《Cell》breaks the world record for yeast! The Miracle of Artificial Life

Despite containing only 7.5 artificial chromosomes, highly edited strains still survive and replicate. Biologists have developed a yeast whose genome contains over 50% of artificially synthesized DNA. Standard brewing yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) stores its genetic blueprint on 16 chromosomes. In the new strain, 6.5 of these chromosomes were edited and synthesized in the laboratory, while…

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Generative model enhances enzyme activity and stability

Enzymes, as highly efficient catalysts evolved from nature, have fast turnover rates and precise specificity. Improving enzyme catalytic activity and stability is crucial in various biological, medical, and industrial applications. Multiple computational methods have been used to study the performance of enzyme variants, but accurately simulating the impact of mutants on enzyme catalytic ability remains…

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Improving Protein Stability and Mutation Based on Machine Learning Guidance

Engineering proteins that enhance stability are widely used in the development of biological therapies or diagnostic reagents, as well as in other commercial and industrial applications. For this reason, many related experimental and computational methods have been developed, such as directed evolution, rational design, ancestor sequence reconstruction, and molecular dynamics simulation, which stabilize proteins by…

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Nat Microbiol | Streptomyces derived polyketide compounds are signaling molecules that mediate the interaction between bacteria and fungi in soil environments

As is well known, microorganisms can produce abundant secondary metabolites and are an important source for drug development. Streptomyces is a star species in the development and research of microbial drugs, and many medical or agricultural antibiotics such as rapamycin (immunosuppressive agent), nystatin (antifungal), avermectin (insecticidal), and azamycin (antibacterial) are produced from Streptomyces. However, the…

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Avantium stops its bio based polyol business and focuses on FDCA and PEF!

Biobased Energy and Materials learned that recently, Dutch green chemical company Avantium announced that it will fully focus on the production and sales of FCDA and PEF technologies. It will stop investing in Ray technology for producing plantMEG (plant-based ethylene glycol) and plantMPG (plant-based propylene glycol) until suitable strategic equity partners are found. FDCA (Furanedicarboxylic…

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Nature Review | Academician Sang Yup Lee: Microorganisms as Green Factories for Food and Cosmetics Production

With the increasing awareness of environmental issues and sustainability, the demand for products such as environmental protection, high-quality food, and cosmetics is also increasing. At this critical moment, microorganisms become potential key players, providing important solutions for these seemingly completely different problems. Microbial Cell Factory: A Wonderful Revolution   The field of systemic metabolic engineering…

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Transforming Escherichia coli to achieve efficient production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid from glycerol

Research background: The use of renewable substrates such as glycerol to produce 3-HP is a promising method. However, the production of 3-HP from glycerol requires vitamin B-12, which hinders its economic feasibility. Research has shown that using glycerol as a substrate β- The alanine pathway can efficiently produce 3-HP. Therefore, a comparison was made between…

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