Enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass from wood.

Current research and development in cellulosic ethanol production has been focused mainly on agricultural residues and dedicated energy crops such as corn stover and switchgrass; however, woody biomass remains a very important feedstock for ethanol production. The precise composition of hemicellulose in the wood is strongly dependent on the plant species, therefore different types of enzymes are needed based on hemicellulose complexity and type of pretreatment. In general, hardwood species have much lower recalcitrance to enzymes than softwood.

High-titer production of astaxanthin by the semi-industrial fermentation of Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous.

An improved semi-industrial process for astaxanthin production by fermentation of Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous has been developed. The culture medium was designed at the flask scale, reaching an astaxanthin cellular content of 3.0 mgg(-1) cell weight and a volumetric yield of 119 mgL(-1) broth.

Why did the Fleming strain fail in penicillin industry?

Penicillin, discovered 75 years ago by Sir Alexander Fleming in Penicillium notatum, laid the foundations of modern antibiotic chemotherapy. Early work was carried out on the original Fleming strain, but it was later replaced by overproducing strains of Penicillium chrysogenum, which became the industrial penicillin producers. We show how a C(1357)-->T (A394V) change in the gene encoding PahA in P.

The nagA gene of Penicillium chrysogenum encoding beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase.

We purified the beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase from the filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum and its N-terminal sequence was determined, showing the presence of a mixture of two proteins (P1 and P2). A genomic DNA fragment was cloned by using degenerated oligonucleotides from the Nt sequences. The nucleotide sequence showed the presence of an ORF (nagA gene) lacking introns, with a length of 1791 bp, and coding for a protein of 66.

The tylosin biosynthetic cluster from Streptomyces fradiae: genetic organization of the left region.

The genetic organization of the left edge (tyIEDHFJ region) of the tylosin biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces fradiae has been determined. Sequence analysis of a 12.9 kb region has revealed the presence of 11 ORFs, 10 of them belonging to the biosynthetic cluster.

D-amino-acid oxidase gene from Rhodotorula gracilis (Rhodosporidium toruloides) ATCC 26217.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the DAO1 gene encoding D-amino-acid oxidase (DAAO) in the yeast Rhodotorula gracilis (Rhodosporidium toruloides) ATCC 26217 has been determined. The primary structure of DAAO was deduced from the nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone that covered the entire amino acid coding sequence. Comparison of cDNA and genomic sequences of DAO1 revealed the presence of five introns.