scholarly journals Recent Advances in the Synthetic Biology of Natural Drugs

Author(s):  
Chun-Qiang Li ◽  
Hong-Mei Lei ◽  
Qian-Yi Hu ◽  
Guo-Hong Li ◽  
Pei-Ji Zhao

Natural drugs have been transformed and optimized during the long process of evolution. These compounds play a very important role in the protection of human health and treatment of human diseases. Sustainable approaches to the generation of raw materials for pharmaceutical products have been extensively investigated in drug research and development because chemical synthesis is costly and generates pollution. The present review provides an overview of the recent advances in the synthetic biology of natural drugs. Particular attention is paid to the investigations of drugs that may be mass-produced by the pharmaceutical industry after optimization of the corresponding synthetic systems. The present review describes the reconstruction and optimization of biosynthetic pathways for nine drugs, including seven drugs from plant sources and two drugs from microbial sources, suggesting a new strategy for the large-scale preparation of some rare natural plant metabolites and highly bioactive microbial compounds. Some of the suggested synthetic methods remain in a preliminary exploration stage; however, a number of these methods demonstrated considerable application potential. The authors also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the application of synthetic biology and various expression systems for heterologous expression of natural drugs. Thus, the present review provides a useful perspective for researchers attempting to use synthetic biology to produce natural drugs.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-187
Author(s):  
Rong Liu ◽  
Yue Zhao

Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most attractive biodegradable polymers, but the large-scale production of PLA in most countries is still in its infancy. This review begins with a brief introduction to PLA synthesis mechanism, followed by a summary of the techniques of twin-screw reactive extrusion and tubular static mixing reaction, which are two new methods for rapid synthesis of PLA with large-scale production potential. The structures, advantages and disadvantages of each technique are then reviewed in the paper. Finally, the rapid synthetic methods are prospected.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-119
Author(s):  
Andriele Egídio ◽  
Giulia Dalmolin Vieira ◽  
Paulo Henrique Santos ◽  
Francini Binotto Missuiura ◽  
Lethicia Mann Machado ◽  
...  

The human being has become mechanical and unable to supply his or her individual and collective needs through subsistent processes; one would need mechanized means for a large-scale production. The energy production enabled the success and dynamics of the process in the industrial revolution, between the 18th and 19th centuries. With the various options for energy production (coal, water, wind, etc), comes the challenge of environmental awareness in measuring the demand for natural raw materials. The main objective of the article is to analyse information about the operation of thermoelectric plants and the use of products and by-products, such as waste and other important aspects. These aspects include the understanding of thermoelectric energy production processes and its advantages and disadvantages, evaluation of the applications of residues and analysis of the cost-benefit of its acquisition, along with the examination of demand for the types of energy used in Brazil. As a regional reference point in Santa Catarina -Brazil – the Jorge Lacerda Complex was the starting point for this study. The data collected and gauged from this work came exclusively from bibliographical research of students and guidance from third-year teachers, from São José School, city of Itajaí -SC. Here they concluded that biomass, as a renewable source in energy generation is already part of the Brazilian electric matrix representing 8.2%. This value is more than twice the amount used worldwide, but it still symbolizes only a complementary source, which concretely results in less harmful waste production. Thermoelectric energy, although not clean, is a less polluting option - compared to other non-renewable ones - and contains technologies that reduce environmental impacts. Examples include the reuse of water, filters at the top of the chimneys to reduce the emission of pollutants, and the use of ashes for cement production. Thus, this article sought to cohesively structure the production of thermoelectric energy, making it clear how the process and impacts on the social environment occur. Information can transform realities, through research, the future can be transformed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Li ◽  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Zhen Yao ◽  
Qian Peng ◽  
Mengnan Liu ◽  
...  

Spent carbon anode (SCA) is a dangerous solid waste that is continuously discharged from the aluminum electrolysis industry and has a large number of valuable resources and a high risk of environmental pollution. Its safe disposal and resource utilization have become a resource and environmental problem that must be solved urgently. Current methods for SCA disposal include flotation, vacuum metallurgy, physical activation, roasting, bubbling fluidized bed combustion, alkali fusion, alkali leaching, and chemical leaching combined with high temperature graphitization. In this paper, the material composition, resource properties, and environmental risks of SCA are discussed. Working principle, treatment process, advantages and disadvantages of the above methods are also briefly described and compared. Results showed that flotation is the safest disposal and comprehensive utilization technology that is suitable for characteristics of SCA raw materials and has the most large-scale application potential. In addition, characteristics of SCA recovery products are correlated to the recycling of aluminum reduction cells. This technology can alleviate the shortage of high-quality petroleum coke resources in China’s carbon material industry and the high cost of raw materials in aluminum electrolysis industry.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Albarano ◽  
Roberta Esposito ◽  
Nadia Ruocco ◽  
Maria Costantini

Drug discovery is based on bioactivity screening of natural sources, traditionally represented by bacteria fungi and plants. Bioactive natural products and their secondary metabolites have represented the main source for new therapeutic agents, used as drug leads for new antibiotics and anticancer agents. After the discovery of the first biosynthetic genes in the last decades, the researchers had in their hands the tool to understand the biosynthetic logic and genetic basis leading to the production of these compounds. Furthermore, in the genomic era, in which the number of available genomes is increasing, genome mining joined to synthetic biology are offering a significant help in drug discovery. In the present review we discuss the importance of genome mining and synthetic biology approaches to identify new natural products, also underlining considering the possible advantages and disadvantages of this technique. Moreover, we debate the associated techniques that can be applied following to genome mining for validation of data. Finally, we review on the literature describing all novel natural drugs isolated from bacteria, fungi, and other living organisms, not only from the marine environment, by a genome-mining approach, focusing on the literature available in the last ten years.


Author(s):  
Jinhui Shen ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Xiangtai Meng

The exploration of new reactivity modes and synthetic methods has always been an attractive goal of organic and medicinal chemistry. As potential raw materials for the efficient construction of nitrogen-...


2014 ◽  
pp. 97-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Electo Eduardo Silv Lora ◽  
Mateus Henrique Rocha ◽  
José Carlos Escobar Palacio ◽  
Osvaldo José Venturini ◽  
Maria Luiza Grillo Renó ◽  
...  

The aim of this paper is to discuss the major technological changes related to the implementation of large-scale cogeneration and biofuel production in the sugar and alcohol industry. The reduction of the process steam consumption, implementation of new alternatives in driving mills, the widespread practice of high steam parameters use in cogeneration facilities, the insertion of new technologies for biofuels production (hydrolysis and gasification), the energy conversion of sugarcane trash and vinasse, animal feed production, process integration and implementation of the biorefinery concept are considered. Another new paradigm consists in the wide spreading of sustainability studies of products and processes using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the implementation of sustainability indexes. Every approach to this issue has as an objective to increase the economic efficiency and the possibilities of the sugarcane as a main source of two basic raw materials: fibres and sugar. The paper briefly presents the concepts, indicators, state-of-the-art and perspectives of each of the referred issues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita Verma ◽  
Vishnuvardh Ravichandiran ◽  
Nihar Ranjan ◽  
Swaran J.S. Flora

Nitrogen-containing heterocycles are one of the most common structural motifs in approximately 80% of the marketed drugs. Of these, benzimidazoles analogues are known to elicit a wide spectrum of pharmaceutical activities such as anticancer, antibacterial, antiparasitic, antiviral, antifungal as well as chemosensor effect. Based on the benzimidazole core fused heterocyclic compounds, crescent-shaped bisbenzimidazoles were developed which provided an early breakthrough in the sequence-specific DNA recognition. Over the years, a number of functional variations in the bisbenzimidazole core have led to the emergence of their unique properties and established them as versatile ligands against several classes of pathogens. The present review provides an overview of diverse pharmacological activities of the bisbenzimidazole analogues in the past decade with a brief account of its development through the years.


Author(s):  
Ting Liu ◽  
Zhe Cui ◽  
Hongquan Pu ◽  
Jintao Rao

The article for the journal Recent Advances in Electrical and Electronic Engineering has been withdrawn on the request of the authors due to some technical errors in the article. Bentham Science apologizes to the readers of the journal for any inconvenience this may cause. BENTHAM SCIENCE DISCLAIMER: It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to this journal have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. Furthermore, any data, illustration, structure or table that has been published elsewhere must be reported, and copyright permission for reproduction must be obtained. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden, and by submitting the article for publication the authors agree that the publishers have the legal right to take appropriate action against the authors, if plagiarism or fabricated information is discovered. By submitting a manuscript the authors agree that the copyright of their article is transferred to the publishers if and when the article is accepted for publication.


Author(s):  
Stefano Vassanelli

Establishing direct communication with the brain through physical interfaces is a fundamental strategy to investigate brain function. Starting with the patch-clamp technique in the seventies, neuroscience has moved from detailed characterization of ionic channels to the analysis of single neurons and, more recently, microcircuits in brain neuronal networks. Development of new biohybrid probes with electrodes for recording and stimulating neurons in the living animal is a natural consequence of this trend. The recent introduction of optogenetic stimulation and advanced high-resolution large-scale electrical recording approaches demonstrates this need. Brain implants for real-time neurophysiology are also opening new avenues for neuroprosthetics to restore brain function after injury or in neurological disorders. This chapter provides an overview on existing and emergent neurophysiology technologies with particular focus on those intended to interface neuronal microcircuits in vivo. Chemical, electrical, and optogenetic-based interfaces are presented, with an analysis of advantages and disadvantages of the different technical approaches.


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