Biotechnological Production (biotechnological + production)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Production of succinic acid at low pH by a recombinant strain of the aerobic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 4 2010
Tigran V. Yuzbashev
Abstract Biotechnological production of weak organic acids such as succinic acid is most economically advantageous when carried out at low pH. Among naturally occurring microorganisms, several bacterial strains are known to produce considerable amounts of succinic acid under anaerobic conditions but they are inefficient in performing the low-pH fermentation due to their physiological properties. We have proposed therefore a new strategy for construction of an aerobic eukaryotic producer on the basis of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica with a deletion in the gene coding one of succinate dehydrogenase subunits. Firstly, an original in vitro mutagenesis-based approach was proposed to construct strains with Ts mutations in the Y. lipolytica SDH1 gene. These mutants were used to optimize the composition of the media for selection of transformants with the deletion in the Y. lipolytica SDH2 gene. Surprisingly, the defects of each succinate dehydrogenase subunit prevented the growth on glucose but the mutant strains grew on glycerol and produced succinate in the presence of the buffering agent CaCO3. Subsequent selection of the strain with deleted SDH2 gene for increased viability allowed us to obtain a strain capable of accumulating succinate at the level of more than 45,g,L,1 in shaking flasks with buffering and more than 17,g,L,1 without buffering. The possible effect of the mutations on the utilization of different substrates and perspectives of constructing an industrial producer is discussed. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;107:673,682. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the production of putrescine: A four carbon diamine

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 4 2009
Zhi-Gang Qian
Abstract A four carbon linear chain diamine, putrescine (1,4-diaminobutane), is an important platform chemical having a wide range of applications in chemical industry. Biotechnological production of putrescine from renewable feedstock is a promising alternative to the chemical synthesis that originates from non-renewable petroleum. Here we report development of a metabolically engineered strain of Escherichia coli that produces putrescine at high titer in glucose mineral salts medium. First, a base strain was constructed by inactivating the putrescine degradation and utilization pathways, and deleting the ornithine carbamoyltransferase chain I gene argI to make more precursors available for putrescine synthesis. Next, ornithine decarboxylase, which converts ornithine to putrescine, was amplified by a combination of plasmid-based and chromosome-based overexpression of the coding genes under the strong tac or trc promoter. Furthermore, the ornithine biosynthetic genes (argC-E) were overexpressed from the trc promoter, which replaced the native promoter in the genome, to increase the ornithine pool. Finally, strain performance was further improved by the deletion of the stress responsive RNA polymerase sigma factor RpoS, a well-known global transcription regulator that controls the expression of ca. 10% of the E. coli genes. The final engineered E. coli strain was able to produce 1.68,g,L,1 of putrescine with a yield of 0.168,g,g,1 glucose. Furthermore, high cell density cultivation allowed production of 24.2,g,L,1 of putrescine with a productivity of 0.75,g,L,1,h,1. The strategy reported here should be useful for the bio-based production of putrescine from renewable resources, and also for the development of strains capable of producing other diamines, which are important as nitrogen-containing platform chemicals. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009; 104: 651,662 © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Utilisation of C2,C4 gaseous hydrocarbons and isoprene by microorganisms

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2006
Jean L Shennan
Abstract Microorganisms able to grow on low molecular weight aliphatic hydrocarbon gases, i.e. the n -alkanes, ethane, propane and butane, and the terminal alkenes, ethylene, propylene and butylene, are not uncommon but mainly belong to certain taxonomic groups. These microbes are described in this review together with the pathways by which the hydrocarbons are assimilated. Microbial oxidation of the volatile alkadiene, isoprene, is also discussed. Avenues for possible commercial exploitation of these metabolic activities are also reviewed. Short-chain n -alkane-utilising organisms have been investigated as tools in petroleum exploration and for production of single cell protein. More recently microbes grown on gaseous hydrocarbons other than methane have been evaluated for use in biotechnological production of epoxides, synthesis of chiral epoxyalkanes and as catalysts in bioremediation systems. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


New food sources of essential trace elements produced by biotechnology facilities

BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 10 2007
Vladimir K. Mazo
Abstract Population satiety with trace elements (TE) is a problem that is widely discussed in nutrition science. For optimal nutrition, the form of TE eaten in food is very important. Organic forms of TE in nutrition are appropriate as human metabolism has adapted to these kinds of nutrients during species evolution. This is now considered a reason for the beneficial use of biotechnologically produced TE sources in human food. Advanced matrixes for TE incorporation are unicellular organisms such as yeast, lactobacilli and Spirulina. Addition of inorganic salts at certain concentrations into cultivation media enables the mineral ions to incorporate into the microbial biomass. As a consequence, the biomass becomes enriched with organic forms of incorporated TE, which are presented by their complexes with amino acids, proteins and probably lipids and polysaccharides. In addition, a new direction of research has made good advances, in which technology has been developed for production of organic forms of TE through complex formation between transition metals (zinc, copper, manganese, chromium, iron) with amino acids and peptides formed during enzymatic hydrolysis of food protein. This brief review discusses the results demonstrating the advances in the biotechnological production of new TE sources, to obtain food components destined for wide prophylaxis of TE deficiency or for dietary treatment of the adverse consequences of these deficiencies. [source]


Production and Molecular Characterization of Clinical Phase I Anti-Melanoma Mouse IgG3 Monoclonal Antibody R24

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 5 2001
Sven E. Kemminer
R24 is a mouse IgG3 monoclonal antibody (mab) that reacts with the ganglioside GD3 expressed by cells of neuroectodermal origin. The anti-tumor activity of R24 has been demonstrated in initial phase I and pilot trials in patients suffering from metastatic melanoma. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biotechnological production and particularly the glycosylation of this clinically important antibody. Growth, metabolism, and IgG production of R24 secreting hybridoma cells were analyzed on 1 L bioreactor bench scale using repeated-batch mode. The amount of 57 mg of pure mab was obtained from 1.6 L crude supernatant by protein A chromatography. Western blot binding assays with sugar-specific lectins revealed glycosylation of the heavy chains, whereas no carbohydrates were detectable on the light chains. Because glycosylation is essential for antibody effector functions in vivo (such as complement fixation or binding to macrophage Fc receptors), mab R24 was subjected to both enzymatic deglycosylation using PNGase F and chemical deglycosylation by hydrazinolysis. Released glycans were structurally characterized by high pH anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD), matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF), and electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight (ESI-QTOF) mass spectrometry. Six major biantennary chains of the complex glycosylation phenotype were found with variations in galactosylation and core fucosylation. The predominant N-linked structure, indicating the high degree of agalactosyl glycoforms, was the agalacto biantennary chain with a relative percentage of 57% (51% core-fucosylated, 6% nonfucosylated). The second most abundant oligosaccharide was the monogalacto biantennary chain amounting to 30% (26% core- and 4% nonfucosylated). The antibody contained 0.46 ,g sialic acid per mg protein, which splits into 0.243 ,g Neu5Gc and 0.217 ,g Neu5Ac, corresponding to a Neu5Ac:Neu5Gc ratio of 1:1.06. Furthermore, the antigen specificity of R24 was determined by immunodetection of GD3 on thin-layer chromatograms, and real time GD3-antibody binding interactions were measured with an optical biosensor (BIAcore). From the structural data obtained in this study it is concluded that glycosylation of the antibody may be important in the clinical outcome of targeted anti-cancer immunotherapy. [source]


COVALENT IMMOBILIZATION OF INVERTASE ON CHEMICALLY ACTIVATED POLY (STYRENE-2-HYDROXYETHYL METHACRYLATE) MICROBEADS

JOURNAL OF FOOD BIOCHEMISTRY, Issue 3 2008
HAYDAR ALTINOK
ABSTRACT A carrier for invertase enzyme was synthesized from styrene (S) and 2- hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in the form of microbeads. These poly (styrene-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), P(S-HEMA) microbeads were activated by epichlorohydrin (ECH) treatment for covalent immobilization. The free and immobilized invertase were assayed in the hydrolysis of sucrose to glucose, and the obtained results were compared. The optimum pH was 4.5 for free and 5.5 for immobilized invertase. The optimum temperature of invertase shifted from 45C to 55C upon immobilization. For free and immobilized enzymes, kinetic parameters were calculated as 4.1 × 10,3 mol L,1and 9.2 × 10,3 mol L,1for Km, and 6.6 × 10,2 mol L,1 min,1and 4.1 × 10,1 mol L,1 min,1for Vmax, respectively. After 1 month of storage at 4C, free enzyme retained 36% of its initial activity, while for the ECH-activated P(S-HEMA) immobilized enzyme, P(S-HEMA)-E, this value was observed as 67%. In repeated batch use, i.e., 20 times in 3 days, 78% retention of the initial activity was observed for P(S-HEMA)-E system. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Immobilization of enzymes are very important for many industrial applications, e.g., food, medicine, pharmacology, etc. Invertase converts sucrose to glucose and fructose, which have wide applications in food industry especially as sweeteners. Glucose,fructose mixture has much lower crystallinity compared to sucrose and therefore used in the production of noncrystallizing jams and creams. They are also used as liquid sweeteners. Immobilization enables repeated use, provides significant reduction in the operation costs, facilitates easy separation and speeds up recovery of enzyme and extends the stability of enzyme by protecting the active material from deactivation. Industrial application of immobilized invertase may decrease the production cost of glucose,fructose mixture because it could be used repeatedly for long periods. Although invertase is not a very expensive enzyme, the technique can also be applied to expensive ones for biotechnological productions. [source]