Chemical biology: Paper alert

A selection of interesting papers that were published in the two months before our press date in major journals most likely to report significant results in chemical biology.     

Application of inline variable pathlength technology for rapid determination of dynamic binding capacity in downstream process development of biopharmaceuticals

Determination of dynamic binding capacity (DBC) for capture purification chromatographic step is usually the first experiment to be performed during downstream process development of biopharmaceuticals. In this work, we investigated the application of inline variable pathlength technology using FlowVPE for rapid determination of DBC on affinity resins for protein capture and proved its comparability with offline titer methods. This work also demonstrated that variable pathlength technology for DBC determination can be successfully applied to different classes of monoclonal antibodies and fusion proteins. This enabled rapid screening of affinity resins and optimization of the capture chromatography step. Hence, use of inline variable pathlength technology eliminated the dependency on offline titer data, traditionally used for DBC determination and accelerated overall process development timelines with less cost.     

Optimization and monitoring of water soluble substrate for synthesis of mannosylerythritol lipids by Pseudozyma antarctica (ATCC 32657)

Biosurfactants are amphipathic molecules, consisting of hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains, which can partition at the interfaces between different fluid phases, such as oil/water or water/air interfaces. Mannosylerithritol lipids (MELs) are a type of glycolipid. The yeast Candida (Pseudozyma) antarctica (ATCC 32657) secretes an extracellular MEL, with biosurfactant properties, when grown on a water soluble and insoluble substrate, such as glycerine or oils. Value added MEL was biologically synthesized, by using two different types of honey as natural and newer water soluble carbon source. Those types of honey as a carbon source were optimized at different concentration of total carbohydrate present in the honey. Further optimized substrate concentration of honey was monitored for 15 days, for studies of MEL yield and cell growth concentration per day on shake flask batch culture. Surfactant properties, such as surface tension, interfacial tension, foaming, emulsification and wetting of MEL, were observed. Produced MEL was confirmed by thin layer chromatography (TLC), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra, and ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques.     

Acclimation or stress symptom? An integrated study of intraspecific variation in the clonal plant Aechmea bromeliifolia,a widespread CAM tank‐bromeliad

The clonal tank-bromeliad Aechmea bromeliifolia (Rudge) Baker was found in four different habitats in a restinga (vegetation mosaic on sandy coastal plains), of south-eastern Brazil. These habitats (swamp forest, dry forest, dry shrubland and herbaceous marsh) lie within a few hundred metres of each other along a gradient extending inland from the coast, and differ markedly in terms of light and flood regime. We compared ramet morphology, leaf anatomy and physiology, and population parameters to examine the amplitude of trait variation of this widespread species in the studied restinga. This integrated approach allowed us to examine which variation conferred acclimation and which was merely a stress symptom. A . bromeliifolia showed site-specific differences in abundance, distribution, rosette size and shape, leaf anatomical arrangement and photochemical efficiency (potential quantum yield; F _v/ F _m) during the day. Most of the variation found seemed to be related to the interaction of light and flooding. The lowest number and size of ramets at the exposed, dry shrubland was matched by a marked leaf photoinhibition, which suggested poor acclimation to local levels of light intensity and limited water supply. In the other habitats, the morpho-physiological parameters measured suggested adequate foraging behaviour and site acclimation.  © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 140 , 391-401.