Development of a microtargeting device for particle bombardment of plant meristems

A gene transfer system for meristem cells was developed on the basis of a ballistic approach. In order to meet some important prerequisites for an efficient transfer system, such as for example aiming at small tissues and control of penetration of the microprojectiles, we developed an acceleration system fundamentally different from the usual macroprojectile driven approach. Instead of a macroprojectile, microtargeting uses the law of Bernoulli for accleration of highly uniform-sized gold particles. The system is able to deliver 80% of the particles to an area as small as 150 micron in diameter, which corresponds to the size of a meristem. Microtargeting yields gene delivery (measured as number of transiently GUS expressing cells to up to 3% of the cells exposed in the target area or up to 35 × 10³ cells per cm². Stable transformation of tobacco microcolonies with the microtargeting device was shown to have an efficiency up to one stable transformant per 1000 cells exposed to the shot, or up to one transformant per shot. We perform 4 or 5 shots per min. After 30 to 40 shots, reloading can take up to 2 min. Microtargeting is very flexible and allows for the adjustment of the important parameters to fit the requirements of the respective tissue.     

Comparing methods for metabolic network analysis and an application to metabolic engineering

Bioinformatics tools have facilitated the reconstruction and analysis of cellular metabolism of various organisms based on information encoded in their genomes. Characterization of cellular metabolism is useful to understand the phenotypic capabilities of these organisms. It has been done quantitatively through the analysis of pathway operations. There are several in silico approaches for analyzing metabolic networks, including structural and stoichiometric analysis, metabolic flux analysis, metabolic control analysis, and several kinetic modeling based analyses. They can serve as a virtual laboratory to give insights into basic principles of cellular functions. This article summarizes the progress and advances in software and algorithm development for metabolic network analysis, along with their applications relevant to cellular physiology, and metabolic engineering with an emphasis on microbial strain optimization. Moreover, it provides a detailed comparative analysis of existing approaches under different categories.     

Call for Papers Special Issue on “Metagenomics of Marine Environments”

正We are pleased to announce a special issue on"Metagenomics of Marine Environments"of the journal Genomics,ProteomicsBioinformatics(GPB),aiming to provide a platform for high-quality papers focusing on the topic and we invite submissions for this special issue(to be published in August of 2015).With most microbes being difficult or impossible to culture,metagenomic approaches based on culture-