Biotechnology Journal

Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 311–312

DOI 10.1002/biot.201400056

www.biotechnology-journal.com

Editorial: Biotechnology Journal’s diverse coverage of biotechnology

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iotechnology Journal covers a wide range of topics related to biotechnology, ranging from the “white”/industrial, “green”/agricultural to “red”/medical biotechnology. Specifically, an emphasis is placed upon, among others, bioprocess, metabolic & biochemical engineering, systems & synthetic biology, nano & medical biotech. Unlike the usual topical issue format, the current issue is much broader in scope and encompasses all the areas covered by Biotechnology Journal, including methodological papers, original research reports and reviews. Progress in natural sciences come through new concepts; however, innovative methods or application of existing methods are necessary to move the field further. The current issue is a good example on the importance of methodology in the context of biotechnology research. “The current issue encompasses all the areas covered by Biotechnology Journal” The production of bioactive and medically important natural products derived from plants or microorganisms remains a challenge because the yield from natural sources is often low or the sources are not readily available. The problem could be overcome if the genes encoding enzymes that catalyse the biosynthesis of natural products would be transferred into organisms that are suitable for large-scale fermentation. Examples for such studies include that by Staniek et al. [1] and Zhuo et al. [2], which deal with the production of secondary metabolites from plants [1], or the macrocyclic lactone

avermectin from Streptomyces avermitilis, respectively [2]. The optimisation of production strains and conditions is an important step in bioprocess engineering. The effective production of ethanol from biological sources is an essential requirement for the biofuel industry. Instead of the traditional yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the bacterium Zymomonas mobilis might be better suited for bioethanol production as the ethanol yield is higher when glucose is used as the substrate. Furthermore, immobilisation of Zymomonas mobilis can further improve ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass [3]. For the fermentation of glucose in Penicillium chrysogenum to produce penicillin G, both substrate and oxygen availability are critical. The use of 13C-labelled glucose allows calculations of turnover of internal and external metabolites under feast/famine conditions [4]. “…immobilisation of Zymomonas mobilis improves ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass…” Many biotechnological applications make use of mammalian and human cell cultures, the cultivation and fermentation of which is more complex than that of yeasts and bacteria. A microarray platform, which allows the efficient optimisation of medium components for cell growth, metabolism and productivity, has been established with encapsulated CHO cells [5]. When a microRNA encoding a miR-7-specific decoy is overexpressed in CHO cells, the cultured cells reach a higher density, show improved viability and yield of

© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

secreted proteins [6]. For tissue engineering it is essential to choose an appropriate extracellular matrix. The advantages of using specialised cell scaffolds for clinical applications are discussed in a review by Williams and Bhatia [7]. Virus stability, which is influenced by culture conditions in egg or cell cultures, is a critical factor to manufacturing influenza vaccines – Nakowitsch et al. [8] show that culture-derived hemagglutinin mutation impairs virus stability. Purification of recombinant proteins in the down-stream process is another challenge as recombinant proteins usually occur in a mixture of endogenous proteins and other contaminants. The employment of adequate filter technology is described by Buyel and Frischer [9] for the purification of a monoclonal antibody produced in leaves of Nicotiana tabacum. Production systems in biotechnology is no longer limited to cells, increasingly, cell-free systems are being used. To facilitate the adaption of cell-free systems for protein production, Kim and TullmanErcek [10] describe a rapid flow cytometry-based assay for the quantification of protein encapsulation in bacterial microcompartments (MPC). “…an E. coli-based system using split-Cre fragments to understand protein interaction…” The development of sensitive and efficient methods to identify proteins, measure protein-protein interactions, to place membrane proteins into artificial lipid bilayers or cell culture assays to detect cytotoxic drugs are ongoing research topics in biotechnology. A classical technique

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Biotechnology Journal

Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 311–312 www.biotecvisions.com

www.biotechnology-journal.com

to identify proteins is to separate them by electrophoresis and to detect them by specific antibodies (i.e. western blot). However, not all commercially available antibodies are highly specific, which can lead to erroneous identifications. It is important to understand that the performance of antibodies is highly application specific and depends on protein abundance [11]. For understanding cellular metabolism, development and signalling, the identification of protein interaction partners is a great challenge because there are so many proteins and many of them carry modifications. Several methods are already available. In the current paper by O’Brien and DeLisa [12], a system is established in Escherichia coli employing split-Cre fragments, which allows the identification of poorly expressed or weakly interacting protein partners. A number of proteins, such as ion channels and transporters, need biomembranes for their bioactivity. A low-cost and automatable method is described in [13], which should facilitate highthroughput studies of functional membrane proteins for biophysical and screening applications. For the treatment of cancer, chemotherapeutics with cytotoxic properties (such as Vinca alkaloids, paclitaxel, doxorubicin) are employed. Cell motility is another important issue in cancer metastasis that is so far underexplored from a therapeutic point of view. A polymeric aqueous biphasic system was developed to culture cell monolayers with a cell-free gap between the colonies [14]. This new system allows a high-throughput screening of drugs that interfere with cancer cell motility.

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The current issue of Biotechnology Journal offers an impressive example of the high quality of basic research carried out in an applied field of science. It highlights the importance of basic research and its translation into biomedical and industrial applications.

Prof. Michael Wink Senior Editor , Biotechnology Journal Heidelberg University, Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, Heidelberg, Germany E-mail: [email protected]

Michael Wink

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References [1] Staniek, A., Bouwmeester, H., Fraser, P. D., Kayser, O., Natural products – learning chemistry from plants. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 326–336. [2] Zhuo, Y., Zhang, T., Wang, Q., CruzMorales, P. et al., Synthetic biology of avermectin for production improvement and structure diversification. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 316–325. [3] Zhao, N., Bai, Y., Liu, C. Q., Zhao, X. Q. et al., Flocculating Zymomonas mobilis is a promising host to be engineered for fuel ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 362–371. [4] de Jonge, L., Buijs, N. A. A., Heijnen, J. J., van Gulik, W. M., Flux response of glycolysis and storage metabolism during rapid feast/famine conditions in Penicillium chrysogenum using dynamic 13C labelling. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 372–385. [5] Datta, P., Meli, L., Li, L., Migliore, N. et al., Microarray platform affords improved product analysis in mammalian cell growth studies. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 386–395. [6] Sanchez, N., Kelly, P., Gallagher, C., Lao, N. T. et al., CHO cell culture longevity and recombinant protein yield are enhanced

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by depletion of miR-7 activity via sponge decoy vectors. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 396–404. Williams, M. L., Bhatia, S. K., Engineering the extracellular matrix for clinical applications: Endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 337–347. Nakowitsch, S., Waltenberger, A. M., Wressnigg, N., Ferstl, N. et al., Egg- or cell culture-derived hemagglutinin mutations impair virus stability and antigen content of inactivated influenza vaccines. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 405–414. Buyel, J. F., Fischer, R., Scale-down models to optimize a filter train for the downstream purification of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins produced in tobacco leaves. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 415–425. Kim, E. Y., Tullman-Ercek, D., A rapid flow cytometry assay for the relative quantification of protein encapsulation into bacterial microcompartments. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 348–354. Älgenäs, C., Agaton, C., Fagerberg, L., Asplund, A. et al., Antibody performance in western blot applications is contextdependent. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 435–445. O’Brien, S. P., DeLisa, M. P., Split-Cre recombinase effectively monitors proteinprotein interactions in living bacteria. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 355–461. Lu, B., Kocharyan, G., Schmidt, J. J., Lipid bilayer arrays: Cyclically formed and measured. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 446–451. Lemmo, S., Nasrollahi, S., Tavana, H., Aqueous biphasic cancer cell migration assay enables robust, high-throughput screening of anti-cancer compounds. Biotechnol. J. 2014, 9, 426–434.

© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Editorial: Biotechnology Journal's diverse coverage of biotechnology.

This issue of Biotechnology Journal is a regular issue edited by Prof. Michael Wink. The issue covers all the major focus areas of the journal, includ...
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