Insights into Enzyme Reactions with Redox Cofactors in Biological Conversion of CO.

Carbon dioxide (CO) is the most abundant component of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and directly creates environmental issues such as global warming and climate change. Carbon capture and storage have been proposed mainly to solve the problem of increasing CO concentration in the atmosphere; however, more emphasis has recently been placed on its use. Among the many methods of using CO, one of the key environmentally friendly technologies involves biologically converting CO into other organic substances such as biofuels, chemicals, and biomass via various metabolic pathways.

Development of Bacillus methanolicus methanol dehydrogenase with improved formaldehyde reduction activity.

Methanol dehydrogenase (MDH), an NAD-dependent oxidoreductase, reversibly converts formaldehyde to methanol. This activity is a key step for both toxic formaldehyde elimination and methanol production in bacterial methylotrophy. We mutated decameric Bacillus methanolicus MDH by directed evolution and screened mutants for increased formaldehyde reduction activity in Escherichia coli.

Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates from Sludge Palm Oil Using S12.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable plastics produced by bacteria, but their use in diverse applications is prohibited by high production costs. To reduce these costs, the conversion by strains of P HAs from crude s ludge p alm oil ( SPO) a s an inexpensive renewable raw material was tested. S12 was found to produce the highest yield (~41%) of elastomeric medium-chain-length (MCL)-PHAs from SPO.

Thioredoxin-interacting protein regulates haematopoietic stem cell ageing and rejuvenation by inhibiting p38 kinase activity.

Ageing is a natural process in living organisms throughout their lifetime, and most elderly people suffer from ageing-associated diseases. One suggested way to tackle such diseases is to rejuvenate stem cells, which also undergo ageing. Here we report that the thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP)-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38) axis regulates the ageing of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), by causing a higher frequency of long-term HSCs, lineage skewing, a decrease in engraftment, an increase in reactive oxygen species and loss of Cdc42 polarity.