柠檬烯和红没药烯的微生物代谢工程

柠檬烯和红没药烯均为植物天然产物,分别属于单萜类和倍半萜类化合物,能够预防和治疗癌症等多种疾病。以其作为前体物,还可以转化合成多种具有高附加值的工业产品,例如药品、保健品、化妆品及生物燃料等。目前柠檬烯和红没药烯的工业生产主要是通过植物提取法实现的,但从植物组织中提取柠檬烯和红没药烯存在着产物含量低和分离纯化困难等缺点。微生物代谢工程的快速发展为这些植物天然产物的生产提供了一条更具潜力的生物合成路线。利用微生物代谢工程技术构建生产这些有价值的植物天然产物的微生物细胞工厂具有绿色清洁、可持续发展和经济效益好等独特优势。文中系统综述了近年来代谢工程技术在微生物合成柠檬烯和红没药烯过程中的应用进展,包括所涉及的宿主菌株、关键酶、代谢途径及其改造等,并探讨了其未来发展方向。     

微生物发酵法生产L-色氨酸的代谢工程研究

L-色氨酸作为人体内的一种必需氨基酸,广泛应用于医药、食品与饲料等行业.工业上采用的色氨酸生产方法有化学合成法、转化法及微生物发酵法.近年来,随着代谢工程在色氨酸菌种选育中的成功运用,微生物发酵法逐渐成为主要的色氨酸生产方法.系统综述了微生物发酵法生产色氨酸所涉及的代谢工程策略,包括生物合成色氨酸的代谢调控机制以及途径...     

L-苯丙氨酸生产的代谢工程研究

L-苯丙氨酸是一种重要的食品和医药中间体。工业上一般采用酶法和发酵法来生产L-苯丙氨酸。代谢工程的兴起,使得更加理性的改造菌株成为可能,这更加促进了发酵法的广泛应用。主要介绍了代谢工程在L-苯丙氨酸生产菌的改造中的应用情况,其中涉及苯丙氨酸生物合成途径中相关基因及其酶的调控、中央代谢途径的改造和芳香族氨基酸生物合成支路的修饰。并探讨了将来的发展前景。     

桉叶素生物合成研究进展

作为桉叶油的主要成分,桉叶素是具有多种生物活性的单萜化合物,被广泛应用于药品、食品及化妆品等领域。桉叶油主要从桉树叶提取,该过程耗费大量人力及自然资源,且容易污染环境。近年来,随着微生物代谢工程与合成生物学的快速发展,加上越来越多萜类生物合成途径得到解析,为桉叶素的绿色生产提供了新的途径。对桉叶素的生物合成途径、桉叶素合酶的结构与功能及近年来桉叶素的微生物合成进行了综述,并对利用微生物代谢工程合成桉叶素等单萜化合物的瓶颈问题及解决方案进行了探讨和归纳,为构建高产桉叶素等单萜微生物工程菌株提供参考。     

芳香族化合物微生物代谢工程研究进展

代谢工程从20世纪90年代初期发展至今已有近30年历史,对微生物菌种改良和选育工作起到了极大的推动作用。芳香族化合物是一类可以通过微生物发酵生产的化学品,广泛应用于医药、食品、饲料和材料等领域。利用代谢工程手段对莽草酸和芳香族氨基酸合成途径进行理性改造,微生物细胞可以定向地大量积累人们需要的各种芳香族化合物。笔者对近30年来国内外代谢工程改造微生物合成各种芳香族化合物的研究策略和生物合成途径进行了梳理和总结,以期为开展相关研究提供参考。     

代谢工程在芳香化合物生物合成研究中的应用

生物技术和代谢工程的发展促进了生物合成研究。概述了近年来利用微生物莽草酸途径进行芳香化合物生物合成研究的现况、代谢工程在提高天然芳香化合物产量和扩大合成非天然产生的芳香化合物范围的应用的进展 ,特别是整体代谢工程对提高第二代工程菌产量的作用。指出了生物合成法是生产氨基酸及其它生物小分子如奎尼酸、维生素和抗生素等的未来趋势 ,在工业化生产中有着广阔的应用前景。     

平台化学品短链支链脂肪酸和短链支链醇的微生物代谢工程

短链支链脂肪酸和短链支链醇均为重要的平台化学品,是合成多种高附加值产品的前体物质,市场需求巨大。目前两者的生产主要是利用基于石化原料的化学合成法。化学合成法存在着严重依赖化石燃料、反应效率低以及极易造成环境污染等缺点。微生物代谢工程的快速发展为这些平台化学品的生产提供了一条极具潜力的生物合成路线。利用微生物代谢工程技术构建生产这些平台化学品的微生物细胞工厂具有绿色清洁、可持续发展和经济效益好等独特优势。本文系统综述了近年来微生物代谢工程技术在短链支链脂肪酸和短链支链醇合成方面的研究进展,包括所涉及的宿主菌株、关键酶、代谢途径及其改造等,并探讨了未来的发展前景。     

L-鸟氨酸发酵菌种的代谢工程研究进展

L-鸟氨酸是一种非蛋白类氨基酸参与尿素代谢及生物多胺类的合成,其对人体具有治疗肝脏疾病、增强免疫力等作用,被广泛应用于医疗、保健、食品等领域。工业上生产鸟氨酸主要有化学法、酶法及工业发酵法。其中,发酵法因其生产成本及环境保护等方面的优势而逐渐成为研究的焦点。本文归纳了近年来采用基因工程技术选育鸟氨酸高产菌种最新研究进展,重点讨论了产鸟氨酸谷氨酸棒杆菌的代谢工程改造策略,并对未来的研究方向进行了预测。     

奎尼酸生物合成的代谢工程

奎尼酸及其衍生物氢醌和苯醌等是一类重要的化工原料,可作为一些化学合成制剂和药物中间原料,且在食品和化学工业中有着广泛的应用。目前奎尼酸的制备方法有植物提取法、化学合成法、酶工程法和微生物发酵法,其中微生物发酵法是近年发展起来的一种十分经济有效的方法。在介绍奎尼酸的制备方法的基础上重点综述了应用代谢工程在生物合成奎尼酸基因工程菌的改造中的研究进展,其中涉及奎尼酸生物合成途径中相关基因及其酶的调控、中心代谢途径的改造和修饰等,并探讨了将来的发展前景。     

苄基异喹啉类生物碱生物合成与代谢工程研究进展

苄基异喹啉类生物碱(benzylisoquinoline alkaloids,BIAs)是一类具有重要研究及药用价值的次生代谢产物,目前该类生物碱主要来自于植物。但是BIAs在植物中的含量低、且大部分含有BIAs的植物具有生长周期长、受环境影响大、采集困难和难以大规模种植等问题。为解决这些问题,许多研究人员致力于解析BIAs生物合成途径并利用植物与微生物代谢工程技术提高BIAs的含量与开辟新药源。本研究将从BIAs类型与生物合成途径以及微生物与植物代谢工程几个方面对BIAs的生物合成与代谢工程研究进展进行综述,有利于BIAs的深入研究。     

A Unique Protease Cleavage Site Predicted in the Spike Protein of the Novel Pneumonia Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Potentially Related to Viral Transmissibility

正Dear Editor,In December 2019, a novel human coronavirus caused an epidemic of severe pneumonia(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China(Wu et al. 2020; Zhu et al. 2020). So far, this virus has spread to all areas of China and even to other countries. The epidemic has caused 67,102 confirmed infections with 1526 fatal cases     

Curcuminoids as inhibitors of thioredoxin reductase: A receptor based pharmacophore study with distance mapping of the active site

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric that interacts irreversibly forming an adduct with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an enzyme responsible for redox control of cell and defence against oxidative stress. Docking at both the active sites of TrxR was performed to compare the potency of three naturally occurring curcuminoids, namely curcumin, demethoxy curcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin. Results show that active sites of TrxR occur at the junction of E and F chains. Volume and area of both cavities is predicted. It has been concluded by distance mapping of the most active conformations that Se atom of catalytic residue SeCYS498, is at a distance of 3.56 from C13 of demethoxy curcumin at the E chain active site, whereas C13 carbon atom forms adduct with Se atom of SeCys 498. We report that at least one methoxy group in curcuminoids is necessary for interation with catalytic residues of thioredoxin. Pharmacophore of both active sites of the TrxR receptor for curcumin and demethoxy curcumin molecules has been drawn and proposed for design and synthesis of most probable potent antiproliferative synthetic drugs.     

Comparative morphology of the carpel in the Liliaceae: Hewardieae, Petrosavieae, and Tricyrteae

The young pistils in the melanthioid tribes, Hewardieae, Petrosavieae and Tricyrteae, are uniformly tricarpellate and syncarpous. They lack raphide idioblasts. All are multiovulate, with bitegmic ovules. The Petrosavieae are marked by the presence of septal glands and incomplete syncarpy. Tepals and stamens adhere to the ovary in the Hewardieae and the Petrosavieae but not in the Tricyrteae. Two vascular bundles occur in the stamens of the Hewartlieae and Tricyrtis latifolia. Ventral bundles in the upper part of the ovary of the Hewardieae are continuous with compound septal bundles and placental bundles in the lower part. Putative ventral bundles occur in the alternate position in the Tricyrteae and putative placental bundles in the opposite. position in the Petrosavieae. The dichtomously branched stigma in each carpel of the Tricyrteae is supplied by a bifurcated dorsal bundle.     

Enterovirus 71 3C proteolytically processes the histone H3 N-terminal tail during infection

Highlights
1. The N-terminal tail of histone H3 is specifically cleaved during EV71 infection.
2. Viral protease 3C is identified as a protease responsible for proteolytically processing the N-terminal H3 tail.
3. Our finding reveals a new epigenetic regulatory mechanism for Enterovirus 71 in virus-host interactions.     

Detection of EBV and HHV6 in the Brain Tissue of Patients with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis

Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE) is a rare pediatric neurological disorder, and the exact etiology is not clear. Viral infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of RE, but conflicting results have reported. In this study, we evaluated the expression of both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV) 6 antigens in brain sections from 30 patients with RE and 16 control individuals by immunohistochemistry. In the RE group, EBV and HHV6 antigens were detected in 56.7% (17/30) and 50% (15/30) of individuals, respectively. In contrast, no detectable EBV and HHV6 antigen expression was found in brain tissues of the control group. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in 20.0% (6/30) of individuals. In particular, a 4-year-old boy had a typical clinical course, including a medical history of viral encephalitis, intractable epilepsy, and hemispheric atrophy. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in neurons and astrocytes in the brain tissue, accompanied by a high frequency of CD8⁺ T cells. Our results suggest that EBV and HHV6 infection and the activation of CD8⁺ T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of RE.     

Perinatal Vertical Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in Ruili,a Town on the Border between China and Myanmar

正Dear Editor,Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus in the family of Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, is transmitted by the A.aegyptii or A. albopictus mosquito, and causes disease in humans characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgia (Silva and Dermody 2017; Suhrbier 2019). It was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and caused only a few outbreaks and sporadic cases in Africa and Asia in last century. However, in the epidemic in 2004, CHIKV acquired mutations that conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito(Schuffenecker et al. 2006). Since then, it has successively caused outbreaks in Africa, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, the South America, and Europe (Zeller et al. 2016).     

Development of a Novel Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2

In conclusion, the novel visual RT-LAMP assay is a simple, rapid, and sensitive approach for detection of SARS-CoV-2, and it is ready for application in primary care and community hospitals or health care centers, and even patients' own houses in response to the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic because the assay does not require sophisticated equipment and skilled personnel. Furthermore, it is also ready to be used in fields for screening samples from wild animals and environments to facilitate the identification of potential intermediate hosts that mediate the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans.