Nanostructured material-based optical and electrochemical detection of amoxicillin antibiotic

The penicillin derivative amoxicillin (AMX) plays an important role in treating various types of infections caused by bacteria. However, excessive use of AMX may have negative health effects. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to detect and quantify the AMX in pharmaceutical drugs, biological fluids, and environmental samples with high sensitivity. Therefore, this review article provides valuable and up-to-date information on nanostructured material-based optical and electrochemical sensors to detect AMX in various biological and chemical samples. The role of using different nanostructured materials on the performance of important optical sensors such as colorimetric sensors, fluorescence sensors, surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensors, chemiluminescence/electroluminescence sensors, optical immunosensors, optical fibre-based sensors, and several important electrochemical sensors based on different electrode types have been discussed. Moreover, nanocomposites, polymer, and MXenes-based electrochemical sensors have also been discussed, in which such materials are being used to further enhance the sensitivity of these sensors. Furthermore, nanocomposite-based photo-electrochemical sensors and the market availability of biosensors including AMX have also been discussed briefly. Finally, the conclusion, challenges, and future perspectives of the above-mentioned sensing techniques for AMX detection are presented.     

Searching by parts: Towards fine-grained image retrieval respecting species correlation

Most of the existing works on fine-grained image categorization and retrieval focus on finding similar images from the same species and often give little importance to inter-species similarities. However, these similarities may carry species correlations such as the same ancestors or similar habits, which are helpful in taxonomy and understanding biological traits. In this paper, we devise a new fine-grained retrieval task that searches for similar instances from different species based on body parts. To this end, we propose a two-step strategy. In the first step, we search for visually similar parts to a query image using a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). To improve the quality of the retrieved candidates, structural cues are introduced into the CNN using a novel part-pooling layer, in which the receptive field of each part is adjusted automatically. In the second step, we re-rank the retrieved candidates to improve the species diversity. We achieve this by formulating a novel ranking function that balances between the similarity of the candidates to the queried parts, while decreasing the similarity to the query species. We provide experiments on the benchmark CUB200 dataset and Columbia Dogs dataset, and demonstrate clear benefits of our schemes.     

构建全细胞生物传感器测定农田土壤中有机磷农药甲基对硫磷含量

土壤中污染物的生物有效性评估对于准确评价环境污染风险至关重要,而全细胞生物传感器是此类评估的重要工具之一。本研究旨在使用新型全细胞生物传感器建立土壤中甲基对硫磷(methyl parathion,MP)的检测方法。首先,使用筛选出的甲基对硫磷水解酶基因(methyl parathion degrading gene,mpd)和pUC19质粒骨架以及已有的特异性诱导元件pobR为材料,构建全细胞生物传感器。然后,以96孔的酶标板为载体和以5种全细胞生物传感器为指示细胞,建立了土壤提取液样品中甲基对硫磷的分析方法,并应用于实际测试和田间土壤样品中甲基对硫磷的检测。以检测性能的最佳大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)DH5α/pMP-AmilCP为例,其检测限为6.21−6.66μg/L,线性范围为10−10000μg/L。E.coli DH5α/pMP-RFP和E.coli DH5α/pMP-AmilCP的方法用于分析土壤提取液样品中甲基对硫磷的浓度,具有较好的检测性能。这种全细胞生物传感器方法有助于快速评估土壤中甲基对硫磷的生物有效性强弱,从而有效判断有机磷农药甲基对硫磷对土壤的污染风险。     

聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯水解酶检测方法的研究进展

聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(polyethylene terephthalate,PET)是应用最广泛的合成聚酯之一。由于PET不易降解,在环境中积累,对陆地、水生生态系统以及人类健康构成严重威胁。基于生物酶催化的生物降解策略为PET回收利用提供了一种绿色途径,在过去20年间,已发现了多种PET水解酶,并通过蛋白质工程等手段来改善这些酶的降解性能,但是目前仍未找到适合大规模工业应用的PET水解酶。利用传统的检测方法筛选PET水解酶是一个缓慢而复杂的过程。为了促进PET酶法回收的工业化应用,需要研发高效的检测方法。近年来,研究人员开发了多种表征PET水解酶的分析方法。本文总结了可用于筛选PET水解酶的检测方法,如高效液相色谱法、紫外吸光度法和荧光激活液滴分选法等,并对其在筛选PET水解酶的应用方面进行了展望。     

利用酵母菌生产有机酸的研究进展

有机酸是含有一种或多种低分子量酸性基团(如羧基、磺酸基)的可生物合成的有机化合物,广泛应用于食品、农业、医药、生物基材料工业等领域。酵母菌具有生物安全、抗逆性强、底物谱广泛、方便遗传改造,以及大规模培养技术成熟等独特优点,因此利用酵母菌生产有机酸的研究日益受到国内外学者的关注。目前利用酵母生产有机酸还存在浓度低、副产物多,以及发酵效率低等缺陷。随着酵母菌代谢工程和合成生物学技术的发展,利用酵母菌生产有机酸取得了快速进展。本文总结了利用酵母合成11种有机酸的研究,包括内源和异源合成的大宗羧酸和高价值有机酸,并对该领域的未来研究方向进行了展望。     

Selection of a mutant strain of Lipomyces kononenkoae with dextranase synthesis resistant to catabolite repression

A mutant strain of Lipomyces kononenkoae 2896-3 synthesizing dextranase but resistant to catabolite repression was obtained using N-nitroso-N-methylurea treatment. Enzyme biosynthesis in media with dextran and other carbon sources was then characterized. The capacity of the mutant to produce dextranase when grown on hydrolysed corn starch is demonstrated.     

The kinetics and regulation of M-xylose transport in Candida utilis

Low-affinity (K _m=67.6±3.2 mM) and high-affinity (K _m=1.9±1.2 mM) D-xylose transport occur in Candida utilis grown, respectively, on D-glucose or D-xylose. Starvation of glucose-grown cells decreases the K _m value (10.5±2.6 mm). The high-affinity system appearing during starvation required protein synthesis and it was inactivated when cells were exposed to glucose, by a process independent of protein synthesis. High-affinity transport was accompanied by transient alkalinization of yeast suspensions, indicating that it is a proton symport, whereas low-affinity transport was not. Both systems, however, were inhibited by metabolic inhibitors and by replacing H₂O in the transport assay with D₂O, indicating that both may be proton symports. Glucose and acetic acid also inhibited both high-and low-affinity xylose transport.S.G. Kilian, B.A. Prior and J.C. du Preez are with the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, University of the Orange Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, Republic of South Africa     

Use of high-ethanol-resistant yeast isolates from Nigerian palm wine in lager beer brewing

High-ethanol-resistant yeasts, characterized as Saccharomyces sp., were isolated from Nigerian palm wine with added sucrose for high gravity brewing. The yeast isolates that survived the highest ethanol production were used to ferment brewery wort and produced 8.2 to 8.5% (v/v) ethanol; values almost double that of the control yeast from a local brewery.     

Dynamic genome-scale modeling of Saccharomyces cerevisiae unravels mechanisms for ester formation during alcoholic fermentation

Fermentation employing Saccharomyces cerevisiae has produced alcoholic beverages and bread for millennia. More recently, S. cerevisiae has been used to manufacture specific metabolites for the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Among the most important of these metabolites are compounds associated with desirable aromas and flavors, including higher alcohols and esters. Although the physiology of yeast has been well-studied, its metabolic modulation leading to aroma production in relevant industrial scenarios such as winemaking is still unclear. Here we ask what are the underlying metabolic mechanisms that explain the conserved and varying behavior of different yeasts regarding aroma formation under enological conditions? We employed dynamic flux balance analysis (dFBA) to answer this key question using the latest genome-scale metabolic model (GEM) of S. cerevisiae. The model revealed several conserved mechanisms among wine yeasts, for example, acetate ester formation is dependent on intracellular metabolic acetyl-CoA/CoA levels, and the formation of ethyl esters facilitates the removal of toxic fatty acids from cells using CoA. Species-specific mechanisms were also found, such as a preference for the shikimate pathway leading to more 2-phenylethanol production in the Opale strain as well as strain behavior varying notably during the carbohydrate accumulation phase and carbohydrate accumulation inducing redox restrictions during a later cell growth phase for strain Uvaferm. In conclusion, our new metabolic model of yeast under enological conditions revealed key metabolic mechanisms in wine yeasts, which will aid future research strategies to optimize their behavior in industrial settings.     

Stereoselective HPLC bioanalysis of atenolol enantiomers in plasma: Application to a comparative human pharmacokinetic study

An enantioselective HPLC bioassay has been developed relying on extraction of (R)- and (S)-atenolol from alkalinized plasma or serum (pH > 12) into dichloromethane containing 5% (v/v) 1-butanol followed by an achiral derivatization of the drug with phosgene leading to (R)- and (S)-oxazolidine-2-one derivatives. Under these conditions there was quantitative conversion of the acetamido group to the corresponding nitrile. These stable derivatives were separated on a (R,R)-diaminocylohexane-dinitrobenzoyl chiral stationary phase [(R,R)-DACH-DNB] using dichloromethane/methanol 98/2 as mobile phase. Determination limits of 0.5 ng for (R)- and 0.6 ng for (S)-atenolol could be achieved using fluorimetric detection. The assay was applied to a human pharmacokinetic study which was performed in a randomized cross-over, double-blind fashion in 12 healthy volunteers, administering single oral doses of 100 mg (R,S)-, 50 mg (R)-, and 50 mg (S)-atenolol AUC_0–24 and C_max values of (R)-atenolol were slightly but significant higher than those of (S)-atenolol. The R/S ratios were 1.09 for AUC(R)/AUC(S) and 1.03 for C_max (R)/C_max(S) (P < 0.01) respectively after administration of the racemic drug. However, there were no differences between AUC, C_max, and t_½ values of each enantiomer, whether they were administered as single enantiometers or in the form of its racemic mixture. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.