Articles

Expression of Rift Valley fever virus N-protein in Nicotiana benthamiana for use as a diagnostic antigen

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), the causative agent of Rift Valley fever, is an enveloped single-stranded negative-sense RNA virus in the genus Phlebovirus, family Bunyaviridae. The virus is spread by infected mo...

Authors: Sandiswa Mbewana, Ann E. Meyers, Brandon Weber, Vuyokazi Mareledwane, Maryke L. Ferreira, Phelix A. O. Majiwa and Edward P. Rybicki

High-yield production of human Dicer by transfection of human HEK293-EBNA1 cells grown in suspension

Dicer is a 219-kDa protein that plays key roles in gene regulation, particularly as the ribonuclease III enzyme responsible for cleaving precursor miRNA substrates. Its enzymatic activity is highly regulated b...

Authors: Jonathan Bouvette, Dursun Nizam Korkut, Aurélien Fouillen, Soumiya Amellah, Antonio Nanci, Yves Durocher, James G. Omichinski and Pascale Legault

Myogenic differentiation of primary myoblasts and mesenchymal stromal cells under serum-free conditions on PCL-collagen I-nanoscaffolds

The creation of functional skeletal muscle via tissue engineering holds great promise without sacrificing healthy donor tissue. Different cell types have been investigated regarding their myogenic differentiat...

Authors: Aijia Cai, Moritz Hardt, Paul Schneider, Rafael Schmid, Claudia Lange, Dirk Dippold, Dirk W. Schubert, Anja M. Boos, Annika Weigand, Andreas Arkudas, Raymund E. Horch and Justus P. Beier

Suitability of nutrients removal from brewery wastewater using a hydroponic technology with Typha latifolia

This study aims to assess suitability of hydroponic technology for treatment of brewery wastewater in a hydroponic bioreactor using Typha latifolia. Triplicated hydroponic bioreactor treatment units were designed...

Authors: Abebe Gebeyehu, Nurelegne Shebeshe, Helmut Kloos and Solomon Belay

Development of luciferase-linked antibody capture assay based on luciferase immunoprecipitation systems for antibody detection of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus

Early detection of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection of swine is necessary to control this devastating disease. By monitoring host serum antibodies to viral antigens, early ...

Authors: Jie Li, Gang Wang, Di Yang, Bao Zhao, Yongpan Zhao, Yonggang Liu, Xuehui Cai, Yuchen Nan, En-Min Zhou and Chunyan Wu

Cyclodextrin enhanced the soluble expression of Bacillus clarkii γ-CGTase in Escherichia coli

Cyclodextrin glycosyltransferases (CGTases) catalyze the synthesis of cyclodextrins, which are circular α-(1,4)-linked glucans used in many applications in the industries related to food, pharmaceuticals, cosm...

Authors: Lei Wang, Sheng Chen and Jing Wu

Bioprocess optimization for pectinase production using Aspergillus niger in a submerged cultivation system

Pectinase enzymes present a high priced category of microbial enzymes with many potential applications in various food and oil industries and an estimated market share of $ 41.4 billion by 2020.

Authors: Hesham A. El Enshasy, Elsayed Ahmed Elsayed, Noorhamizah Suhaimi, Roslinda Abd Malek and Mona Esawy

Infectivity of adeno-associated virus serotypes in mouse testis

Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are emerging as favoured transgene delivery vectors for both research applications and gene therapy. In this context, a thorough investigation of the potential of va...

Authors: Santhanasabapathy Rajasekaran, Jayashree Thatte, Jayaprakash Periasamy, Alok Javali, Manjunath Jayaram, Dwaipayan Sen, Akshaya Krishnagopal, Giridhara R. Jayandharan and Ramkumar Sambasivan

12th Annual Biotechnology Congress (BAC Girona 2018): abstract collection

Authors:

Efficient production of heat-stable antifungal factor through integrating statistical optimization with a two-stage temperature control strategy in Lysobacter enzymogenes OH11

Heat-stable antifungal factor (HSAF) is a newly identified broad-spectrum antifungal antibiotic from the biocontrol agent Lysobacter enzymogenes and is regarded as a potential biological pesticide, due to its nov...

Authors: Bao Tang, Cheng Sun, Yancun Zhao, Huiyong Xu, Gaoge Xu and Fengquan Liu

Genetic transformation of einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. ssp. monococcum L.), a diploid cultivated wheat species

Domesticated einkorn (Triticum monococcum L.) is one of the oldest cultivated cereal crops in the world. Its small genome size (~ 5.7 GB), low ploidy (2n = 2x = 14, A^mA^m) and high genetic polymorphism make this s...

Authors: Dmitry Miroshnichenko, Danila Ashin, Alexander Pushin and Sergey Dolgov

Bioconversion of duck blood cell: process optimization of hydrolytic conditions and peptide hydrolysate characterization

As the protein-laden by-product, red blood cells (RBCs) from poultry blood is a potential source of protein used as food and feed ingredient. However, RBC was currently underutilized. Therefore, it is an urgen...

Authors: Zhaojun Zheng, Xubiao Wei, Tingting Shang, Yan Huang, Cong Hu and Rijun Zhang

Targeted integration in human cells through single crossover mediated by ZFN or CRISPR/Cas9

Targeted DNA integration is widely used in basic research and commercial applications because it eliminates positional effects on transgene expression. Targeted integration in mammalian cells is generally achi...

Authors: Xiaofeng Liu, Min Wang, Yufeng Qin, Xuan Shi, Peiqing Cong, Yaosheng Chen and Zuyong He

A highly parallel strategy for storage of digital information in living cells

Encoding arbitrary digital information in DNA has attracted attention as a potential avenue for large scale and long term data storage. However, in order to enable DNA data storage technologies there needs to ...

Authors: Azat Akhmetov, Andrew D. Ellington and Edward M. Marcotte

Proof of concept in utilizing in-trans surface display system of Lactobacillus plantarum as mucosal tuberculosis vaccine via oral administration in mice

Tuberculosis is one of the most common and deadliest infectious diseases worldwide affecting almost a third of the world’s population. Although this disease is being prevented and controlled by the Bacille Cal...

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

Rapid and efficient production of cecropin A antibacterial peptide in Escherichia coli by fusion with a self-aggregating protein

Cecropin A (CeA), a natural cationic antimicrobial peptide, exerts potent antimicrobial activity against a broad spectrum of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, making it an attractive candidate substitu...

Authors: Meng Wang, Kaiwen Zheng, Jinglian Lin, Minhua Huang, Yi Ma, Shan Li, Xiaochun Luo and Jufang Wang

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing induces gene knockdown by altering the pre-mRNA splicing in mice

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) has been wildly used to generate gene knockout models through inducing indels causing frame-shift. However, t...

Authors: Ji-Xin Tang, Dafeng Chen, Shou-Long Deng, Jian Li, Yuanyuan Li, Zheng Fu, Xiu-Xia Wang, Yan Zhang, Su-Ren Chen and Yi-Xun Liu

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing induces exon skipping by complete or stochastic altering splicing in the migratory locust

The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been widely used to generate gene knockout/knockin models by inducing frameshift mutants in cell lines and organisms. Several recent studies have reported that such mutants can lead ...

Authors: Dafeng Chen, Ji-Xin Tang, Beibei Li, Li Hou, Xianhui Wang and Le Kang

Characterization of a strong and constitutive promoter from the Arabidopsis serine carboxypeptidase-like gene AtSCPL30 as a potential tool for crop transgenic breeding

Transgenic technology has become an important technique for crop genetic improvement. The application of well-characterized promoters is essential for developing a vector system for efficient genetic transform...

Authors: Pingping Jiang, Ke Zhang, Zhaohua Ding, Qiuxia He, Wendi Li, Shuangfeng Zhu, Wen Cheng, Kewei Zhang and Kunpeng Li

Flocculation characteristics of a bioflocculant produced by the actinomycete Streptomyces sp. hsn06 on microalgae biomass

Microbial flocculation is a good choice for harvest of microalgae biomass, which has gained extensive attention. There have been carried out massive studies in bacterial flocculation, many bacterial strains wi...

Authors: Yi Li, Yanting Xu, Ruixue Song, Congqi Tian, Lei Liu, Tianling Zheng and Hailei Wang

Consensus design for improved thermostability of lipoxygenase from Anabaena sp. PCC 7120

Lipoxygenase (LOX) from Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 (Ana-rLOX) offers important applications in the food industry, especially for improving aroma and dough rheological properties. However, industrial applications of LO...

Authors: Hui Qian, Chong Zhang, Zhaoxin Lu, Bingjie Xia, Xiaomei Bie, Haizhen Zhao, Fengxia Lu and Guang-Yu Yang

Development of a vitrification method for preserving human myoblast cell sheets for myocardial regeneration therapy

Tissue-engineered cardiac constructs have potential in the functional recovery of heart failure; however, the preservation of these constructs is crucial for the development and widespread application of this ...

Authors: Hirotatsu Ohkawara, Shigeru Miyagawa, Satsuki Fukushima, Shin Yajima, Atsuhiro Saito, Hiroshi Nagashima and Yoshiki Sawa

A novel synthetic trivalent single chain variable fragment (tri-scFv) construction platform based on the SpyTag/SpyCatcher protein ligase system

Advances in antibody engineering provide strategies to construct recombinant antibody-like molecules with modified pharmacokinetic properties. Multermerization is one strategy that has been used to produce ant...

Authors: Md. Kausar Alam, Michelle Brabant, Raja Solomon Viswas, Kris Barreto, Humphrey Fonge and C. Ronald Geyer

Overexpression of a rice BAHD acyltransferase gene in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) enhances saccharification

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a promising bioenergy feedstock because it can be grown on marginal land and produces abundant biomass. Recalcitrance of the lignocellulosic components of the switchgrass cell...

Authors: Guotian Li, Kyle C. Jones, Aymerick Eudes, Venkataramana R. Pidatala, Jian Sun, Feng Xu, Chengcheng Zhang, Tong Wei, Rashmi Jain, Devon Birdseye, Patrick E. Canlas, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Phat Q. Duong, Manoj K. Sharma, Seema Singh, Deling Ruan…

A rapid in vitro method to flip back the double-floxed inverted open reading frame in a plasmid

The LoxP site based genetic switch, the FLEX, also known as DIO (Double-Floxed Inverted Open reading frame), was invented to turn on gene expression via Cre-mediated recombination. Since its first publication,...

Authors: Jian Xu and Yongling Zhu

Heterologous expression of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase from Paenibacillus macerans in Escherichia coli and its application in 2-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-L-ascorbic acid production

Cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase) can transform L-ascorbic acid (L-AA, vitamin C) to 2-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-L-ascorbic acid (AA-2G), which shows diverse applications in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical...

Authors: Yujia Jiang, Jie Zhou, Ruofan Wu, Fengxue Xin, Wenming Zhang, Yan Fang, Jiangfeng Ma, Weiliang Dong and Min Jiang

Oil body bound oleosin-rhFGF9 fusion protein expressed in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) stimulates hair growth and wound healing in mice

Fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) is a heparin-binding growth factor, secreted by both mesothelial and epithelial cells, which participates in hair follicle regeneration, wound healing, and bone development. A...

Authors: Jingbo Cai, Ruicheng Wen, Wenqing Li, Xiuran Wang, Haishan Tian, Shanyong Yi, Linbo Zhang, Xiaokun Li, Chao Jiang and Haiyan Li

A paratransgenic strategy to block transmission of Xylella fastidiosa from the glassy-winged sharpshooter Homalodisca vitripennis

Arthropod-borne diseases remain a leading cause of human morbidity and mortality and exact an enormous toll on global agriculture. The practice of insecticide-based control is fraught with issues of excessive ...

Authors: Arinder K. Arora, Kendra N. Pesko, Verónica Quintero-Hernández, Lourival D. Possani, Thomas A. Miller and Ravi V. Durvasula

Lignocellulose integration to 1G-ethanol process using filamentous fungi: fermentation prospects of edible strain of Neurospora intermedia

Integration of first- and second-generation ethanol processes is one among the alternate approaches that efficiently address the current socio-economic issues of the bioethanol sector. Edible filamentous fungu...

Authors: Ramkumar B. Nair, Osagie A. Osadolor, Vamsi K. Ravula, Patrik R. Lennartsson and Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

Acetosyringone treatment duration affects large T-DNA molecule transfer to rice callus

Large T-DNA fragment transfer has long been a problem for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Although vector systems, such as the BIBAC series, were successfully developed for the purpose, low transformation ...

Authors: Jing Xi, Minesh Patel, Shujie Dong, Qiudeng Que and Rongda Qu

Expression of novel fusion antiviral proteins ricin a chain-pokeweed antiviral proteins (RTA-PAPs) in Escherichia coli and their inhibition of protein synthesis and of hepatitis B virus in vitro

Ricin A chain (RTA) and Pokeweed antiviral proteins (PAPs) are plant-derived N-glycosidase ribosomal-inactivating proteins (RIPs) isolated from Ricinus communis and Phytolacca Americana respectively. This study w...

Authors: Yasser Hassan, Sherry Ogg and Hui Ge

The nicotine-degrading enzyme NicA2 reduces nicotine levels in blood, nicotine distribution to brain, and nicotine discrimination and reinforcement in rats

The bacterial nicotine-degrading enzyme NicA2 isolated from P. putida was studied to assess its potential use in the treatment of tobacco dependence.

Authors: Paul R. Pentel, Michael D. Raleigh, Mark G. LeSage, Thomas Thisted, Stephen Horrigan, Zuzana Biesova and Matthew W. Kalnik

Targeted genome editing in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a review

Genome editing technologies offers new opportunities for tackling diseases such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that have been beyond the reach of previous therapies.

Authors: Adrián Montaño, Maribel Forero-Castro, Jesús-María Hernández-Rivas, Ignacio García-Tuñón and Rocío Benito

pXST, a novel vector for TA cloning and blunt-end cloning

With the rapid development of sequencing technologies, increasing amount of genomic information has been accumulated. To clone genes for further functional studies in large scale, a cheap, fast and efficient c...

Authors: Qin Liu, Hui-Jie Dang, Yuan-Hang Wu, Min Li, Yin-Hua Chen, Xiao-Lei Niu, Kai-Mian Li and Li-Juan Luo

Construction of a trifunctional cellulase and expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a fusion protein

Cellulose is the most important component of lignocellulose, and its degradation requires three different types of enzymes to act synergistically. There have been reports of single gene duality, but no gene ha...

Authors: Zi-Lu Liu, Hua-Nan Li, Hui-Ting Song, Wen-Jing Xiao, Wu-Cheng Xia, Xiao-Peng Liu and Zheng-Bing Jiang

Engineering Geobacillus thermodenitrificans to introduce cellulolytic activity; expression of native and heterologous cellulase genes

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) is a cost-effective approach for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels and biochemicals. The enzymatic conversion of cellulose to glucose requires the synergist...

Authors: Martinus J. A. Daas, Bart Nijsse, Antonius H. P. van de Weijer, Bart W. A. J. Groenendaal, Fons Janssen, John van der Oost and Richard van Kranenburg

Development and validation of an integrated DNA walking strategy to detect GMO expressing cry genes

Recently, an integrated DNA walking strategy has been proposed to prove the presence of GMO via the characterisation of sequences of interest, including their transgene flanking regions and the unnatural assoc...

Authors: Marie-Alice Fraiture, Julie Vandamme, Philippe Herman and Nancy H. C. Roosens

Membrane-bound and soluble forms of an NMDA receptor extracellular domain retain epitopes targeted in auto-immune encephalitis

Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis (ANRE) is a potentially lethal disease attributed to auto-antibodies against the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). Full recovery is possible if therapy is initiated early i...

Authors: Rashmi Sharma, Fetweh H. Al-Saleem, Rama Devudu Puligedda, Amy Rattelle, David R. Lynch and Scott K. Dessain

Tetanus toxin fragments and Bcl-2 fusion proteins: cytoprotection and retrograde axonal migration

Tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT) is taken up at nerve terminals and undergoes retrograde migration. The toxic properties of TeNT reside in the toxin light chain (L), but like complete TeNT, the TeNT heavy chain (TTH)...

Authors: Yasuhiro Watanabe, Takashi Matsuba, Mami Nakanishi, Mio Une, Ritsuko Hanajima and Kenji Nakashima

DNA assembly with error correction on a droplet digital microfluidics platform

Custom synthesized DNA is in high demand for synthetic biology applications. However, current technologies to produce these sequences using assembly from DNA oligonucleotides are costly and labor-intensive. Th...

Authors: Yuliya Khilko, Philip D. Weyman, John I. Glass, Mark D. Adams, Melanie A. McNeil and Peter B. Griffin

Engineering Bacillus pumilus alkaline serine protease to increase its low-temperature proteolytic activity by directed evolution

Mesophilic alkaline serine proteases from various bacteria have been commercially applied in a range of industries owing to their high catalytic efficiency and wide substrate specificity. However, these protea...

Authors: Hong-Yan Zhao and Hong Feng

Heterologous expression and biochemical characterization of a GHF9 endoglucanase from the termite Reticulitermes speratus in Pichia pastoris

Cellulases are of great significance for full utilization of lignocellulosic biomass. Termites have an efficient ability to degrade cellulose. Heterologous production of the termite-origin cellulases is the fi...

Authors: Pengfei Zhang, Xianghua Yuan, Yuguang Du and Jian-Jun Li

The importance of genotype identity, genetic heterogeneity, and bioinformatic handling for properly assessing genomic variation in transgenic plants

The advent of –omics technologies has enabled the resolution of fine molecular differences among individuals within a species. DNA sequence variations, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms or small deletion...

Authors: Jean-Michel Michno and Robert M. Stupar

Enhancing thermal tolerance of Aspergillus niger PhyA phytase directed by structural comparison and computational simulation

Phytase supplied in feeds for monogastric animals is important for improving nutrient uptake and reducing phosphorous pollution. High-thermostability phytases are particularly desirable due to their ability to...

Authors: Nanyu Han, Huabiao Miao, Tingting Yu, Bo Xu, Yunjuan Yang, Qian Wu, Rui Zhang and Zunxi Huang

FGF23^C-tail improves diabetic nephropathy by attenuating renal fibrosis and inflammation

High level of serum fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is implicated in the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN), making it a crucial factor in the pathogenesis of DN. FGF23 is also tightl...

Authors: Xiaomin Zhang, Kaiwen Guo, Feng Xia, Xinyu Zhao, Zhifeng Huang and Jianlou Niu

The production of a recombinant tandem single chain fragment variable capable of binding prolamins triggering celiac disease

Celiac disease (CD) is one of the most common food-related chronic disorders. It is mediated by the dietary consumption of prolamins, which are storage proteins of different grains. So far, no therapy exists a...

Authors: Britta Eggenreich, Elke Scholz, David Johannes Wurm, Florian Forster and Oliver Spadiut

Preparation of an epitope-based recombinant diagnostic antigen specific to anti-phospholipase A₂ receptor 1 antibodies

According to recent studies, the phospholipase A2 receptor 1 (PLA₂R1) may be used as a biomarker to diagnose idiopathic membranous nephropathy (iMN). Moreover, the immune-dominant regions of PLA₂R1 have been iden...

Authors: Hua Li, Yonghua Xu, Weiming Yang and Xiaohong Huang

Comparison of solvate ionic liquids and DMSO as an in vivo delivery and storage media for small molecular therapeutics

Solvate ionic liquids (SILs) are a new class of ionic liquids that are equimolar solutions of lithium bistrifluoromethanesulfonimide in either triglyme or tetraglyme, referred to as G3LiTFSA and G4LiTFSA, resp...

Authors: Prusothman Yoganantharajah, Alexander P. Ray, Daniel J. Eyckens, Luke C. Henderson and Yann Gibert

Characterization of a novel thermostable and xylose-tolerant GH 39 β-xylosidase from Dictyoglomus thermophilum

β-D-xylosidase is a vital exoglycosidase with the ability to hydrolyze xylooligosaccharides to xylose and to biotransform some saponins by cleaving outer β-xylose. β-D-xylosidase is widely used as one of the x...

Authors: Qi Li, Tao Wu, Zhipeng Qi, Linguo Zhao, Jianjun Pei and Feng Tang

UPF1 silenced cellular model systems for screening of read-through agents active on β⁰39 thalassemia point mutation

Nonsense mutations promote premature translational termination, introducing stop codons within the coding region of mRNAs and causing inherited diseases, including thalassemia. For instance, in β⁰39 thalassemia t...

Authors: Francesca Salvatori, Mariangela Pappadà, Giulia Breveglieri, Elisabetta D’Aversa, Alessia Finotti, Ilaria Lampronti, Roberto Gambari and Monica Borgatti