A functional abc for biotechnology and the dissemination of its progeny

In this paper we present a functional analysis of biotechnology and identify the particular status that genetic engineering has relative to other biotechnological techniques such as domestication. The analysis builds on work by Dan Sperber and characterises biotechnology in primarily technical and biological functional terms as symbiotic interactions in which humans modify other organisms. We identify three main routes by which these interactions are established in biotechnology. We argue that two of these routes have in-built mechanisms for preventing an uncontrolled dissemination of the modified organisms, and that one has an in-built mechanism for promoting such dissemination. The three routes are available to traditional forms of biotechnology as to state-of-the-art genetic engineering. Drawing now on work by Alfred Nordmann on the uncanniness of modern technologies, we show that genetic engineering is set apart by the epistemic consequences of the microscopic size of its progeny: genetically modified organisms, when disseminating, do so beyond our perceptual and conceptual control. Existing strategies against unwanted dissemination of organisms modified in traditional biotechnology are therefore typically not adequate against possible unwanted dissemination of genetically modified organisms, giving this dissemination a status similar to that of untraceable natural disasters.     

Regulatory and metabolic network of rhamnolipid biosynthesis: Traditional and advanced engineering towards biotechnological production

During the last decade, the demand for economical and sustainable bioprocesses replacing petrochemical-derived products has significantly increased. Rhamnolipids are interesting biosurfactants that might possess a broad industrial application range. However, despite of 60 years of research in the area of rhamnolipid production, the economic feasibility of these glycolipids is pending. Although the biosynthesis and regulatory network are in a big part known, the actual incidents on the cellular and process level during bioreactor cultivation are not mastered. Traditional engineering by random and targeted genetic alteration, process design, and recombinant strategies did not succeed by now. For enhanced process development, there is an urgent need of in-depth information about the rhamnolipid production regulation during bioreactor cultivation to design knowledge-based genetic and process engineering strategies. Rhamnolipids are structurally comparable, simple secondary metabolites and thus have the potential to become instrumental in future secondary metabolite engineering by systems biotechnology. This review summarizes current knowledge about the regulatory and metabolic network of rhamnolipid synthesis and discusses traditional and advanced engineering strategies performed for rhamnolipid production improvement focusing on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Finally, the opportunities of applying the systems biotechnology toolbox on the whole-cell biocatalyst and bioprocess level for further rhamnolipid production optimization are discussed.     

质体基因工程中选择标记基因研究进展

与细胞核基因工程相比,质体基因工程能更安全、精确和高效地对外源基因进行表达,作为下一代转基因技术已广泛用于基础研究和生物技术应用领域。与细胞核基因工程一样,质体基因工程中也需要合适的选择标记基因用于转化子的筛选和同质化,但基于质体基因组的多拷贝性和母系遗传特点,转化子的同质化需要一个长期的筛选过程,这就决定了质体基因工程中选择标记基因的选择标准将不同于细胞核基因工程中广泛使用的现行标准。目前,质体基因工程的遗传转化操作中使用较多的是抗生素选择标记基因,出于安全性考虑,需要找到可替换、安全的选择标记基因或有效的标记基因删除方法。本文在对质体基因工程研究的相关文献分析基础之上,对主要使用的选择标记基因及其删除体系进行了综述,并对比了其优缺点,同时探讨了质体基因工程中所使用的报告基因,以期为现有选择标记基因及其删除体系的改进和开发提供一定参考,进一步推动质体基因工程,尤其是单子叶植物质体基因工程的发展。     

Recent advances in biodegradation in China: New microorganisms and pathways,biodegradation engineering,and bioenergy from pollutant biodegradation

We are facing serious environmental challenges, and environmental biotechnology is an enabling technology to reduce or eliminate pollution. In recent years, environmental pollution in China has been receiving great attention, and this paper provides an up-to-date review on progress in biodegradation research in China. This progress includes the isolation of extremophilic microorganisms for pollutant degradation in extreme conditions and the study of genes and enzymes related to biodegradation pathways. Biodegradation engineering has potential as an interesting and powerful platform, where genetic engineering, process engineering, and signal transduction engineering are applied together. In addition, pollutant treatment combined with the production of renewable sources of bioenergy by microorganisms is attractive.     

低能离子束生物技术的应用

自从我国科学家发现离子注入生物学效应后,低能离子束生物技术的研究就在我国率先兴起。随后,越来越多的科学家基于低能离子与生物体之间存在的能量沉积、动量传递、质量沉积及电荷中和与交换的相互作用,对生物体内的遗传物质进行加工、修饰、重组,开辟了农作物和微生物等遗传改良及转基因的新方法。本文简要介绍了低能离子束生物技术产生的背景、低能离子束与生物体之间相互作用的机理和特点以及目前低能离子束在诱变育种和转基因等生物技术领域的研究进展,并展望了离子束技术在藻类基因工程方面的发展潜力。     

Where will the wood come from? Plantation forests and the role of biotechnology

Wood is almost as important to humanity as food, and the natural forests from which most of it is harvested from are of enormous environmental value. However, these slow-growing forests are unable to meet current demand, resulting in the loss and degradation of forest. Plantation forests have the potential to supply the bulk of humanity's wood needs on a long-term basis, and so reduce to acceptable limits the harvest pressures on natural forests. However, if they are to be successful, plantation forests must have a far higher yield of timber than their natural counterparts, on much shorter rotation times. To achieve this in reasonable time, biotechnology must be applied to the tree-improvement process, for which large increases in public and private capital investment are needed. However, additional obstacles exist in the form of opposition to plantations, some forest ecocertification schemes, and concerns about aspects of forest biotechnology, especially genetic engineering. It is the intention of this article to explain, in detail, why plantation forests are needed to sustainably meet the world's demand for wood, why they are not being developed fast enough, and why the application of biotechnology to tree improvement is essential to speeding up this process.     

莱茵衣藻叶绿体生物反应器研究进展

莱茵衣藻(Chlamydomonas reinharditi)是一种遗传机制已研究比较清楚的模式植物。近年来,生物反应器是当今世界上各国生物技术研究的一个热点,随着生物技术的发展,已成功实现衣藻作为生物反应器生产重组蛋白及抗体,生产的部分产品已经实现了商品化,与其他生物反应器相比,其在外源基因表达水平和转基因植物安全性等方面有明显的优势,尤其是在控制转基因沉默和遗传稳定性方面展示了极大的优越性。因此,莱茵衣藻是一种具有很好发展前景的生物反应器,必将在未来的药用蛋白生物技术领域发挥重要作用。主要对提高基因在莱茵衣藻叶绿体中表达的策略,转化技术的特点及其未来的发展前景等方面进行了简单评述。     

工业生物技术专刊序言

以生物催化和生物转化为核心的工业生物技术是实现社会和经济可持续发展的有效手段。本期专刊分别从基因工程、代谢工程与合成生物学、生理工程、发酵工程与生化工程、生物催化与生物转化、生物技术与方法等方面,介绍了我国在工业生物技术领域的最新研究进展。     

Biological constraints in algal biotechnology

In the past decade, considerable progress has been made in developing the appropriate biotechnology for microalgal mass cultivation aimed at establishing a new agro-industry. This review points out the main biological constraints affecting algal biotechnology outdoors and the requirements for making this biotechnology economically viable. One of them is the availability of a wide variety of algal species and improved strains that favorably respond to varying environmental conditions existing outdoors. It is thus just a matter of time and effort before a new methodology like genetic engineering can and will be applied in this field as well. The study of stress physiology and adaptation of microalgae has also an important application in further development of the biotechnology for mass culturing of microalgae. In outdoor cultures, cells are exposed to severe changes in light and temperature much faster than the time scale required for the cells to acclimate. A better understanding of those parameters and the ability to rapidly monitor those conditions will provide the growers with a better knowledge on how to optimize growth and productivity. Induction of accumulation of high value products is associated with stress conditions. Understanding the physiological response may help in providing a better production system for the desired product and, at a later stage, give an insight of the potential for genetic modification of desired strains. The potential use of microalgae as part of a biological system for bioremediation/detoxification and wastewater treatment is also associated with growing the cells under stress conditions. Important developments in monitoring and feedback control of the culture behavior through application of on-line chlorophyll fluorescence technique are in progress. Understanding the process associated with those unique environmental conditions may help in choosing the right culture conditions as well as selecting strains in order to improve the efficiency of the biological process.     

Expression and export: recombinant protein production systems for Aspergillus

Several Aspergillus species, in particular Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae, are widely used as protein production hosts in various biotechnological applications. In order to improve the expression and secretion of recombinant proteins in these filamentous fungi, several novel genetic engineering strategies have been developed in recent years. This review describes state-of-the-art genetic manipulation technologies used for strain improvement, as well as recent advances in designing the most appropriate engineering strategy for a particular protein production process. Furthermore, current developments in identifying bottlenecks in the protein production and secretion pathways are described and novel approaches to overcome these limitations are introduced. An appropriate combination of expression vectors and optimized host strains will provide cell factories customized for each production process and expand the great potential of Aspergilli as biotechnology workhorses to more complex multi-step industrial applications.     

Biotechnology-a sustainable alternative for chemical industry

This review outlines the current and emerging applications of biotechnology, particularly in the production and processing of chemicals, for sustainable development. Biotechnology is “the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents”. Some of the defining technologies of modern biotechnology include genetic engineering; culture of recombinant microorganisms, cells of animals and plants; metabolic engineering; hybridoma technology; bioelectronics; nanobiotechnology; protein engineering; transgenic animals and plants; tissue and organ engineering; immunological assays; genomics and proteomics; bioseparations and bioreactor technologies. Environmental and economic benefits that biotechnology can offer in manufacturing, monitoring and waste management are highlighted. These benefits include the following: greatly reduced dependence on nonrenewable fuels and other resources; reduced potential for pollution of industrial processes and products; ability to safely destroy accumulated pollutants for remediation of the environment; improved economics of production; and sustainable production of existing and novel products.     

Microbial steroid transformations: current state and prospects

Studies of steroid modifications catalyzed by microbial whole cells represent a well-established research area in white biotechnology. Still, advances over the last decade in genetic and metabolic engineering, whole-cell biocatalysis in non-conventional media, and process monitoring raised research in this field to a new level. This review summarizes the data on microbial steroid conversion obtained since 2003. The key reactions of structural steroid functionalization by microorganisms are highlighted including sterol side-chain degradation, hydroxylation at various positions of the steroid core, and redox reactions. We also describe methods for enhancement of bioprocess productivity, selectivity of target reactions, and application of microbial transformations for production of valuable pharmaceutical ingredients and precursors. Challenges and prospects of whole-cell biocatalysis applications in steroid industry are discussed.     

Genetic engineering in conifer forestry: Technical and social considerations

Summary Over the past 20 years, DNA-based biotechnologies have been applied to agricultural production and many crops with new and useful attributes have been cultivated in various countries. The adoption of this new technology by farmers has been swift, and benefits in terms of increased production per unit land and environmental benefits are becoming obvious. In forestry, the application of biotechnology is somewhat lagging behind and to date there are no commercial plantations with genetically modified trees. However, most tree species used in plantation forestry have been genetically transformed, and results demonstrate the successful and correct expression of new genes in these plants. At the same time, this new technology is being viewed with concern, very similar to the concerns voiced over the use of genetic engineering in agriculture. This paper discusses some of the issues involved for world forestry, with particular focus on future demand for timber and timber products and how modern biotechnology can contribute to meet the growing demand. Tree genetic engineering techniques will be outlined, and results reviewed for a number of species. Concerns over the use of this new technology will be described and analyzed in relation to scientific considerations.     

生物工程与生物物理

生物工程包含众多的领域如细胞工程、酶工程、膜工程、医学生物工程、基因工程、蛋白质工程等.在有限的篇幅内不可能涉及所有方面,本文仅选择遗传工程、蛋白质工程以及膜通道最新的一些进展谈一些粗浅看法,以期引起生物物理学工作者的兴趣来共同关心和促进生物工程有关领域的发展.     

Potential of Transgenic Crops in Bangladesh: Findings from a Consultation of Bangladeshi Scientific Experts

This note summarizes the results of a consultation of scientific and regulatory experts in July 2005 on the potential of transgenic crops in Bangladesh. We find that Bangladeshi experts are optimistic on the potential of agricultural biotechnology to respond to biotic and abiotic stresses in their country in the future. Public research is constrained by human capacities, infrastructure and capital investment, and transgenic crop development will require the active involvement of outside partners, such as international organizations or collaboration with private companies. We also find that social acceptance of genetic engineering is not considered a major issue, but could become one, and prompted experts to call for a wider awareness campaign on the technology.This research project was conducted as part of the South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP), a project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and jointly managed by the International Food Policy Research Institute and AGBIOS Canada. The authors would like to thank the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council and all the participants to the meetings in Dhaka and Mymensingh for their help.     

油料作物基因工程育种

日新月异的基因工程技术对现代育种学产生了深远的影响 ,特别是转基因油料作物在目前全球种植的转基因作物中占了很大比例 ,对油料作物的基因工程研究更是涉及了抗性育种、品质改良、杂种优势利用和分子农业等广泛的领域。概述了国际上油料作物基因工程研究和商品化应用的现状 ,举例介绍了我国在该领域中取得的主要进展。在综合分析我国该领域研究现状、存在问题和国际发展趋势基础上 ,提出了我国油料作物转基因研究及产业化的发展策略和取得重大进展的突破口 ,着重强调了油料作物基因工程与“生物柴油”战略的结合。     

Introduction: Public understanding of genetic engineering

From the 1980s to the late 1990s, Germany was among the forerunners for the critical debate on biotechnology and genetic engineering. In 1995, co-ordinated by the Centre of Technology in Baden-Württemberg, a joint venture research project was established. The project followed an interdisciplinary perspective and included research on attitudes, the social and cognitive embedding of attitudes, and argumentation patterns as well as studies on the communication of genetic engineering in the media. The structure and rationale of this joint research project is described in the first article.     

Cover Picture: Biotechnology Journal 10/2016

This regular issue of BTJ includes articles on analytical biotechnology, industrial biotechnology and metabolic engineering. The cover is inspired by the article "Chlorella species as hosts for genetic engineering and expression of heterologous proteins: Progress, challenge and perspective" by Bo Yang, Jin Liu, Yue Jiang and Feng Chen which is describing the heterologous proteins expressed in unicellular Chlorella species combined with the production of fine value‐added bioactives ( http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/biot.201500617 ).     

Marine bioprocess engineering: the missing link to commercialization

Success of US biotechnology has been and continues to be dependent on new discoveries and their timely transformation into useful products through bioprocess engineering and a systems approach. Bioprocess engineering is an essential element of ‘generic applied’ or ‘precompetitive’ research. For marine biotechnology, like biopharmaceutical biotechnology, bioprocess engineering represents the key. The many hundreds of tantalizing bioactive compounds discovered and isolated from varied marine organisms over the past decades have led to only minimal commercialization due to the limited availability of the compounds in question. To address international competitiveness and the revitalization of key US industries, the National Science Foundation launched the Engineering Research Centers Program in the mid 1980s. The essential feature of this program is a partnership among academia, industry and the government to develop next-generation technology through cutting-edge research, relevant education and innovative technology transfer. MarBEC (Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center) is a recently established multi-disciplinary engineering-science cooperative effort of the University of Hawaii and the University of California at Berkeley. Additional partners include three federal laboratories—Argonne National Laboratory, the Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center and the Eastern Regional Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture—and the Bishop Museum. MarBEC's research program consists of four major thrusts: Production Systems; Marine Bioproducts and Bioresources; Separation and Conversion; and Bioproduct Formulation.     

Opportunities for yeast metabolic engineering: Lessons from synthetic biology

Constant progress in genetic engineering has given rise to a number of promising areas of research that facilitated the expansion of industrial biotechnology. The field of metabolic engineering, which utilizes genetic tools to manipulate microbial metabolism to enhance the production of compounds of interest, has had a particularly strong impact by providing new platforms for chemical production. Recent developments in synthetic biology promise to expand the metabolic engineering toolbox further by creating novel biological components for pathway design. The present review addresses some of the recent advances in synthetic biology and how these have the potential to affect metabolic engineering in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. While S. cerevisiae for years has been a robust industrial organism and the target of multiple metabolic engineering trials, its potential for synthetic biology has remained relatively unexplored and further research in this field could strongly contribute to industrial biotechnology. This review also addresses are general considerations for pathway design, ranging from individual components to regulatory systems, overall pathway considerations and whole-organism engineering, with an emphasis on potential contributions of synthetic biology to these areas. Some examples of applications for yeast synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are also discussed.