Current opinion in biotechnology最新文献

The commercialization of single-cell protein (SCP) obtained from microbial fermentation in large-scale bioreactors emerged almost 50 years ago, with Pruteen marketed as animal feed in the 1970s and Quorn®, released for human nutrition in 1985. SCP holds great promises to feed the meanwhile doubled world population in a sustainable way, but its application is still limited by price and availability on scale. There is a need to optimize the underlying manufacturing processes with enhanced affordability and productivity. From the industrial perspective, it is crucial to identify key process components and prioritize innovations that best promote cost efficiency and large-scale production. Here, we present the state-of-art in SCP manufacturing and provide a comprehensive insight into recent techno-economic analyses and life-cycle assessments of different production scenarios. Thereby, we identified the most influential technical hotspots and challenges for each of the main production scenarios and evaluated the technological opportunities to overcome them.

Advances in biological degradation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have shown that bioremediation is a promising method of PFAS mineralization; however, most of these studies focus on remediation of more reactive polyfluorinated compounds. This review focuses on the defluorination of the more recalcitrant perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs) by bacteria. We highlight key studies that report PFAA degradation products, specific bacteria, and relevant genes. Among these studies, we discuss trends in anaerobic versus aerobic conditions with specific bacterial species or consortia. This holistic review seeks to elucidate the state of PFAA biodegradation research and discuss the need for future research for environmental application.

Immune cell therapies are an emerging class of living drugs that rely on the delivery of therapeutic transgenes to enhance, modulate, or restore cell function, such as those that encode for tumor-targeting receptors or replacement proteins. However, many cellular immunotherapies are autologous treatments that are limited by high manufacturing costs, typical vein-to-vein time of 3–4 weeks, and severe immune-related adverse effects. To address these issues, different classes of gene delivery vehicles are being developed to target specific immune cell subsets in vivo to address the limitations of ex vivo manufacturing, modulate therapeutic responses in situ, and reduce on- and off-target toxicity. The success of in vivo gene delivery to immune cells — which is being tested at the preclinical and clinical stages of development for the treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmunity — is paramount for the democratization of cellular immunotherapies.

Agricultural systems are under increasing pressure from declining environmental conditions, a growing population, and changes in consumer preferences, resulting in widespread malnutrition-related illnesses. Improving plant nutritional content through biotechnology techniques such as synthetic biology is a promising strategy to help combat hidden hunger caused by the lack of affordable and healthy foods in human diets. Production of compounds usually found in animal-rich diets, such as vitamin D or omega-3 fatty acids, has been recently demonstrated in planta. Here, we review recent biotechnological approaches to biofortifying plants with vitamins, minerals, and other metabolites, and summarise synthetic biology advances that offer the opportunity to build on these early biofortification efforts.

The sulfur cycle is a complex biogeochemical cycle characterized by the high variability in the oxidation states of sulfur. While sulfur is essential for life processes, certain sulfur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide, are toxic to all life forms. Micro-organisms facilitate the sulfur cycle, playing a prominent role even in extreme environments, such as soda lakes, acid mine drainage sites, hot springs, and other harsh habitats. The activity of these micro-organisms presents unique opportunities for mitigating sulfur-based pollution and enhancing the recovery of sulfur and metals. This review highlights the application of sulfur-oxidizing and -reducing micro-organisms in environmental biotechnology through three illustrative examples. Additionally, it discusses the challenges, recent trends, and prospects associated with these applications.

Biofabrication technologies hold the potential to provide high-throughput, easy-to-operate, and cost-effective systems that recapitulate complexities of the native heart. The size of the fabricated model, printing resolution, biocompatibility, and ease-of-fabrication are some of the major parameters that can be improved to develop more sophisticated cardiac models. Here, we review recent cardiac engineering technologies ranging from microscaled organoids, millimeter-scaled heart-on-a-chip platforms, in vitro ventricle models sized to the fetal heart, larger cardiac patches seeded with billions of cells, and associated biofabrication technologies used to produce these models. Finally, advancements that facilitate model translation are discussed, such as their application as carriers for bioactive components and cells in vivo or their capability for drug testing and disease modeling in vitro.

In the following examples, the time frames and ultimate results are measured in years, not days or months. In particular, the application of genetic techniques to complex systems requires many investigators and a multitude of false leads. The areas chosen are all related to the identification and use of techniques from many scientific fields. Except for the necessity of describing the many years of work required to identify and then utilize the genetic information from yet uncultivated microbes, and identifying the true sources of the dolastatins, the rest of the examples are quite short with commentaries on most of the references given.

Microbes that use the single-carbon substrates methanol and methane offer great promise to bioindustry along with substantial environmental benefits. Methanotrophs and other methylotrophs can be engineered and optimized to produce a wide range of products, from biopolymers to biofuels and beyond. While significant limitations remain, including delivery of single-carbon feedstock to bioreactors, efficient growth, and scale-up, these challenges are being addressed and notable improvements have been rapid. Development of expression chassis, use of genome-scale and regulatory models based on omics data, improvements in bioreactor design and operation, and development of green product recovery schemes are enabling the rapid development of single-carbon bioconversion in the industrial space.

Discoveries in the past decade of novel reactions, processes, and micro-organisms have altered our understanding of microbial nitrogen cycling in wastewater treatment systems. These advancements pave the way for a transition toward more sustainable and energy-efficient wastewater treatment systems that also minimize greenhouse gas emissions. This review highlights these innovative directions in microbial nitrogen cycling within the context of wastewater treatment. Processes such as comammox, Feammox, electro-anammox, and nitrous oxide mitigation offer innovative approaches for sustainable, energy-efficient nitrogen removal. However, while these emerging processes show promise, advancing from laboratory research to practical applications, particularly in decentralized systems, remains a critical next step toward a sustainable and efficient wastewater management.

Plant natural products (PNPs) hold significant pharmaceutical importance. The sessile nature of plants has led to the evolution of chemical defense mechanisms over millions of years to combat environmental challenges, making it a crucial and essential defense weapon. Despite their importance, the abundance of these bioactive molecules in plants is typically low, and conventional methods are time-consuming for enhancing production. Moreover, there is a pressing need for novel drug leads, exemplified by the shortage of antibiotics and anticancer drugs. Understanding how plants respond to stress and regulate metabolism to produce these molecules presents an opportunity to explore new avenues for discovering compounds that are typically under the detection limit or not naturally produced. Additionally, this knowledge can contribute to the advancement of plant engineering, enabling the development of new chassis for the biomanufacturing of these valuable molecules. In this perspective, we explore the intricate regulation of PNP biosynthesis in plants, and discuss the biotechnology strategies that have been and can be utilized for the discovery and production enhancement of PNPs in plants.