Articles

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

Lack of specificity associated with using molecular beacons in loop mediated amplification assays

Loop mediated isothermal amplification of nucleic acid templates is a rapid, sensitive and specific method suitable for molecular diagnostics. However the complexity of primer design and the number of primers ...

Authors: Patrick Hardinge and James A. H. Murray

Improved the expression level of active transglutaminase by directional increasing copy of mtg gene in Pichia pastoris

The microbial transglutaminase (MTG) is inactive when only the mature sequence is expressed in Pichia pastoris. Although co-expression of MTG and its N-terminal pro-peptide can obtain the active MTG, the enzyme a...

Authors: Xiaoping Song, Changsheng Shao, Yugang Guo, Yajie Wang and Jingjing Cai

Provision of carbon skeleton for lipid synthesis from the breakdown of intracellular protein and soluble sugar in Phaeodactylum tricornutum under high CO₂

Increasing CO₂ emissions have resulted in ocean acidification, affecting marine plant photosynthesis and changing the nutrient composition of marine ecosystems. The physiological and biochemical processes of mari...

Authors: Aiyou Huang, Songcui Wu, Wenhui Gu, Yuanxiang Li, Xiujun Xie and Guangce Wang

Enhancement of using combined packing materials on the removal of mixed sulfur compounds in a biotrickling filter and analysis of microbial communities

Packing materials is a critical design consideration when employing biological reactor to treat malodorous gases. The acidification of packing bed usually results in a significant drop in the removal efficienc...

Authors: Xiang Tu, Meiying Xu, Jianjun Li, Enze Li, Rongfang Feng, Gang Zhao, Shaobin Huang and Jun Guo

Mutagenesis of N-terminal residues confer thermostability on a Penicillium janthinellum MA21601 xylanase

A mesophilic xylanase PjxA from Penicillium janthinellum MA21601 has high specific activity under acidic condition and holds great potential for applications in the animal feed industry. To enhance the thermostab...

Authors: Ke Xiong, Jie Hou, Yuefeng Jiang, Xiuting Li, Chao Teng, Qin Li, Guangsen Fan, Ran Yang and Chengnan Zhang

Quantitative assessment of LASSO probe assembly and long-read multiplexed cloning

Long Adapter Single-Stranded Oligonucleotide (LASSO) probes were developed as a novel tool for massively parallel cloning of kilobase-long genomic DNA sequences. LASSO dramatically improves the capture length ...

Authors: Syukri Shukor, Alfred Tamayo, Lorenzo Tosi, H. Benjamin Larman and Biju Parekkadan

Highly efficient preparation of active S-phenyl-L-cysteine with tryptophan synthase using a chemoenzymatic method

S-Phenyl-L-cysteine is regarded as having potential applicability as an antiretroviral/protease inhibitor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the present study, optically active S-phenyl-L-cysteine was pre...

Authors: Lisheng Xu, Xingtao Zhang, Guizhen Gao and Sun Yue

Crosslinked flagella as a stabilized vaccine adjuvant scaffold

Engineered vaccine proteins incorporating both antigen and adjuvant components are constructed with the aim of combining functions to induce effective protective immunity. Bacterial flagellin is a strong candi...

Authors: Casey M. Gries, Rohith R. Mohan, Dimitrios Morikis and David D. Lo

Preparation of a novel monoclonal antibody against caprine interleukin-17A and its applications in immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry assays

Interleukin-17 (IL-17), the characteristic cytokine secreted by T helper 17 lymphocytes (Th17 cells), plays a pivotal role in host defense and many inflammatory or autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study wa...

Authors: Yang Gao, Feng Feng Sang, De Lan Meng, Yi Wang, Wen Tao Ma and De Kun Chen

Enhanced Natamycin production by Streptomyces natalensis in shake-flasks and stirred tank bioreactor under batch and fed-batch conditions

Natamycin is an antifungal polyene macrolide antibiotic with wide applications in health and food industries. Currently, it is the only antifungal food additive with the GRAS status (Generally Regarded as Safe).

Authors: Elsayed Ahmed Elsayed, Mohamed A. Farid and Hesham A. El-Enshasy

Production of alkaline pectinase: a case study investigating the use of tobacco stalk with the newly isolated strain Bacillus tequilensis CAS-MEI-2-33

Tobacco stalk (TS), a major agricultural waste abundant in pectin, has resulted in concerns about the need for its reuse. The nicotine in TS is considered a chemical that is to\xic and hazardous to the environ...

Authors: Ge Zhang, Shugui Li, Yingbo Xu, Juan Wang, Fan Wang, Yuhua Xin, Zhong Shen, Haibo Zhang, Ming Ma and Haobao Liu

Modulation of chimeric antigen receptor surface expression by a small molecule switch

Engineered therapeutic cells have attracted a great deal of interest due to their potential applications in treating a wide range of diseases, including cancer and autoimmunity. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)...

Authors: Alexandre Juillerat, Diane Tkach, Brian W. Busser, Sonal Temburni, Julien Valton, Aymeric Duclert, Laurent Poirot, Stéphane Depil and Philippe Duchateau

Purification and biochemical characterization of a novel thermostable protease from the oyster mushroom Pleurotus sajor-caju strain CTM10057 with industrial interest

Proteases are hydrolytic enzymes that catalyze peptide linkage cleavage reactions at the level of proteins and peptides with different degrees of specificity. This group draws the attention of industry. More t...

Authors: Maroua Omrane Benmrad, Sondes Mechri, Nadia Zaraî Jaouadi, Mouna Ben Elhoul, Hatem Rekik, Sami Sayadi, Samir Bejar, Nabil Kechaou and Bassem Jaouadi

Primary allogeneic mitochondrial mix (PAMM) transfer/transplant by MitoCeption to address damage in PBMCs caused by ultraviolet radiation

Artificial Mitochondrial Transfer or Transplant (AMT/T) can be used to reduce the stress and loss of viability of damaged cells. In MitoCeption, a type of AMT/T, the isolated mitochondria and recipient cells a...

Authors: Francisco Cabrera, Mayra Ortega, Francesca Velarde, Eliseo Parra, Stephany Gallardo, Diego Barba, Lina Soto, Gabriela Peña, Luis Alberto Pedroza, Christian Jorgensen, Maroun Khoury and Andrés Caicedo

Genome-wide sequencing and metabolic annotation of Pythium irregulare CBS 494.86: understanding Eicosapentaenoic acid production

Pythium irregulare is an oleaginous Oomycete able to accumulate large amounts of lipids, including Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). EPA is an important and expensive dietary supplement with a promising and very compe...

Authors: Bruna S. Fernandes, Oscar Dias, Gisela Costa, Antonio A. Kaupert Neto, Tiago F. C. Resende, Juliana V. C. Oliveira, Diego M. Riaño-Pachón, Marcelo Zaiat, José G. C. Pradella and Isabel Rocha

VARSCOT: variant-aware detection and scoring enables sensitive and personalized off-target detection for CRISPR-Cas9

Natural variations in a genome can drastically alter the CRISPR-Cas9 off-target landscape by creating or removing sites. Despite the resulting potential side-effects from such unaccounted for sites, current of...

Authors: Laurence O. W. Wilson, Sara Hetzel, Christopher Pockrandt, Knut Reinert and Denis C. Bauer

Genome-wide response on phytosterol in 9-hydroxyandrostenedione-producing strain of Mycobacterium sp. VKM Ac-1817D

Aerobic side chain degradation of phytosterols by actinobacteria is the basis for the industrial production of androstane steroids which are the starting materials for the synthesis of steroid hormones. A nati...

Authors: Eugeny Y. Bragin, Victoria Y. Shtratnikova, Mikhail I. Schelkunov, Dmitry V. Dovbnya and Marina V. Donova

Mucosal delivery of Lactococcus lactis carrying an anti-TNF scFv expression vector ameliorates experimental colitis in mice

Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha therapy has become clinically important for treating inflammatory bowel disease. However, the use of conventional immunotherapy requires a systemic exposure of patients and col...

Authors: Maria José Chiabai, Juliana Franco Almeida, Mariana Gabriela Dantas de Azevedo, Suelen Soares Fernandes, Vanessa Bastos Pereira, Raffael Júnio Araújo de Castro, Márcio Sousa Jerônimo, Isabel Garcia Sousa, Leonora Maciel de Souza Vianna, Anderson Miyoshi, Anamelia Lorenzetti Bocca, Andrea Queiroz Maranhão and Marcelo Macedo Brigido

Engineered Pichia pastoris production of fusaruside, a selective immunomodulator

Fusaruside is an immunomodulatory fungal sphingolipid which has medical potentials for treating colitis and liver injury, but its poor natural abundance limits its further study.

Authors: Yuan Tian, Yanling Li, Fengchun Zhao and Chao Meng

Improved CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing by fluorescence activated cell sorting of green fluorescence protein tagged protoplasts

CRISPR/Cas9 is widely used for precise genetic editing in various organisms. CRISPR/Cas9 editing may in many plants be hampered by the presence of complex and high ploidy genomes and inefficient or poorly cont...

Authors: Bent Larsen Petersen, Svenning Rune Möller, Jozef Mravec, Bodil Jørgensen, Mikkel Christensen, Ying Liu, Hans H. Wandall, Eric Paul Bennett and Zhang Yang

New α- and SIN γ-retrovectors for safe transduction and specific transgene expression in pancreatic β cell lines

Viral vectors are invaluable tools to transfer genes and/or regulatory sequences into differentiated cells such as pancreatic cells. To date, several kinds of viral vectors have been used to transduce differen...

Authors: Olivier Albagli, Alicia Maugein, Lukas Huijbregts, Delphine Bredel, Géraldine Carlier, Patrick Martin and Raphaël Scharfmann

Development of a luciferase/luciferin cell proliferation (XenoLuc) assay for real-time measurements of Gfp-Luc2-modified cells in a co-culture system

In vitro modelling of cancer cells is becoming more complex due to prevailing evidence of intimate interactions between cancer cells and their surrounding stroma. A co-culture system which consists of more tha...

Authors: Sin-Yeang Teow, Kitson Liew, Mohd Firdaus Che Mat, Marini Marzuki, Norazlin Abdul Aziz, Tai-Lin Chu, Munirah Ahmad and Alan Soo-Beng Khoo

Investigation of cell culture conditions for optimal foot-and-mouth disease virus production

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious and economically devastating disease with endemic occurrence in many parts of the world. Vaccination is the method of choice to eradicate the disease and to limit ...

Authors: Veronika Dill, Aline Zimmer, Martin Beer and Michael Eschbaumer

Integrating vectors for genetic studies in the rare Actinomycete Amycolatopsis marina

Few natural product pathways from rare Actinomycetes have been studied due to the difficulty in applying molecular approaches in these genetically intractable organisms. In this study, we sought to identify mo...

Authors: Hong Gao, Buvani Murugesan, Janina Hoßbach, Stephanie K. Evans, W. Marshall Stark and Margaret C. M. Smith

Copy number determination of the gene for the human pancreatic polypeptide receptor NPY4R using read depth analysis and droplet digital PCR

Copy number variation (CNV) plays an important role in human genetic diversity and has been associated with multiple complex disorders. Here we investigate a CNV on chromosome 10q11.22 that spans NPY4R, the gene ...

Authors: Kateryna Shebanits, Torsten Günther, Anna C. V. Johansson, Khurram Maqbool, Lars Feuk, Mattias Jakobsson and Dan Larhammar

A high throughput method for total alcohol determination in fermentation broths

The potassium dichromate oxidation method used in determination of alcohols in fermentation has two major disadvantages. This method cannot be used to determine alcohols in raw fermentation broth samples, whic...

Authors: Peng Zhang, Hao Hai, Dongxu Sun, Weihua Yuan, Weijie Liu, Ruru Ding, Mengting Teng, Lin Ma, Jun Tian and Caifa Chen

A novel autolysis system for extracellular production and direct immobilization of a phospholipase D fused with cellulose binding domain

Several types of phospholipases have been described in phospholipids modification. The majority of phospholipase D (PLD) superfamily members can catalyze two separate reactions: the hydrolysis of phospholipids...

Authors: Haiyang Zhang, Wenqin Chu, Jianan Sun, Zhen Liu, Wen-can Huang, Changhu Xue and Xiangzhao Mao

Novel anti-CD38 humanized mAb SG003 possessed enhanced cytotoxicity in lymphoma than Daratumumab via antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity

In vivo use of monoclonal antibodies has become routine clinical practice in the treatment of human cancer. CD38 is an attractive target, because it has double roles, as a receptor and an ectoenzyme. Daratumum...

Authors: Tao Yu, Chunxia Qiao, Ming Lv and Luqun Tang

Recovery of recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens fused with cell wall-anchoring motif (LysM) from inclusion bodies using non-denaturing reagent (N-laurylsarcosine)

The current limitations of conventional BCG vaccines highlights the importance in developing novel and effective vaccines against tuberculosis (TB). The utilization of probiotics such as Lactobacillus plantarum f...

Authors: Anhar Danial Mustafa, Jeevanathan Kalyanasundram, Sarah Sabidi, Adelene Ai-Lian Song, Maha Abdullah, Raha Abdul Rahim and Khatijah Yusoff

Surface patches on recombinant erythropoietin predict protein solubility: engineering proteins to minimise aggregation

Protein solubility characteristics are important determinants of success for recombinant proteins in relation to expression, purification, storage and administration. Escherichia coli offers a cost-efficient expr...

Authors: M. Alejandro Carballo-Amador, Edward A. McKenzie, Alan J. Dickson and Jim Warwicker

Frequency of off-targeting in genome edited pigs produced via direct injection of the CRISPR/Cas9 system into developing embryos

The CRISPR/Cas9 system can effectively introduce site-specific modifications to the genome. The efficiency is high enough to induce targeted genome modifications during embryogenesis, thus increasing the effic...

Authors: Kayla Carey, Junghyun Ryu, Kyungjun Uh, Andrea J. Lengi, Sherrie Clark-Deener, Benjamin A. Corl and Kiho Lee

Mutagenesis of FAD2 genes in peanut with CRISPR/Cas9 based gene editing

Increasing the content of oleic acid in peanut seeds is one of the major goals in peanut breeding due to consumer and industry benefits, such as anti-oxidation and long shelf-life. Homeologous ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B

Authors: Mei Yuan, Jun Zhu, Limin Gong, Liangqiong He, Crystal Lee, Suoyi Han, Charles Chen and Guohao He

Efficient gene transfer into T lymphocytes by fiber-modified human adenovirus 5

The gene transduction efficiency of adenovirus to hematopoietic cells, especially T lymphocytes, is needed to be improved. The purpose of this study is to improve the transduction efficiency of T lymphocytes b...

Authors: Yun Lv, Feng-Jun Xiao, Yi Wang, Xiao-Hui Zou, Hua Wang, Hai-Yan Wang, Li-Sheng Wang and Zhuo-Zhuang Lu

Characterisation of three novel α-L-arabinofuranosidases from a compost metagenome

The importance of the accessory enzymes such as α-L-arabinofuranosidases (AFases) in synergistic interactions within cellulolytic mixtures has introduced a paradigm shift in the search for hydrolytic enzymes. ...

Authors: Brent Fortune, Sizwe Mhlongo, Leonardo Joaquim van Zyl, Robert Huddy, Mariette Smart and Marla Trindade

Establishment of an erythroid progenitor cell line capable of enucleation achieved with an inducible c-Myc vector

A robust scalable method for producing enucleated red blood cells (RBCs) is not only a process to produce packed RBC units for transfusion but a potential platform to produce modified RBCs with applications in...

Authors: Steven Mayers, Pablo Diego Moço, Talha Maqbool, Pamuditha N. Silva, Dawn M. Kilkenny and Julie Audet

FlexiBAC: a versatile, open-source baculovirus vector system for protein expression, secretion, and proteolytic processing

Baculovirus-mediated expression in insect cells is a powerful approach for protein production. However, many existing methods are time-consuming, offer limited options for protein tagging, and are unsuitable f...

Authors: Régis P. Lemaitre, Aliona Bogdanova, Barbara Borgonovo, Jeffrey B. Woodruff and David N. Drechsel

Enhancing methane production using anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge with combined fruit waste and cheese whey

Recently, it has been indicated that anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge with other waste streams at wastewater treatment plants is a promising strategy for enhancing methane production and materi...

Authors: Seyed Mostafa Hallaji, Mohammad Kuroshkarim and Seyede Parvin Moussavi

Design of a generic CRISPR-Cas9 approach using the same sgRNA to perform gene editing at distinct loci

The CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat and CRISPR-associated nucleases) based technologies have revolutionized genome engineering. While their use for prokaryotic genome editi...

Authors: Soumaya Najah, Corinne Saulnier, Jean-Luc Pernodet and Stéphanie Bury-Moné

Inhibition of extracellular proteases improves the production of a xylanase in Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius

Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius is a thermophilic and ethanol-producing bacterium capable of utilising both hexose and pentose sugars for fermentation. The organism has been proposed to be a suitable organism...

Authors: Alexandria T. N. Holland, Michael J. Danson and Albert Bolhuis

Formulation and evaluation of norcanthridin nanoemulsions against the Plutella xylostella (Lepidotera: Plutellidae)

Norcantharidin (NCTD), a demethylated derivative of cantharidin (defensive toxin of blister beetles), has been reported to exhibit insecticidal activity against various types of agricultural pests. However, NC...

Authors: Liya Zeng, Yongchang Liu, Jun Pan and Xiaowen Liu

Nicotiana benthamiana is a suitable transient system for high-level expression of an active inhibitor of cotton boll weevil α-amylase

Insect resistance in crops represents a main challenge for agriculture. Transgenic approaches based on proteins displaying insect resistance properties are widely used as efficient breeding strategies. To exte...

Authors: Guilherme Souza Prado, Pingdwende Kader Aziz Bamogo, Joel Antônio Cordeiro de Abreu, François-Xavier Gillet, Vanessa Olinto dos Santos, Maria Cristina Mattar Silva, Jean-Paul Brizard, Marcelo Porto Bemquerer, Martine Bangratz, Christophe Brugidou, Drissa Sérémé, Maria Fatima Grossi-de-Sa and Séverine Lacombe

Ex vivo evolution of human antibodies by CRISPR-X: from a naive B cell repertoire to affinity matured antibodies

Authors: Marie-Claire Devilder, Melinda Moyon, Laetitia Gautreau-Rolland, Benjamin Navet, Jeanne Perroteau, Florent Delbos, Marie-Claude Gesnel, Richard Breathnach and Xavier Saulquin

A new prokaryotic expression vector for the expression of antimicrobial peptide abaecin using SUMO fusion tag

Despite the growing demand for antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) for clinical use as an alternative approach against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the manufacture of AMPs relies on expensive, small-scale chemical...

Authors: Da Sol Kim, Seon Woong Kim, Jae Min Song, Soon Young Kim and Kwang-Chul Kwon