Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Jiwei Chen, Yifan Huang, Yuexuan Shu, Xiaoyue Hu, Di Wu, Hangjin Jiang, Kui Wang, Weihua Liu, Weiqi Fu
Summary: This review discusses the potential applications of microalgae, with a focus on diatoms, as a sustainable source for developing bioactive compounds, functional foods, feeds, and biofuels. The review highlights the advantages of diatoms in developing photosynthetic cell factories and the obstacles limiting their commercialization. The review also explores the use of systems and synthetic biology to improve the efficiency of diatom cell factories, including genome engineering technologies such as CRISPR gene-editing. The review concludes by providing critical insights into the future direction of algal production and identifying bottlenecks in algal engineering development.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Lina J. Bird, Biki B. Kundu, Tanya Tschirhart, Anna D. Corts, Lin Su, Jeffrey A. Gralnick, Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin, Sarah M. Glaven
Summary: Electroactive bacteria can produce or consume electrical current through extracellular electron transfer, enabling a range of technologies. Harnessing and controlling these pathways using bioengineering and synthetic biology may push the limits of established technologies. Recent advancements in genetic tools for manipulating electroactive bacteria offer new possibilities for future electrochemical applications.
ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marc-Sven Roell, Lennart Schada von Borzyskowski, Philipp Westhoff, Anastasija Plett, Nicole Paczia, Peter Claus, Urte Schlueter, Tobias J. Erb, Andreas P. M. Weber
Summary: Plants rely on Rubisco for CO2 fixation, but the toxic byproduct 2-phosphoglycolate from Rubisco causes reduced photosynthetic yield in C3 plants, leading to energy-consuming photorespiration. By introducing the BHAC pathway to convert photorespiration metabolites into oxaloacetate, plants can bypass photorespiration in a highly efficient and resource-conserving manner to potentially enhance growth and yield.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Le Tao, Maoyong Song, Guibin Jiang
Summary: Microbial bioelectrochemical systems (BES) are a promising technology for sustainable electrical energy recovery and pollutant treatment. Synthetic biology techniques can be applied to enhance the pollutant removing capabilities of microbial BES by promoting electron transfer and biofilm development, and overexpressing pollutant removing-related genes. In this work, the major synthetic biology strategies for designing and improving the pollutant removing capabilities of microbial BES are described, and future challenges and perspectives in this area are discussed.
SYNTHETIC AND SYSTEMS BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Kai -Kai Tian, Zhi-Gang Qian, Xiao-Xia Xia
Summary: Vehicles derived from genetically engineered protein polymers have gained significant attention in the field of biomedical engineering due to their unique designability, remarkable biocompatibility, and excellent biodegradability. However, the design and production of protein polymers with on-demand sequences and supramolecular architectures are not fully explored, especially from a synthetic biology perspective. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art strategies for constructing highly repetitive genes encoding protein polymers and highlights advanced approaches for metabolically engineering expression hosts to achieve high-level biosynthesis. Additionally, typical protein polymers used to fabricate delivery vehicles are showcased.
ADVANCED DRUG DELIVERY REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
J. C. Williams, M. S. Faillace, E. J. Gonzalez, R. E. Dominguez, K. Knappenberger, D. A. Heredia, T. A. Moore, A. L. Moore, J. P. Allen
Summary: Synthetic Mn-porphyrins incorporated into a four-helix bundle domain of bacterial reaction centers enabled investigation of new electron transfer pathways. By illuminating the reaction centers, oxidation of fluorinated Mn(II) porphyrins and reduction of diphenyl and dimesityl Mn(III) porphyrins were observed, indicating photo-induced charge-separation processes. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of the hybrid system in designing novel electron transfer reactions.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Shumeng Zhang, Baohua Zou, Peng Cao, Xiaodong Su, Fen Xie, Xiaowei Pan, Mei Li
Summary: Photosynthesis converts solar energy into chemical energy through the utilization of light energy, driving biochemical chains of electron transfers. Structural biology provides insights into the interaction patterns of membrane complexes, soluble electron carrier proteins, and their transient complexes, allowing visualization of different parts of the electron transfer process.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Simon Kretschmer, Tanja Kortemme
Summary: Synthetic biology approaches challenges in healthcare and sustainability with an engineering perspective. Designing biomolecular circuits with programmable input-output behaviors is crucial. However, the limited repertoire of natural sensors and difficulties in interfacing with engineered circuits restrict the sensing capabilities. Computational protein design offers the potential to engineer modular and tunable sensors that can be tailored for different applications. This review focuses on recent approaches using the Rosetta software suite to design protein-based sensors for small-molecule inputs and discusses mechanisms for coupling ligand inputs to functional outputs.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nathan M. M. Ennist, Steven E. E. Stayrook, P. Leslie Dutton, Christopher C. C. Moser
Summary: New technologies that efficiently convert solar energy into fuel can help shift the world from fossil fuels to renewable energy. By designing new reaction centers, researchers are gaining a deeper understanding of photosynthetic charge separation, which may eventually lead to the production of biofuels with higher efficiency than natural photosystems. A recent study described the successful multi-step electron-transfer activity of a designed reaction center protein, demonstrating the potential for rational protein design in enhancing energy conversion. Crystal structures and spectroscopic assays confirmed the effectiveness of the design and suggested a path towards even higher thermodynamic efficiency.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yuval Kolodny, Hagit Zer, Mor Propper, Shira Yochelis, Yossi Paltiel, Nir Keren
Summary: The marine cyanobacteria Synechococcus has a unique photo-acclimation strategy to adapt to different light conditions by adjusting the size and structure of their phycobilisomes under low light. Enhanced energetic coupling between antenna rods' pigments leads to more efficient energy transfer compared to standard FRET processes, indicating that coupling control plays a key role in photosynthetic antenna acclimation to varying light conditions.
Article
Plant Sciences
Yue Chen, Deyi Zhong, Xiu Yang, Yonghui Zhao, Liping Dai, Dali Zeng, Quan Wang, Lei Gao, Shengben Li
Summary: ZmFdC2 gene is crucial for the development of maize, localized in chloroplast, specifically expressed in photosynthetic tissues, affecting photosynthetic electron transport, with mutation leading to seedling-lethality.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Andrew Lezia, Arianna Miano, Jeff Hasty
Summary: The design and construction of synthetic gene circuits have made significant progress, with applications in medicine, biosensing, and industrial chemical production. The focus has shifted from isolated circuits to complex systems, and design methods now include detailed models of host genome interaction with synthetic gene circuits.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
JaeHyoung Yun, Teayeop Kim, Hyeonaug Hong, Yong Jae Kim, Seon Il Kim, Yunjeong Park, Kyunghoon Kim, WonHyoung Ryu
Summary: In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with mussel-adhesive protein (MAP) were mixed with thylakoid membranes (TMs) to dramatically increase the contact area and improve the transfer efficiency of photosynthetic electrons. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) confirmed the formation of an electrical percolation network within the thick composites of MAP-CNT/TMs, leading to 10 times higher photocurrents compared to TMs with a mediator. The thick MAP-CNT/TMs composite layer produced a photocurrent of 4.25 µA cm(-2) without the aid of a mediator.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
News Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Philip Ball
Summary: A pair of studies highlight ethical and legal concerns surrounding the status of lab-grown human embryo models.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Paula da Fonseca-Pereira, Joao Antonio Siqueira, Rita de Cassia Monteiro-Batista, Marcelo Gomes Marcal Vieira Vaz, Adriano Nunes-Nesi, Wagner L. Araujo
Summary: Photosynthesis is crucial for maintaining life on Earth and supporting agricultural demands. Current research focuses on enhancing plant photosynthetic performance through various approaches such as leaf development, metabolic pathway improvements, and optimizing light use efficiency. However, there is still room for further improvements.
JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)