clam Cyclina sinensis from their feces. DNA electrophoresis and PCR amplification were used to determine the quality o...

Authors: Min Zhang, Min Wei, Zhiguo Dong, Haibao Duan, Shuang Mao, Senlei Feng, Wenqian Li, Zepeng Sun, Jiawei Li, Kanglu Yan, Hao Liu, Xueping Meng and Hongxing Ge

Medfly-Wolbachia symbiosis: genotype x genotype interactions determine host’s life history traits under mass rearing conditions

Wolbachia pipientis is a widespread, obligatory intracellular and maternally inherited bacterium, that induces a wide range of reproductive alterations to its hosts. Cytoplasmic Incompatibility (CI) is causing em...

Authors: Georgios A. Kyritsis, Antonios A. Augustinos, Ioannis Livadaras, Carlos Cáceres, Kostas Bourtzis and Nikos T. Papadopoulos

A walk on the wild side: gut bacteria fed to mass-reared larvae of Queensland fruit fly [Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt)] influence development

The Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera, Tephritidae) is the most significant insect pest of Australian horticulture. Bactrocera tryoni is controlled using a range of tools including the S...

Authors: Lucas Alexander Shuttleworth, Mohammed Abul Monjur Khan, Terrence Osborne, Damian Collins, Mukesh Srivastava and Olivia Louise Reynolds

Potential of a fly gut microbiota incorporated gel-based larval diet for rearing Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

The Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is an important polyphagous pest of horticultural produce. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a proven control method against many i...

Authors: Mahfuza Khan, Kajla Seheli, Md. Abdul Bari, Nahida Sultana, Shakil Ahmed Khan, Khandokar Fahmida Sultana and Md. Anwar Hossain

Horizontal transfer and finalization of a reliable detection method for the olive fruit fly endosymbiont, Candidatus Erwinia dacicola

The olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, is the most important insect pest in olive production, causing economic damage to olive crops worldwide. In addition to extensive research on B. oleae control methods, scientists ...

Authors: Gaia Bigiotti, Roberta Pastorelli, Roberto Guidi, Antonio Belcari and Patrizia Sacchetti

The host fruit amplifies mutualistic interaction between Ceratitis capitata larvae and associated bacteria

The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata is a major pest in horticulture. The development of fly larvae is mediated by bacterial decay in the fruit tissue. Despite the importance of bacteria on larval devel...

Authors: Doron Shalom Yishai Zaada, Michael Ben-Yosef, Boaz Yuval and Edouard Jurkevitch

Olive fruit fly rearing procedures affect the vertical transmission of the bacterial symbiont Candidatus Erwinia dacicola

The symbiosis between the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, and Candidatus Erwinia dacicola has been demonstrated as essential for the fly’s larval development and adult physiology. The mass rearing of the olive...

Authors: Patrizia Sacchetti, Roberta Pastorelli, Gaia Bigiotti, Roberto Guidi, Sara Ruschioni, Carlo Viti and Antonio Belcari

Biochemical and nutritional characterization of the medfly gut symbiont Enterobacter sp. AA26 for its use as probiotics in sterile insect technique applications

Enterobacter sp. AA26 was recently isolated from the midgut of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and it was shown to have positive effects in rearing efficiency when used as larval probiotics. In this study, biomass...

Authors: Konstantinos Azis, Ioanna Zerva, Paraschos Melidis, Carlos Caceres, Kostas Bourtzis and Spyridon Ntougias

The oesophageal diverticulum of Dirioxa pornia studied through micro-CT scan, dissection and SEM studies

Dirioxa pornia (Diptera, Tephritidae) (Island fly) is an Australian native species related to a number of pestiferous fruit flies but, unlike many of the pest species, has not been studied extensively due to its ...

Authors: Kala Bhandari, Peter Crisp and Michael A. Keller

The effect of diet and radiation on the bacterial symbiome of the melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett)

Symbiotic bacteria contribute to a multitude of important biological functions such as nutrition and reproduction and affect multiple physiological factors like fitness and longevity in their insect hosts. The...

Authors: Elias D. Asimakis, Mahfuza Khan, Panagiota Stathopoulou, Carlos Caceres, Kostas Bourtzis and George Tsiamis

Simultaneous hydrolysis with lipase and fermentation of rapeseed cake for iturin A production by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CX-20

Rapeseed cake (RSC), as the intermediate by-product of oil extraction from the seeds of Brassica napus, can be converted into rapeseed meal (RSM) by solvent extraction to remove oil. However, compared with RSM, R...

Authors: Wenchao Chen, Xuan Li, Xuli Ma, Shouwen Chen, Yanping Kang, Minmin Yang, Fenghong Huang and Xia Wan

Morphological analysis of Apolipoprotein E binding to Aβ Amyloid using a combination of Surface Plasmon Resonance, Immunogold Labeling and Scanning Electron Microscopy

Immunogold labeling in combination with transmission electron microscopy analysis is a technique frequently used to correlate high-resolution morphology studies with detailed information regarding localization...

Authors: Tohidul Islam, Anna L. Gharibyan, Cheng Choo Lee and Anders Olofsson

A new method for quantitative detection of Lactobacillus casei based on casx gene and its application

The traditional method of bacterial identification based on 16S rRNA is a widely used and very effective detection method, but this method still has some deficiencies, especially in the identification of close...

Authors: Xiaoyang Pang, Ziyang Jia, Jing Lu, Shuwen Zhang, Cai Zhang, Min Zhang and Jiaping Lv

Purification of the recombinant green fluorescent protein from tobacco plants using alcohol/salt aqueous two-phase system and hydrophobic interaction chromatography

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) has been regarded as a valuable tool and widely applied as a biomarker in medical applications and diagnostics. A cost-efficient upstream expression system and an inexpensiv...

Authors: Jie Dong, Xiangzhen Ding and Sheng Wang

Improvement and use of CRISPR/Cas9 to engineer a sperm-marking strain for the invasive fruit pest Drosophila suzukii

The invasive fruit pest Drosophila suzukii was reported for the first time in Europe and the USA in 2008 and has spread since then. The adoption of type II clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat...

Authors: Hassan M. M. Ahmed, Luisa Hildebrand and Ernst A. Wimmer

13th Annual Biotechnology Congress (BAC Madrid 2019): abstract collection

Authors:

Tuning the performance of CAR T cell immunotherapies

Simultaneous advances in gene editing, T cell engineering and biotechnology currently provide an opportunity for rapid progress in medicine. The approval of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies by ...

Authors: Noah H. Richardson, Jordan B. Luttrell, Jonathan S. Bryant, Damian Chamberlain, Saleem Khawaja, Indira Neeli and Marko Radic

LC-MSMS based screening of emerging pollutant degradation by different peroxidases

The presence of a wide range of bioactive organic pollutants in wastewater and municipal water sources is raising concerns about their potential effects on humans. Not surprisingly, various approaches are bein...

Authors: Khadega A. Almaqdi, Rana Morsi, Bahia Alhayuti, Farah Alharthi and S. Salman Ashraf

Engineering integrative vectors based on phage site-specific recombination mechanism for Lactococcus lactis

Site-specific integration system allows foreign DNA to be integrated into the specific site of the host genome, enabling stable expression of heterologous protein. In this study, integrative vectors for secret...

Authors: Innanurdiani Koko, Adelene Ai-Lian Song, Mas Jaffri Masarudin and Raha Abdul Rahim

Production and characterization of virus-like particles of grapevine fanleaf virus presenting L2 epitope of human papillomavirus minor capsid protein

Virus-like particle (VLP) platform represents a promising approach for the generation of efficient and immunogenic subunit vaccines. Here, the feasibility of using grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV) VLPs as a new ...

Authors: Razieh Yazdani, Masoud Shams-Bakhsh, Afshin Hassani-Mehraban, Seyed Shahriar Arab, Nicolas Thelen, Marc Thiry, Jacques Crommen, Marianne Fillet, Nathalie Jacobs, Alain Brans and Anne-Catherine Servais

A simple method for in vitro preparation of natural killer cells from cord blood

Cord Blood (CB) has been considered a promising source of natural killer (NK) cells for cellular immunotherapy. However, it is difficult to expand the large numbers of highly pure NK cells from CB without cell...

Authors: Yong Xu Mu, Yu Xia Zhao, Bing Yao Li, Hong Jing Bao, Hui Jiang, Xiao Lei Qi, Li Yun Bai, Yun Hong Wang, Zhi Jie Ma and Xiao Yun Wu

Identification and characterization of the GmRD26 soybean promoter in response to abiotic stresses: potential tool for biotechnological application

Drought is one of the most harmful abiotic stresses for plants, leading to reduced productivity of several economically important crops and, consequently, considerable losses in the agricultural sector. When p...

Authors: Elinea O. Freitas, Bruno P. Melo, Isabela T. Lourenço-Tessutti, Fabrício B. M. Arraes, Regina M. Amorim, Maria E. Lisei-de-Sá, Julia A. Costa, Ana G. B. Leite, Muhammad Faheem, Márcio A. Ferreira, Carolina V. Morgante, Elizabeth P. B. Fontes and Maria F. Grossi-de-Sa

Correction to: A new primer construction technique that effectively increases amplification of rare mutant templates in samples

Following publication of the original article [1], the author informed us that the legend for Fig. 2 was incorrect.

Authors: Jr-Kai Huang, Ling Fan, Tao-Yeuan Wang and Pao-Shu Wu

Isolating promoters from Corynebacterium ammoniagenes ATCC 6871 and application in CoA synthesis

Corynebacterium ammoniagenes is an important industrial organism that is widely used to produce nucleotides and the potential for industrial production of coenzyme A by C. ammoniagenes ATCC 6871 has been shown. H...

Authors: Yingshuo Hou, Siyu Chen, Jianjun Wang, Guizhen Liu, Sheng Wu and Yong Tao

Sustained transgene expression from sleeping beauty DNA transposons containing a core fragment of the HNRPA2B1-CBX3 ubiquitous chromatin opening element (UCOE)

DNA transposon-based vectors are effective nonviral tools for gene therapy and genetic engineering of cells. However, promoter DNA methylation and a near-random integration profile, which can result in transge...

Authors: Kristian Alsbjerg Skipper, Anne Kruse Hollensen, Michael N. Antoniou and Jacob Giehm Mikkelsen

Rapid generation and selection of Cas9-engineering TRP53 R172P mice that do not have off-target effects

Genetic mutations cause severe human diseases, and suitable animal models to study the regulatory mechanisms involved are required. The CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful, highly efficient and easily manipulated...

Authors: Guoxing Zheng, Qingqing Zhu, Junchao Dong, Xin Lin and Chengming Zhu

Multiplex quantitative PCR for single-reaction genetically modified (GM) plant detection and identification of false-positive GM plants linked to Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) infection

Most genetically modified (GM) plants contain a promoter, P35S, from the plant virus, Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), and many have a terminator, TNOS, derived from the bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Assa...

Authors: Aurélie Bak and Joanne B. Emerson

Disruption of a putative mitochondrial oxaloacetate shuttle protein in Aspergillus carbonarius results in secretion of malic acid at the expense of citric acid production

In filamentous fungi, transport of organic acids across the mitochondrial membrane is facilitated by active transport via shuttle proteins. These transporters may transfer different organic acids across the me...

Authors: Lei Yang, Tore Linde, Abeer H. Hossain, Mette Lübeck, Peter J. Punt and Peter S. Lübeck

gRNA validation for wheat genome editing with the CRISPR-Cas9 system

The CRISPR-Cas9 system is a powerful and versatile tool for crop genome editing. However, achieving highly efficient and specific editing in polyploid species can be a challenge. The efficiency and specificity...

Authors: Taj Arndell, Niharika Sharma, Peter Langridge, Ute Baumann, Nathan S. Watson-Haigh and Ryan Whitford

Use of the kojA promoter, involved in kojic acid biosynthesis, for polyketide production in Aspergillus oryzae: implications for long-term production

Aspergillus oryzae, a useful industrial filamentous fungus, produces limited varieties of secondary metabolites, such as kojic acid. Thus, for the production of valuable secondary metabolites by genetic engineeri...

Authors: Koichi Tamano, Mahoko Kuninaga, Naoshi Kojima, Myco Umemura, Masayuki Machida and Hideaki Koike

Rapid high throughput template preparation (rHTTP) method: a novel cost effective method of direct PCR for a wide range of plants

Conventional plant DNA isolation methods are complex, time consuming and require technical expertise. These limitations were overcome using the DNA isolation kits which, however significantly add to the resear...

Authors: Prassan Choudhary, Sudipta Das, Hillol Chakdar, Arjun Singh, Sanjay Kumar Goswami and Anil Kumar Saxena

Standardized mounting method of (zebrafish) embryos using a 3D-printed stamp for high-content, semi-automated confocal imaging

Developmental biology relies to a large extent on the observation and comparison of phenotypic traits through time using high resolution microscopes. In this context, transparent model organisms such as the ze...

Authors: David Simon Kleinhans and Virginie Lecaudey

Development of a novel human phage display-derived anti-LAG3 scFv antibody targeting CD8⁺ T lymphocyte exhaustion

Lymphocyte-activation gene (LAG)3 is a 498 aa transmembrane type I protein acting as an immune inhibitory receptor. It is expressed on activated lymphocytes, natural killer cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cel...

Authors: Alessandro Ascione, Claudia Arenaccio, Alessandra Mallano, Michela Flego, Mara Gellini, Mauro Andreotti, Craig Fenwick, Giuseppe Pantaleo, Stefano Vella and Maurizio Federico

Soybean plants expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis cry8-like gene show resistance to Holotrichia parallela

Cry8-like from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) encodes an insecticidal crystal (Cry) protein. Holotrichia parallela (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidae), commonly known as the dark black chafer, is a troublesome pest of soybe...

Authors: Di Qin, Xiao-Yi Liu, Cristina Miceli, Qi Zhang and Pi-wu Wang

Rejuvenation of chicory and lettuce plants following phase change in tissue culture

A frequent problem associated with the tissue culture of Compositae species such as chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is the premature bolting to in vitro flowering of regenerated pla...

Authors: Anthony J. Conner, Helen Searle and Jeanne M. E. Jacobs

Intracellular human antibody fragments recognizing the VP35 protein of Zaire Ebola filovirus inhibit the protein activity

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is caused by the Ebola filovirus (EBOV), which is one of the most aggressive infectious agents known worldwide. The EBOV pathogenesis starts with uncontrolled viral replication and subv...

Authors: Michela Flego, Aldo Frau, Luisa Accardi, Alessandra Mallano, Alessandro Ascione, Mara Gellini, Elisa Fanunza, Stefano Vella, Paola Di Bonito and Enzo Tramontano

Identification and characterization of an Endo-glucanase secreted from cellulolytic Escherichia coli ZH-4

In the previous study, the cellulolytic Escherichia coli ZH-4 isolated from bovine rumen was found to show extracellular cellulase activity and could degrade cellulose in the culture. The goal of this work was to...

Authors: Jian Pang, Junshu Wang, Zhanying Liu, Qiancheng Zhang and Qingsheng Qi

A new primer construction technique that effectively increases amplification of rare mutant templates in samples

In personalized medicine, companion diagnostic tests provide additional information to help select a treatment option likely to be optimal for a patient. Although such tests include several techniques for dete...

Authors: Jr-Kai Huang, Ling Fan, Tao-Yeuan Wang and Pao-Shu Wu

A novel starch-binding laccase from the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici highlights the functional diversity of ascomycete laccases

Laccases are multicopper oxidases, which are assigned into auxiliary activity family 1 (AA1) in the CAZy database. These enzymes, catalyzing the oxidation of phenolic and nonphenolic substrates coupled to redu...

Authors: Majid Haddad Momeni, Paolo Bollella, Roberto Ortiz, Esben Thormann, Lo Gorton and Maher Abou Hachem

Characterization of tethered equine chorionic gonadotropin and its deglycosylated mutants by ovulation stimulation in mice

To directly assess the biological role of oligosaccharides in recombinant equine chorionic gonadotropin (rec-eCG) functioning, cDNA encoding the full-length eCGβ-subunit was fused with the mature protein part ...

Authors: Kwan-Sik Min, Jong-Ju Park, Munkhzaya Byambaragchaa and Myung-Hwa Kang

Structure-based engineering of heparinase I with improved specific activity for degrading heparin

Heparinase I from Pedobacter heparinus (Ph-HepI), which specifically cleaves heparin and heparan sulfate, is one of the most extensively studied glycosaminoglycan lyases. Enzymatic degradation of heparin by hepar...

Authors: Chuan Zhang, Bao-Cheng Yang, Wen-Ting Liu, Zhong-Yuan Li, Ya-Jian Song, Tong-Cun Zhang and Xue-Gang Luo

Metabolic flux analysis for metabolome data validation of naturally xylose-fermenting yeasts

Efficient xylose fermentation still demands knowledge regarding xylose catabolism. In this study, metabolic flux analysis (MFA) and metabolomics were used to improve our understanding of xylose metabolism. Thu...

Authors: Henrique C. T. Veras, Christiane G. Campos, Igor F. Nascimento, Patrícia V. Abdelnur, João R. M. Almeida and Nádia S. Parachin

Syneresis investigations of lacto-fermented sodium caseinate in a mixed model system

The textural characteristics of fermented dairy products are important quality parameters that play a major role in their stability and consumer’s acceptance. The aim of this study was to investigate the influ...

Authors: Soumaya El Bouchikhi, Philippe Pagès, Yassir El Alaoui, Azeddine Ibrahimi and Yahya Bensouda

Optimization of a nicotine degrading enzyme for potential use in treatment of nicotine addiction

Smoking and tobacco use continue to be the largest preventable causes of death globally. A novel therapeutic approach has recently been proposed: administration of an enzyme that degrades nicotine, the main ad...

Authors: Thomas Thisted, Zuzana Biesova, Celine Walmacq, Everett Stone, Max Rodnick-Smith, Shaheda S. Ahmed, Stephen K. Horrigan, Bo Van Engelen, Charles Reed and Matthew W. Kalnik