Sheng wu gong cheng xue bao = Chinese journal of biotechnology最新文献

As the genetic material of living organisms, DNA contains diverse chemical modifications beyond the four bases. Since the first discovery of DNA methylation a century ago, over 17 natural DNA modifications have been identified, including 5-methylcytosine (5mC), N6-methyladenosine (6mA), N4-methylcytosine (4mC), and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). These modifications typically do not affect base pairing but may modulate DNA-protein interactions, thereby playing critical roles in physiological processes and disease occurrence. Early studies predominantly focused on base modifications, while the discovery of DNA sulfur modification marked a breakthrough-the first natural modification involving a new element (sulfur) replacing the non-bridging oxygen species in the DNA phosphodiester bond backbone, forming a phosphorothioate (PT) linkage. Recent studies have elucidated the genomic distribution, sequence context, and biological functions of PT modifications. This review highlights the bacterial defense systems associated with PT modifications, their molecular recognition mechanisms, and emerging applications as enabling technologies in gene editing, nucleic acid detection, and bacteriophage-resistant industrial strain development, providing insights for synthetic biology.

Avian leukosis is a major neoplastic disease caused by avian leukosis viruses (ALVs), which are classified into 11 subgroups (ALV-A to ALV-K). Among them, ALV subgroup J (ALV-J) has undergone significant epidemiological changes since its introduction into China in 1999. It initially transmitted among broilers and then rapidly spread to commercial layer chickens and local chicken breeds. ALV-J infection typically induces myeloid leukosis in chickens and, in some layers, can also lead to hemangiomas. As a retrovirus, ALV-J exhibits high genetic variability. Compared with the prototype strain HPRS-103, the prevalent ALV-J strains in China show notable mutations in the gp85 gene, U3 region, and untranslated region (UTR). The variations in gp85 have led to the emergence of distinct evolutionary clusters of strains derived from layers and local chicken breeds, significantly enhancing viral replication and transmission. Additionally, a 205-nucleotide deletion in UTR and key mutations in the U3 region contribute to increased viral pathogenicity. For disease control, China has adopted an integrated strategy focusing on surveillance and eradication, supported by advanced ALV detection and eradication technologies. This review systematically summarizes the epidemiological evolution, molecular variations, and control measures of ALV-J in China over the past two decades, providing critical insights into its biological characteristics and guiding the development of more effective control strategies.

Yeasts have a long history of worldwide applications in the production of foods, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and cosmetics. In recent years, continuous advancements in yeast strain engineering and fermentation technologies, combined with increasing societal emphasis on environmental sustainability and human health, have significantly expanded and deepened the industrial applications of yeast biotechnology. The use of yeasts to produce alternative proteins and cosmetics is emerging as a promising industry trend. Additionally, yeast-based production platforms are increasingly being industrialized for manufacturing biodegradable materials and bioactive compounds with medical and health-promoting properties, highlighting their broad application potential. To ensure a sustainable feedstock supply for yeast biomanufacturing, the use of fermentable sugars derived from renewable biomass, especially the hydrolysate of lignocellulosic renewable biomass, represents a research direction of great significance. This review systematically summarizes the current state of development in yeast-based biotechnology industries and offers a perspective on emerging trends and future prospects for the next generation of yeast-driven industrial processes. This review provides insights into further expanding the industrial applications of yeast, advancing the development of the bioeconomy, and improving the efficiency of green biomanufacturing.

Carbomycin, a 16-membered macrolide antibiotic produced in Streptomyces thermotolerans, comprises two components, carbomycin A (CA) and carbomycin B (CB). CB is converted into CA through epoxidation of the C12-C13 double bond. The gene cbm2813, located in the biosynthetic gene cluster of carbomycin, encodes a cytochrome P450 enzyme considered to catalyze this epoxidation. In this study, the functional and enzymatic properties of the cytochrome P450 enzyme Cbm2813 in the carbomycin biosynthesis gene cluster were characterized by in vivo gene inactivation and in vitro enzymatic reactions. We employed the CRISPR-Cas9 system to delete cbm2813 and obtained the mutant Δcbm2813. The fermentation products of the mutant contained CB but not CA. Complementation of Δcbm2813 restored CA production. Cbm2813 was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli and then purified. In vitro enzyme assays confirmed that Cbm2813 specifically recognized CB but not structurally similar 16-membered macrolide antibiotics, such as josamycin, midecamycin, and isovalerylspiramycin I. Cbm2813 exhibited the maximal activity at pH 5.5 and 36 ℃, with the catalytic efficiency k_cat/K_m of 4.39×10³ L/(mol·s). Molecular docking suggested that the C9 carbonyl group of CB coordinated with the heme iron in the active site of the enzyme, ensuring strict substrate specificity. This study expands the toolbox of characterized P450 enzymes and advances the understanding of carbomycin biosynthesis.

On the 40th anniversary of the Chinese Journal of Biotechnology, this special issue presents 40 articles highlighting advances in synthetic biology, biomanufacturing, health, energy, agriculture and related fields. The preface reflects on the journal's contributions to the discipline and its role in promoting innovation and translation in biotechnology in China.

The research on the interactions between foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and its host has progressed from pathological analysis to systematic investigations of multi-dimensional and refined interaction networks. This review aims to summarize major advances in this field. First, the studies of viral entry mechanisms have expanded beyond simple receptor-ligand binding models to elucidate the spatiotemporal regulation of multi-receptor collaboration and endocytic pathways. Second, viral strategies, such as metabolic reprogramming and immune evasion, collaboratively hijack host cells to establish an intracellular microenvironment conducive to viral replication. Furthermore, elucidating mechanisms of persistent infection in ruminants and deciphering the regulatory networks of host factors involved in viral replication and assembly have significantly advanced our understanding about the latency and replication cycles of FMDV. These mechanism insights provide a theoretical foundation for developing novel intervention strategies, such as broad-spectrum vaccines, host factor-targeted antiviral agents, and breeding for disease resistance, which hold promise for overcoming the limitations of current control measures. Future research should focus on integrating cutting-edge multidisciplinary technologies to unravel virus-host co-evolution dynamics, facilitate the translation of basic research into clinical and applied outcomes, and ultimately provide new paradigms and strategic support for the effective control of foot-and-mouth disease. The significance of this work lies in its systematic elucidation of the multidimensional mechanisms underlying FMDV-host interactions. This not only deepens our theoretical understanding of viral latency and the replication cycle but also provides a critical foundation for developing novel control strategies, such as broad-spectrum vaccines and targeted antiviral agents, which could potentially overcome prevailing constraints in controlling the disease.

Synthetic biology, as a pivotal frontier in 21st-century life sciences, is accelerating the expansion of engineering principles from unicellular microbes to multicellular higher plants. Plant synthetic biology aims to rationally design and reconstruct complex biological functions through the modular assembly of genetic elements, regulatory components, and metabolic pathways. This review outlines the foundational research landscape and major application directions of plant synthetic biology, with a particular focus on recent advances in synthetic promoters and regulatory elements, precision genome editing technologies, and the design of programmable gene circuits. Moreover, we highlight the transformative potential of plant synthetic biology in natural product biosynthesis. In addition to summarizing technological progress, this article critically examines current challenges facing the field and provides perspectives on future development trends of plant synthetic biology.

Flavonoid apiosides are flavonoid glycosides containing the apiosyl group, with wide distribution in nature. According to the different types of aglycones, flavonoid apiosides can be classified into flavanone apiosides, chalcone apiosides, flavone apiosides, flavonol apiosides, and isoflavone apiosides. Existing research results indicate that flavonoid apiosides exhibit various pharmacological activities such as antioxidation, anti-inflammation, and bone formation-promoting properties, displaying promising medicinal prospects. However, due to the low content of flavonoid apiosides in plants and the cumbersome chemical synthesis steps, there are considerable difficulties in obtaining flavonoid apiosides, which greatly limit the research on their druggability. The discovery of enzymes in the biosynthetic pathways of flavonoid apiosides lays a foundation for the large-scale preparation of flavonoid apiosides through biosynthesis. This article reviews the structural diversity, pharmacological activities, and biosynthesis studies of flavonoid apiosides identified in plants, intending to pave a way for the development and application of flavonoid apiosides.

Fusarium crown rot (FCR) of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), primarily caused by fungal pathogens such as Fusarium pseudograminearum, poses a serious threat to wheat production and grain quality due to the synthesis of mycotoxins including deoxynivalenol (DON). In recent years, the incidence and severity of FCR have kept growing in the northern wheat-growing regions of China. This review summarizes the epidemiological characteristics of FCR, elucidates the pathogenic mechanisms of the pathogen and host resistance responses, and proposes an integrated management strategy combining resistant cultivar breeding with monitoring and early warning systems. Such integrated approaches can effectively reduce yield losses and toxin contamination, promoting sustainable wheat production. Future efforts should focus on investigating the interaction mechanisms between the pathogen and wheat plants, developing broad-spectrum resistant cultivars, designing green and efficient control products, and establishing a technical system of early prevention-pathogen monitoring-post-infection management to ensure safe wheat production and enhance food security.

Bioaugmentation is a widely employed strategy for addressing petroleum contamination. However, exogenous strains often struggle to effectively colonize contaminated sites due to their poor environmental adaptability, which constrains the efficacy of remediation efforts. To address the challenges of sustaining long-term activity of exogenous microbial strains and the pressing need for green treatment of the spent mushroom substrate, that is agriculture waste. In this study, we explored the utilization of agricultural waste, specifically spent mushroom substrate, as an innovative immobilization carrier for the development of efficient alkane-degrading microbial agents. The preparation process was optimized by the orthogonal method. Experimental findings indicated that the mushroom substrate had the cellulose crystallinity reaching 73.63%, functional groups such as hydroxyl and carboxyl, and high concentrations of soluble nutrients, serving as an appropriate microbial carrier. Furthermore, an alkane-degrading bacterial strain, Pseudomonas sp. MJ, was isolated and immobilized on the spent mushroom substrate to formulate an immobilized microbial agent. The optimal preparation conditions were determined as follows: immobilization duration of 72 h, a mushroom substrate particle size of 0.25-0.30 mm, and a carrier-to-strain ratio of 1:4 (M/V). Under these conditions, the mushroom substrate-immobilized microbial agent demonstrated excellent strain retention capability and long-term stability. After storage at 4 ℃ for 30 d, the bacterial load remained at 1.05×10¹⁰ CFU/g. Moreover, the agent demonstrated excellent alkane degradation proficiency, with the degradation rate of 500 mg/L N-eicosane within 72 h reaching 95.80%, which is 11.24 times that of the free strain. This study presents an efficient immobilized microbial agent for the bioremediation of alkane pollution and introduces a novel approach for the sustainable treatment of agricultural waste, specifically spent mushroom substrate.