BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles via MedWorm.com

Armed and accurate: engineering cytotoxic T cells for eradication of leukemia

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Marko Radic discusses recent advances in cancer immunotherapy, whereby cytotoxic T cells from patients with leukemia are turned into efficient and specific killers of their own cancer cells. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Comparison and transfer testing of multiplex ligation detection methods for GM plants

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: From the comparison of ligation protocols it can be concluded that two protocols perform equally well on the basis of the selected set of PLPs. Using the most ideal parameters the multiplicity of one of the methods was tested and 13 targets were successfully and specifically detected. In the interlaboratory exchange study it was shown that the selected method meets the 0.1% sensitivity criterion. The present study thus shows that specific and sensitive multidetection of GMO targets is now feasible. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

An improved method for isolation of RNA from bone

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Our streamlined approach substantially increases the yield of high-quality RNA from bone tissue while facilitating safe and efficient processing of multiple samples using readily available platforms. The RNA obtained from this method is suitable for use in gene expression analysis in real-time quantitative PCR, microarray, and next generation sequencing applications. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Creation and validation of a ligation-independent cloning (LIC) retroviral vector for stable gene transduction in mammalian cells

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Our results show that the pBLIC vector retains the high transduction efficiency of the original pBABE while eliminating the requirement for checking individual cDNA inserts for internal restriction sites. Thus it comprises an effective retroviral cloning system for laboratory-scale stable gene overexpression or for high-throughput applications such as creation of retroviral cDNA libraries. To our knowledge, pBLIC is the first LIC vector for retroviral transduction-mediated stable gene expression in mammalian cells. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Construction and transformation of a Thermotoga-E. coli shuttle vector

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Thermotoga are transformable by multiple means. Recombinant Thermotoga strains have been isolated for the first time. A heterologous kan gene is functionally expressed and stably maintained in Thermotoga. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Single/low-copy integration of transgenes in Caenorhabditis elegans using an ultraviolet trimethylpsoralen method

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: Our UV/TMP integration method, based on familiar extrachromosomal transgenics, provides a useful approach for generating single/low-copy gene integrations. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Antibody degradation in tobacco plants: A predominantly apoplastic process

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The results provide evidence that proteolytic fragments derived from antibodies of the IgG3 subtype expressed in tobacco plants do not accumulate within the cell, and are instead likely tooccur in the apoplastic space. Furthermore, any proteolytic activity due to the release of proteases from subcellular compartments during tissue disruption and extraction is not a major consideration under most commonly used extraction conditions. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

In situ gastrointestinal protection against anthrax edema toxin by single-chain antibody fragment producing lactobacilli

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: We have developed lactobacilli expressing a neutralising scFv fragment against the PA antigen of the anthrax toxin, which can provide protection against anthrax toxins both in vitro and in vivo. Utilising engineered lactobacilli therapeutically for neutralising toxins in the gastrointestinal tract can potential be expanded to provide protection against a range of additional gastrointestinal pathogens. The ability of lactobacilli to colonise the gastrointestinal tract may allow the system to be used both prophylactically and therapeutically. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Incorporation of albumin fusion proteins into fibrin clots in vitro and in vivo: comparison of different fusion motifs recognized by factor XIIIa

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Fusion protein XL5-HSA (DQMMLPWAVTLG4Y-HSAH6) was found to be more active as a substrate for FXIIIa-mediated transamidation than seven other candidate fusion proteins in vitro. The improved stability and reactivity of this chimeric protein was further evidenced by its incorporation into in vivo clots formed in thrombosis models in both mice and rabbits. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Transmission electron microscopy characterization of fluorescently labelled amyloid beta 1-40 and alpha-synuclein aggregates

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: We demonstrate that several small extrinsic fluorescent tags are compatible with studies of amyloid protein aggregation. However, although fibrils can be grown from alphaS labelled with EGFP, the conformation of the fluorescent protein tag affects the observed aggregate morphologies. Thus, our results should assist researchers with label selection and optimization of solution conditions for aggregation studies involving fluorescence techniques. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Adsorption characteristics of an enteric virus-binding protein to norovirus, rotavirus and poliovirus

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

A broad spectrum virus-binding protein derived from the bacterial chaperon protein GroEL and able to bind rotavirus, norovirus and poliovirus, could be used to detect diverse enteric viruses simultaneously in water and fecal samples. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Real-time PCR-based assay to quantify the relative amount of human and mouse tissue present in tumor xenografts

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: This novel assay provides an accurate quantitative assessment of human and mouse content in xenograft tumors. This assay can be performed on aberrantly behaving human xenografts, samples used in bioinformatics studies, and periodically for tumor tissue frequently grown by serial passage in vivo. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Targeted sequencing library preparation by genomic DNA circularization

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: We anticipate that these rapid targeted libraries will be useful for validation of variants and may have diagnostic application. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Combining M-FISH and Quantum Dot technology for fast chromosomal assignment of transgenic insertions

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Although the exploitation of the unique optical properties of QD nanocrystals, such as photo-stability and brightness, to improve FISH performance generally has been previously investigated, to our knowledge this is the first report of a purpose-designed molecular cytogenetic protocol in which the combined use of QDs and standard organic fluorophores is specifically tailored to assist gene transfer technology. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

GAL1-SceI directed site-specific genomic (gsSSG) mutagenesis: a method for precisely targeting point mutations in S. cerevisiae.

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: gsSSG is an efficient way of introducing precise mutations into the genome of S. cerevisiae. The frequency of incorporating the targeted mutation remains efficient at least as far as 460 bp from the insertion site meaning that a single insertion can be used to create many different mutants. The overall efficiency of gsSSG can be estimated based on the distance between the mutation and the marker insertion, and this efficiency can be maximized by limiting the number of untargeted mutations. Thus, a single insertion of marker genes plus homing endonuclease cassette can be used to efficiently introduce precise point mutations through a region of >900 bp. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

RibM from Streptomyces davawensis is a riboflavin/roseoflavin transporter and may be useful for the optimization of riboflavin production strains

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The energy independent flavin facilitator RibM could in principle catalyze riboflavin export and thus may be useful to increase the riboflavin yield in a riboflavin production process using a recombinant RibM overproducing B. subtilis strain (or any other microorganism). (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Expression of recombinant multi-coloured fluorescent antibodies in gor -/ trxB- E. coli cytoplasm

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: This modular monomeric recombinant fluorescent antibody platform may be used to create a range of recombinant coloured antibody molecules for quantitative in situ, in vivo and ex vivo imaging, cell sorting and cell trafficking studies. Assembling the single chain antibody with monomeric fluorescent protein linker facilitates optimal variable domain pairing and alters the isoelectric point of the recombinant 4D5-8 protein conferring solubility at physiological pH 7.4. The efficient intracellular expression of these functional molecules opens up the possibility of developing an alternative approach for tagging intracellular targets with fluorescent proteins for a range of molecular cell biology imaging studies. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

A simple viability analysis for unicellular cyanobacteria using a new autofluorescence assay, automated microscopy, and ImageJ

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The new method simplifies the process of viability analysis and allows a quick and accurate analysis. Furthermore results indicate that a combination of the new assay with absorption spectra or chlorophyll concentration measurements allows the estimation of the vitality of cells. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Cold-shock eliminates female nucleus in fertilized eggs to induce androgenesis in the loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus), a teleost fish

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: In this paper, we demonstrate that cold-shock treatment (at 0 and 3degreesC) of loach eggs for 60 min just after fertilization successfully induces androgenetic haploid development. The most likely mechanism of cold-shock induced androgenesis is an elimination of the egg nucleus together along with the second polar body and subsequent development of a decondensed sperm nucleus or male pronucleus. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Transient transfection of serum-free suspension HEK 293 cell culture for efficient production of human rFVIII

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: Serum-free suspension transient transfection is thus a viable option for high-yield-rFVIII production. Work is in progress to further optimize the process and validate its scalability. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Isolation and functional characterization of a cotton ubiquitination-related promoter and 5'UTR that drives high levels of expression in root and flower tissues.

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: uceA1.7 is a strong constitutive regulatory sequence composed of a promoter (uceApro2) and its 5'UTR that will be useful in genetic transformation of dicots, having high potential to drive high levels of transgene expression in crops, particularly for traits desirable in flower and root tissues. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Isolation of a nanomolar scFv inhibiting the endopeptidase activity of botulinum toxin A, by single-round panning of an immune phage-displayed library of macaque origin

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The presence of restrictions sites within many of the sequences that were to be part of the library did not prevent the isolation of an scFv, 2H8, by an adapted panning strategy. ScFv 2H8 inhibited toxin endopeptidase activity in vitro and possessed human-like quality required for clinical development. More generally, the construction and screening of phage-displayed libraries built from hyper-immunized non-human primates is an efficient solution to isolate antibody fragments with therapeutic potential. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Physicochemical and biological characterization of 1E10 Anti-Idiotype vaccine

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Changes in 1E10 primary structure like glycosylation; asparagine deamidation and oxidation affected 1E10 structural stability but do not affect the immune response elicited in mice and chickens when compared to 1E10 produced in mice.. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

An engineered pathway for glyoxylate metabolism in tobacco plants aimed to avoid the release of ammonia in photorespiration.

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Tobacco plants have been generated that produce bacterial glyoxylate carboligase but not hydroxypyruvate isomerase. The transgenic plants exhibit a stress response when exposed to air, suggesting that some glyoxylate is diverted away from conversion to glycine in a deleterious short-circuit of the photorespiratory nitrogen cycle. This diversion in metabolism gave rise to increased concentrations of amino acids, in particular glutamine and asparagine in the leaves and a decrease of soluble sugars. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Optimization of culture conditions to produce high yields of active Acetobacter sp. CCTCC M209061 cells for anti-Prelog reduction of prochiral ketones

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The biomass and reduction activity of Acetobacter sp. CCTCC M209061can be greatly enhanced through the optimization strategy. This facilitates use of the strain in the anti-Prelog stereoselective reduction of prochiral ketones to enantiopure chiral alcohols as building blocks for many industries. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Rapid in vivo analysis of synthetic promoters for plant pathogen phytosensing

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: These observations demonstrate that the Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression is an efficient method for in vivo assays of promoter constructs in less than one week. Our results provide the opportunity to gain further insights into the versatility of the expression system as a potential tool for high-throughput in planta expression screening prior to generating stably transgenic plants for pathogen phytosensing. This system could also be utilized for temporary phytosensing; e.g., not requiring stably transgenic plants. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Fusion primer and nested integrated PCR (FPNI-PCR): a new high-efficiency strategy for rapid chromosome walking or flanking sequence cloning

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The successful amplification of target products through FPNI-PCR verified that this novel strategy is an effective, low cost and simple procedure. Furthermore, FPNI-PCR represents a more sensitive, rapid and accurate technique than the established TAIL-PCR and hiTAIL-PCR procedures. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Construction of permanently inducible miRNA-based expression vectors using site-specific recombinases

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: We designed and tested a modular system to rapidly clone miRNA expression cassettes. Our strategy reduces the hands-on time required to successfully generate effective constructs, and can be implemented in labs with minimal molecular cloning expertise. This versatile system provides options that permit constitutive or inducible miRNA expression, depending upon the needs of the end user. As such, it has utility for basic or translational applications. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Efficient production of chimeric Human papillomavirus 16 L1 protein bearing the M2e influenza epitope in Nicotiana benthamiana plants

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: In this study, we report for the first time the transient expression and the self-assembly of a chimeric HPV-16 L1 bearing the M2e influenza epitope in plants, representing also the first record of a successful expression of chimeric HPV-16 L1 carrying an epitope of a heterologous virus in plants. This study further confirms the usefulness of human papillomavirus particles as carriers of exogenous epitopes and their potential relevance for the production in plants of monovalent or multivalent vaccines. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Selective targeted delivery of the TNF-alpha receptor p75 and uteroglobin to the vasculature of inflamed tissues: a preliminary report.

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The recombinant protein described here, able to selectively deliver the TNF-alpha antagonist TNFRII to inflamed tissues, could yield important contributions for the therapy of degenerative inflammatory diseases. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

A bacteria colony-based screen for optimal linker combinations in genetically encoded biosensors

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: Application of this library screening methodology led to the identification of an optimized H3K27-trimethylation biosensor that exhibited an emission ratio change (66%) that was 2.3x improved relative to that of the initially constructed biosensor (29%). (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Disruption of Trichoderma reesei cre2, encoding an ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase, results in increased cellulase activity

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that cre2 is involved in cellulase expression. Since the disruption of cre2 increases the amount of cellulase activity, without severe morphological affects, targeting creB orthologues for disruption in other industrially useful filamentous fungi, such as Aspergillus oryzae, Trichoderma harzianum or Aspergillus niger may also lead to elevated hydrolytic enzyme activity in these species. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Authentication of African green monkey cell lines using human short tandem repeat markers

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: A functional vervet multiplex assay consisting of eight human STR markers with heterozygosity values ranging from 0.53-0.79 was successful in uniquely identifying sixty-two vervet monkey samples. The probability of a random match using these eight markers between any two vervet samples is approximately 1 in 1.9 million. While authenticating a vervet cell line, the multiplex assay may also be a useful indicator for human cell line contamination since the assay is based on human STR markers. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Engineering an L-cell line that expresses insulin under the control of the glucagon-like peptide-1 promoter for diabetes treatment

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: Our data showed that L-cells efficiently produced the mature insulin protein. In addition, the insulin protein secretion was positively regulated with glucose induction. In conclusion, GLP-1 promoter and L-cell could be potential candidates for diabetes gene therapy agents. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Generation of recombinant single-chain antibodies neutralizing the cytolytic activity of vaginolysin, the main virulence factor of Gardnerella vaginalis

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Hybridoma-derived scFvs with VLY-binding activity were expressed in E. coli. Recombinant anti-VLY scFvs inhibited VLY-mediated cell lysis. The monovalent scFvs showed reduced affinity and neutralizing potency as compared to the respective full-length antibodies. The loss of avidity could be restored by generating scFv constructs with multivalent binding properties. Generated scFvs is the first example of recombinant single-chain antibodies with VLY-neutralizing activity produced in prokaryote expression system. G. vaginalis caused infections continue to be a world-wide problem, therefore neutralizing recombinant antibodies may provide novel therapeutic agents useful in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis and other diseases caused by G. vaginalis. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - ...

New biotechnological perspectives of a NADH oxidase variant from Thermus thermophilus HB27 as NAD+-recycling enzyme

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: We have designed, developed and characterized a heterogeneous and robust biocatalyst which has been used as recycling partner in the kinetic resolution of rac-1-phenylethanol. The high stability along with its capability to be reactivated makes this biocatalyst highly re-useable for cofactor recycling in redox biotransformations (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

A further insight into the biosorption mechanism of Au(III)by infrared spectrometry

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The evidence suggests that the polypeptides appear to be activated by the intervention of Au() via the molecular reconformation and in turn react upon Au() actively and exert profound impacts on the course of Au(0) nucleation and crystal growth. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Do-it-yourself: construction of a custom cDNA macroarray platform with high sensitivity and linear range

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Results presented here, demonstrate for the first time that self-made cDNA-based nylon macroarrays can produce highly reliable gene expression data with high sensitivity and covering the entire mammalian dynamic range of mRNA abundances. Starting off from minimal amounts of unamplified total RNA per sample, a reasonable amount of samples can be assayed simultaneously for the quantitative expression of hundreds of genes in an easily customisable and cost-effective manner. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Modified expression of alternative oxidase in transgenic tomato and petunia affects the level of tomato spotted wilt virus resistance

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: In all assayed transgenic tomato lines, a higher percentage of transgenic progeny had lower TSWV levels than non-transgenic plants after challenge with TSWV, and the significantly increased resistant levels of tomato and petunia lines identified in this study indicate that altered expression levels of AOX in tomato and petunia can affect the levels of TSWV resistance. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Regeneration of multiple shoots from transgenic potato events facilitates the recovery of phenotypically normal lines: assessing a cry9Aa2 gene conferring insect resistance

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: A new strategy for the genetic improvement of clonal crops involves the regenerationand evaluation of multiple shoots from each transformation event to facilitate therecovery of phenotypically normal transgenic lines. Most importantly, regeneratedlines exhibiting the phenotypic appearance most similar to the parental cultivar are not necessarily derived from the first shoot regenerated from a transformed cell colony,but can frequently be a later regeneration event. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Isolation and characterization of novel bacterial strains exhibiting ligninolytic potential

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Bacillus sp. LD003 was selected as a promising source of novel types of ligninolytic enzymes. Our observations suggested that lignin mineralization and depolymerization are separate events which place additional challenges on the screening of ligninolytic microorganisms for specific ligninolytic enzymes. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

FastCloning: a highly simplified, purification-free, sequence- and ligation-independent PCR cloning method

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: Our FastCloning technique provides a very simple, effective, reliable, and versatile tool for molecular cloning, chimera construction, insertion of any DNA sequences of interest and also for multiple mutations in a short stretch of a cDNA. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Ubiquitin fusion expression and tissue-dependent targeting of hG-CSF in transgenic tobacco

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: In this study, the expression of bioactive hG-CSF in transgenic plants was improved through ubiquitin fusion strategy, demonstrating that protein expression can be enhanced in both plant leaves and seeds through fusion with ubiquitin and providing a typical case of tissue-dependent expression of recombinant protein in transgenic plants. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Design and Development of a Peptide-based Adiponectin Receptor Agonist for Cancer Treatment

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: ADP 355 is a first-in-class adiponectin receptor agonist. Its biological activity, superior stability in biological fluids as well as acceptable toxicity profile indicate that the peptidomimetic represents a true lead compound for pharmaceutical development to replace low adiponectin levels in cancer and other malignancies. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Upregulation of CYP 450s expression of immortalized hepatocyte-like cells derived from mesenchymal stem cells by enzyme inducers

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The hepatocyte-like cells contained the markers of hepatocytes including CYP450 subtypes. The high inducibility of CYP450 transcripts could serve as a sensitive model for profiling xenobiotic-induced expression of CYP450. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Nuclease-resistant immunostimulatory phosphodiester CpG oligodeoxynucleotides as human Toll-like receptor 9 agonists

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: This study showed that PD-ODN2006-2006 and PD-ODN-2006-2006-2006 can be used as potentially safe agonists for hTLR9 activation instead of CpG ODNs with a PTO backbone. We propose these CpG ODNs consisting of only a PD backbone as a novel class of CpG ODN. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Directed PCR-free engineering of highly repetitive DNA sequences

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: Our seamless cloning strategy is PCR-free and allows the directed and efficient generation of highly repetitive DNA sequences of defined lengths by simple standard cloning procedures. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Isolation of a Highly Thermal Stable Lama Single Domain Antibody Specific for Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxin B

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusion: The anti-SEB sdAb A3 was found to have a high affinity and an extraordinarily high Tm and could still refold to recover activity after heat denaturation. This combination of heat resilience and strong, specific binding make this sdAb a good candidate for use in antibody-based toxin detection technologies. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Improving Cry8Ka toxin activity towards the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis)

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The improved toxicity of the Cry8Ka5 mutant obtained in this study should allow for the generation of a transgenic cotton event with improved potential to control A. grandis. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Metabolic and Kinetic Analyses of Influenza Production in Perfusion HEK293 Cell Culture

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: These results confirm that the HEK293SF cell is an excellent substrate for high yield production of influenza virus. Furthermore, there is great potential in further improving the production yields through better control of the cell culture environment and viral production kinetics. Once accomplished, this cell line can be promoted as an industrial platform for cost-effective manufacturing of outbreaks the influenza seasonal vaccine as well as for periods of peak demand during pandemics. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Enhanced annealing of mismatched oligonucleotides using a novel melting curve assay allows efficient in vitro discrimination and restriction of a single nucleotide polymorphism

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The in vitro 'cleavage bubble' model presented is sequence-adaptable as determined by the binding oligonucleotide, and hence, has the potential to be tailored to discriminate between any two or more SNPs. Furthermore, the demonstrated fluorometric assay has broad application potential, offering a rapid, sensitive and high-throughput means to determine Tm and annealing rates as an alternative to conventional hybridisation detection strategies. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Characterization of mercury bioremediation by transgenic bacteria expressing metallothionein and polyphosphate kinase

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100

Engineered bacteria expressing the heavy metal scavenging molecules metallothionein or polyphosphate kinase are resistant to mercury and can detoxify their environment by accumulating most of the toxic element, which could be subsequently recycled for further industrial applications. (Source: BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles)

Serum-free microcarrier based production of replication deficient Influenza vaccine candidate virus lacking NS1 using Vero cells

BMC Biotechnology - Latest articles — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100