Prototyping of microbial chassis for the biomanufacturing of high-value chemical targets

Author(s):  
Christopher J. Robinson ◽  
Jonathan Tellechea-Luzardo ◽  
Pablo Carbonell ◽  
Adrian J. Jervis ◽  
Cunyu Yan ◽  
...  

Metabolic engineering technologies have been employed with increasing success over the last three decades for the engineering and optimization of industrial host strains to competitively produce high-value chemical targets. To this end, continued reductions in the time taken from concept, to development, to scale-up are essential. Design–Build–Test–Learn pipelines that are able to rapidly deliver diverse chemical targets through iterative optimization of microbial production strains have been established. Biofoundries are employing in silico tools for the design of genetic parts, alongside combinatorial design of experiments approaches to optimize selection from within the potential design space of biological circuits based on multi-criteria objectives. These genetic constructs can then be built and tested through automated laboratory workflows, with performance data analysed in the learn phase to inform further design. Successful examples of rapid prototyping processes for microbially produced compounds reveal the potential role of biofoundries in leading the sustainable production of next-generation bio-based chemicals.

Fermentation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
José Pablo López-Gómez ◽  
Joachim Venus

An efficient processing of organic solid residues will be pivotal in the development of the circular bioeconomy. Due to their composition, such residues comprise a great biochemical conversion potential through fermentations. Generally, the carbohydrates and proteins present in the organic wastes cannot be directly metabolized by microorganisms. Thus, before fermentation, enzymes are used in a hydrolysis step to release digestible sugars and nitrogen. Although enzymes can be efficiently produced from organic solid residues in solid-state fermentations (SsF), challenges in the development and scale-up of SsF technologies, especially bioreactors, have hindered a wider application of such systems. Therefore, most of the commercial enzymes are produced in submerged-liquid fermentations (SmF) from expensive simple sugars. Instead of independently evaluating SsF and SmF, the review covers the option of combining them in a sequential process in which, enzymes are firstly produced in SsF and then used for hydrolysis, yielding a suitable medium for SmF. The article reviews experimental work that has demonstrated the feasibility of the process and underlines the benefits that such combination has. Finally, a discussion is included which highlights that, unlike typically perceived, SsF should not be considered a counterpart of SmF but, in contrast, the main advantages of each type of fermentation are accentuated in a synergistic sequential SsF-SmF.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1393-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Brand

Abstract The Popeye domain-containing gene family encodes a novel class of cAMP effector proteins in striated muscle tissue. In this short review, we first introduce the protein family and discuss their structure and function with an emphasis on their role in cyclic AMP signalling. Another focus of this review is the recently discovered role of POPDC genes as striated muscle disease genes, which have been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and muscular dystrophy. The pathological phenotypes observed in patients will be compared with phenotypes present in null and knockin mutations in zebrafish and mouse. A number of protein–protein interaction partners have been discovered and the potential role of POPDC proteins to control the subcellular localization and function of these interacting proteins will be discussed. Finally, we outline several areas, where research is urgently needed.


Author(s):  
Katherine Guérard ◽  
Sébastien Tremblay

In serial memory for spatial information, some studies showed that recall performance suffers when the distance between successive locations increases relatively to the size of the display in which they are presented (the path length effect; e.g., Parmentier et al., 2005) but not when distance is increased by enlarging the size of the display (e.g., Smyth & Scholey, 1994). In the present study, we examined the effect of varying the absolute and relative distance between to-be-remembered items on memory for spatial information. We manipulated path length using small (15″) and large (64″) screens within the same design. In two experiments, we showed that distance was disruptive mainly when it is varied relatively to a fixed reference frame, though increasing the size of the display also had a small deleterious effect on recall. The insertion of a retention interval did not influence these effects, suggesting that rehearsal plays a minor role in mediating the effects of distance on serial spatial memory. We discuss the potential role of perceptual organization in light of the pattern of results.


2014 ◽  
pp. 79-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ales Novak

The term ?business model' has recently attracted increased attention in the context of financial reporting and was formally introduced into the IFRS literature when IFRS 9 Financial Instruments was published in November 2009. However, IFRS 9 did not fully define the term ‘business model'. Furthermore, the literature on business models is quite diverse. It has been conducted in largely isolated fashion; therefore, no generally accepted definition of ?business model' has emerged. Therefore, a better understanding of the notion itself should be developed before further investigating its potential role within financial reporting. The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the perceived key themes and to identify other bases for grouping/organizing the literature based on business models. The contributions this paper makes to the literature are twofold: first, it complements previous review papers on business models; second, it contains a clear position on the distinction between the notions of the business model and strategy, which many authors identify as a key element in better explaining and communicating the notion of the business model. In this author's opinion, the term ‘strategy' is a dynamic and forward-looking notion, a sort of directional roadmap for future courses of action, whereas, ‘business model' is a more static notion, reflecting the conceptualisation of the company's underlying core business logic. The conclusion contains the author's thoughts on the role of the business model in financial reporting.


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