Phytosensors: harnessing plants to understand the world around us
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 May 3;87:103134. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103134. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTAlthough plants are sessile, their ubiquitous distribution, ability to harness energy from the sun, and ability to sense above and belowground signals make them ideal candidates for biosensor development. Synthetic biology has allowed scientists to reimagine biosensors as engineered devices that are focused on accomplishing novel tasks. As such, a new wave of plant-based sensors, phytosensors, are being engineered as multi-component sense-and-report devices that can alert human operators to a variety of hazards. Whi...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - May 5, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Alexander C Pfotenhauer Scott C Lenaghan Source Type: research
Reconstitution and optimization of complex plant natural product biosynthetic pathways in microbial expression systems
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 May 3;87:103136. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103136. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant natural products (PNPs) are a diverse group of chemical compounds synthesized by plants for various biological purposes and play a significant role in the fields of medicine, agriculture, and industry. In recent years, the development of synthetic biology promises the production of PNPs in microbial expression systems in a sustainable, low-cost, and large-scale manner. This review first introduces multiplex genome editing and PNP pathway assembly in microbial expression systems. Then recent technologies and ex...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - May 5, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Jucan Gao Yuanwei Gou Lei Huang Jiazhang Lian Source Type: research
Building Synthetic Yeast Factories to Produce Fat-soluble Antioxidants
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 May 3;87:103129. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103129. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTFat-soluble antioxidants play a vital role in protecting the body against oxidative stress and damage. The rapid advancements in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology have offered a promising avenue for economically producing fat-soluble antioxidants by engineering microbial chassis. This review provides an overview of the recent progress in engineering yeast microbial factories to produce three main groups of lipophilic antioxidants: carotenoids, vitamin E, and stilbenoids. In addition to discussing the class...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - May 4, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Yuxin Zhao Zhanyi Yao Vedika Desai Dan Chen Zengyi Shao Source Type: research
Synthetic reprogramming of plant developmental and biochemical pathways
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 30;87:103139. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103139. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant synthetic biology (Plant SynBio) is an emerging field with the potential to enhance agriculture, human health, and sustainability. Integrating genetic tools and engineering principles, Plant SynBio aims to manipulate cellular functions and construct novel biochemical pathways to develop plants with new phenotypic traits, enhanced yield, and be able to produce natural products and pharmaceuticals. This review compiles research efforts in reprogramming plant developmental and biochemical pathways. We highlight ...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - May 1, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Shammi Akter Oscar Castaneda-M éndez Jes ús Beltrán Source Type: research
Synthetic reprogramming of plant developmental and biochemical pathways
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 30;87:103139. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103139. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant synthetic biology (Plant SynBio) is an emerging field with the potential to enhance agriculture, human health, and sustainability. Integrating genetic tools and engineering principles, Plant SynBio aims to manipulate cellular functions and construct novel biochemical pathways to develop plants with new phenotypic traits, enhanced yield, and be able to produce natural products and pharmaceuticals. This review compiles research efforts in reprogramming plant developmental and biochemical pathways. We highlight ...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - May 1, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Shammi Akter Oscar Castaneda-M éndez Jes ús Beltrán Source Type: research
Synthetic reprogramming of plant developmental and biochemical pathways
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 30;87:103139. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103139. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant synthetic biology (Plant SynBio) is an emerging field with the potential to enhance agriculture, human health, and sustainability. Integrating genetic tools and engineering principles, Plant SynBio aims to manipulate cellular functions and construct novel biochemical pathways to develop plants with new phenotypic traits, enhanced yield, and be able to produce natural products and pharmaceuticals. This review compiles research efforts in reprogramming plant developmental and biochemical pathways. We highlight ...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - May 1, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Shammi Akter Oscar Castaneda-M éndez Jes ús Beltrán Source Type: research
Cutting-edge plant natural product pathway elucidation
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 26;87:103137. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103137. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant natural products (PNPs) play important roles in plant physiology and have been applied across diverse fields of human society. Understanding their biosynthetic pathways informs plant evolution and meanwhile enables sustainable production through metabolic engineering. However, the discovery of PNP biosynthetic pathways remains challenging due to the diversity of enzymes involved and limitations in traditional gene mining approaches. In this review, we will summarize state-of-the-art strategies and recent exam...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 27, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Jianing Han Emma Parker Miller Sijin Li Source Type: research
Cutting-edge plant natural product pathway elucidation
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 26;87:103137. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103137. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant natural products (PNPs) play important roles in plant physiology and have been applied across diverse fields of human society. Understanding their biosynthetic pathways informs plant evolution and meanwhile enables sustainable production through metabolic engineering. However, the discovery of PNP biosynthetic pathways remains challenging due to the diversity of enzymes involved and limitations in traditional gene mining approaches. In this review, we will summarize state-of-the-art strategies and recent exam...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 27, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Jianing Han Emma Parker Miller Sijin Li Source Type: research
Cutting-edge plant natural product pathway elucidation
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 26;87:103137. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103137. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant natural products (PNPs) play important roles in plant physiology and have been applied across diverse fields of human society. Understanding their biosynthetic pathways informs plant evolution and meanwhile enables sustainable production through metabolic engineering. However, the discovery of PNP biosynthetic pathways remains challenging due to the diversity of enzymes involved and limitations in traditional gene mining approaches. In this review, we will summarize state-of-the-art strategies and recent exam...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 27, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Jianing Han Emma Parker Miller Sijin Li Source Type: research
Cutting-edge plant natural product pathway elucidation
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 26;87:103137. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103137. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPlant natural products (PNPs) play important roles in plant physiology and have been applied across diverse fields of human society. Understanding their biosynthetic pathways informs plant evolution and meanwhile enables sustainable production through metabolic engineering. However, the discovery of PNP biosynthetic pathways remains challenging due to the diversity of enzymes involved and limitations in traditional gene mining approaches. In this review, we will summarize state-of-the-art strategies and recent exam...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 27, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Jianing Han Emma Parker Miller Sijin Li Source Type: research
'From metabolism to metabolism': holistic considerations on B-vitamin interactions, biofortification, and deficiencies
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 25;87:103132. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103132. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTIn the post-Green Revolution era, disparities in dietary access, rising obesity rates, demographic shifts, adoption of plant-based diets, and the impact of climate change collectively contribute to a progressive decline in dietary nutritional value, exacerbating B vitamin deficiencies across both low- and high-income countries. While the prevailing focus of biofortification has been on three micronutrients - provitamin A, iron, and zinc - utilizing conventional breeding, it is imperative to diversify biofortificati...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 26, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Lisa De Zanetti Dominique Van Der Straeten Source Type: research
'From metabolism to metabolism': holistic considerations on B-vitamin interactions, biofortification, and deficiencies
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 25;87:103132. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103132. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTIn the post-Green Revolution era, disparities in dietary access, rising obesity rates, demographic shifts, adoption of plant-based diets, and the impact of climate change collectively contribute to a progressive decline in dietary nutritional value, exacerbating B vitamin deficiencies across both low- and high-income countries. While the prevailing focus of biofortification has been on three micronutrients - provitamin A, iron, and zinc - utilizing conventional breeding, it is imperative to diversify biofortificati...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 26, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Lisa De Zanetti Dominique Van Der Straeten Source Type: research
Coupling and uncoupling growth and product formation for producing chemicals
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 18;87:103133. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMicrobial fermentation employs two strategies: growth- and nongrowth-coupled productions. Stoichiometric metabolic models with flux balance analysis enable pathway engineering to couple target synthesis with growth, yielding numerous successful results. Growth-coupled engineering also contributes to improving bottleneck flux through subsequent adaptive evolution. However, because growth-coupled production inevitably shares resources between biomass and target syntheses, the cost-effective production of bulk chemica...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 19, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Yoshihiro Toya Hiroshi Shimizu Source Type: research
Coupling and uncoupling growth and product formation for producing chemicals
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 18;87:103133. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMicrobial fermentation employs two strategies: growth- and nongrowth-coupled productions. Stoichiometric metabolic models with flux balance analysis enable pathway engineering to couple target synthesis with growth, yielding numerous successful results. Growth-coupled engineering also contributes to improving bottleneck flux through subsequent adaptive evolution. However, because growth-coupled production inevitably shares resources between biomass and target syntheses, the cost-effective production of bulk chemica...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 19, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Yoshihiro Toya Hiroshi Shimizu Source Type: research
Coupling and uncoupling growth and product formation for producing chemicals
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 18;87:103133. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103133. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMicrobial fermentation employs two strategies: growth- and nongrowth-coupled productions. Stoichiometric metabolic models with flux balance analysis enable pathway engineering to couple target synthesis with growth, yielding numerous successful results. Growth-coupled engineering also contributes to improving bottleneck flux through subsequent adaptive evolution. However, because growth-coupled production inevitably shares resources between biomass and target syntheses, the cost-effective production of bulk chemica...
Source: Current Opinion in Biotechnology - April 19, 2024 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Yoshihiro Toya Hiroshi Shimizu Source Type: research
