Production of 3-Hydroxytyrosol from Glucose by Chromosomally Engineered by Fed-Batch Cultivation in a Jar Fermenter.

3-Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a super antioxidant possessing many physiological advantages for human health. However, the extraction of natural HT from olive () is expensive, and its chemical synthesis presents an environmental burden. Therefore, microbial production of HT from renewable sources has been investigated over the past decade.

Recent advances in animal cell technologies for industrial and medical applications.

The industrial use of living organisms for bioproduction of valued substances has been accomplished mostly using microorganisms. To produce high-value bioproducts such as antibodies that require glycosylation modification for better performance, animal cells have been recently gaining attention in bioengineering because microorganisms are unsuitable for producing such substances. Furthermore, animal cells are now classified as products because a large number of cells are required for use in regenerative medicine.

Engineered whole cut meat-like tissue by the assembly of cell fibers using tendon-gel integrated bioprinting.

With the current interest in cultured meat, mammalian cell-based meat has mostly been unstructured. There is thus still a high demand for artificial steak-like meat. We demonstrate in vitro construction of engineered steak-like tissue assembled of three types of bovine cell fibers (muscle, fat, and vessel).

Microarray profiling of gene expression in C2C12 myotubes trained by electric pulse stimulation.

Electric pulse-stimulated C2C12 myotubes are gaining interest in the field of muscle physiology and biotechnology because electric pulse stimulation (EPS) enhances sarcomere structure development and active tension generation capability. Recently, we found that termination of EPS results in the rapid loss of active tension generation accompanied by disassembly of the sarcomere structure, which may represent an in vitro muscle atrophy model. To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying this rapid loss of active tension generation and sarcomere structure disassembly after termination of EPS, we performed transcriptomic analysis using microarray.

Effect of hydrogen peroxide concentration on the maintenance and differentiation of cultured skeletal muscle cells.

We have studied the effects of hydrogen peroxide (HO) on the differentiation and maintenance of C2C12 myoblasts. The effects of HO were evaluated by cell viability, total protein concentration, the relative amount of muscle-related proteins, sarcomere structure, and active tension generation. Oxidative stress is one of the major causes of myopathy after exercise and thus establishing the method to evaluate the effects on muscle function is essential.

Chromosome Engineering To Generate Plasmid-Free Phenylalanine- and Tyrosine-Overproducing Strains That Can Be Applied in the Generation of Aromatic-Compound-Producing Bacteria.

Many phenylalanine- and tyrosine-producing strains have used plasmid-based overexpression of pathway genes. The resulting strains achieved high titers and yields of phenylalanine and tyrosine. Chromosomally engineered, plasmid-free producers have shown lower titers and yields than plasmid-based strains, but the former are advantageous in terms of cultivation cost and public health/environmental risk.

Effect of cell-extracellular matrix interaction on myogenic characteristics and artificial skeletal muscle tissue.

Although various types of artificial skeletal muscle tissue have been reported, the contractile forces generated by tissue-engineered artificial skeletal muscles remain to be improved for biological model and clinical applications. In this study, we investigated the effects of extracellular matrix (ECM) and supplementation of a small molecule, which has been reported to enhance α7β1 integrin expression (SU9516), on cell migration speed, cell fusion rate, myoblast (mouse C2C12 cells) differentiation and contractile force generation of tissue-engineered artificial skeletal muscles. When cells were cultured on varying ECM coated-surfaces, we observed significant enhancement in the migration speed, while the myotube formation (differentiation ratio) decreased in all except for cells cultured on Matrigel coated-surfaces.

Escherichia coli chromosome-based T7-dependent constitutive overexpression system and its application to generating a phenylalanine producing strain.

Many metabolic engineering approaches have been attempted to generate strains capable of producing valuable compounds. One of main goals is industrial application of these strains. Integration of synthetic pathway genes into the Escherichia coli chromosome enables generation of a plasmid-free strain that is stable and useful for industrial applications.

Size- and time-dependent growth properties of human induced pluripotent stem cells in the culture of single aggregate.

Aggregate culture of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) is a promising method to obtain high number of cells for cell therapy applications. This study quantitatively evaluated the effects of initial cell number and culture time on the growth of hiPSCs in the culture of single aggregate. Small size aggregates ((1.

Culture medium refinement by dialysis for the expansion of human induced pluripotent stem cells in suspension culture.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) secrete essential autocrine factors that are removed along with toxic metabolites when the growth medium is exchanged daily. In this study, after determining the minimum inhibitory level of lactic acid for hiPSCs, a medium refining system was constructed by which toxic metabolites were removed from used culture medium and autocrine factors as well as other growth factors were recycled. Specifically, about 87 % of the basic fibroblast growth factor and 80 % of transforming growth factor beta 1 were retained in the refined medium after dialysis.

Disruption of myoblast alignment by highly motile rhabdomyosarcoma cell in tissue structure.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a highly malignant tumor type of skeletal muscle origin, hallmarked by local invasion. Interaction between invasive tumor cells and normal cells plays a major role in tumor invasion and metastasis. Culturing tumor cells in a three-dimensional (3D) model can translate tumor malignancy relevant cell-cell interaction.

Induction of functional tissue-engineered skeletal muscle constructs by defined electrical stimulation.

Electrical impulses are necessary for proper in vivo skeletal muscle development. To fabricate functional skeletal muscle tissues in vitro, recapitulation of the in vivo niche, including physical stimuli, is crucial. Here, we report a technique to engineer skeletal muscle tissues in vitro by electrical pulse stimulation (EPS).

Endothelial cell behavior inside myoblast sheets with different thickness.

Using a cell sheet stacking method, we developed an in vitro culture system in which green fluorescent protein expressing human umbilical vein endothelial cells (GFP-HUVECs) were cultured under human skeletal muscle myoblast (HSMM) sheets with different layer numbers. Our aim in developing this system was to examine the different endothelial behaviors in the cell sheet. During 96 h of incubation, in monolayer HSMM sheet, HUVECs quickly reached the top of the cell sheet and detached.

Metabolic flux analysis of genetically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae that produces lactate under micro-aerobic conditions.

In the present study, to elucidate mechanisms of growth suppression in YIBO-pdc1/5Δ, we performed carbon metabolic flux analysis under micro-aerobic conditions. Our results indicate that growth suppression of YIBO-pdc1/5Δ is caused by decreased flux to the pentose phosphate pathway, which supplies ribose-5-phosphate, a precursor for histidine synthesis in Sacchar omyces cerevisiae. In addition, significant accumulation of pyruvate was observed in the continuous culture.

Network formation through active migration of human vascular endothelial cells in a multilayered skeletal myoblast sheet.

Autologous transplantation of myoblast sheet has attracted attention as a new technique for curing myocardial infarction. Myoblast sheet has the ability to secret cytokines that improve heart function via the facilitation of angiogenesis on affected part. To mimic the in vivo angiogenesis in the myoblast sheet after transplantation, a five-layered cell sheet of human skeletal muscle myoblasts (HSMMs) was overlaid on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) which enables evaluation of dynamic HUVEC behavior.

Evaluation systems of generated forces of skeletal muscle cell-based bio-actuators.

Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the body, and its capability of generating an active force is one of the most significant features. In order to study the physiology and disorders related to the skeletal muscle using cells in vitro, the active force should be evaluated, in addition to molecular and cell biological experiments performed. This article reviews an evaluation system for the active tension generated by cultured skeletal muscle cells or tissue-engineered skeletal muscles.

Fed-batch system for cultivating genetically engineered yeast that produces lactic acid via the fermentative promoter.

A simple fed-batch system for cultivating genetically engineered yeast generating lactate under the regulation of the PDC1 promoter was established. Traditional strategies that avoid occurrence of Crabtree effect, such as respiratory quotient (RQ) control or ethanol control, are not applicable to the strain because of reduced generation of ethanol and CO(2) by-products. In this system, the feed rate increased when the pH was >5.

Evaluation of vertical cell fluidity in a multilayered sheet of skeletal myoblasts.

The procedure for fabricating a multilayered cell sheet has been developed by combining multiple sheets using a thermo-responsive surface and stamp system. Confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed that the fluidity of a multilayered sheet of skeletal myoblasts could be estimated as vertical diffusivity and changed upon addition of dermal fibroblasts.

Enhanced contractile force generation by artificial skeletal muscle tissues using IGF-I gene-engineered myoblast cells.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I gene delivery to myoblast cells promotes the contractile force generated by hydrogel-based tissue-engineered skeletal muscles in vitro. Two retroviral vectors allowing doxycycline (Dox)-inducible expression of the IGF-I gene were transduced into mouse myoblast C2C12 cells to evaluate the effects of IGF-I gene expression on these cells. IGF-I gene expression stimulated the proliferation of C2C12 cells, and a significant increase in the growth rate was observed for IGF-I-transduced C2C12 cells with Dox addition, designated C2C12/IGF (Dox+) cells.

Rapid decrease in active tension generated by C2C12 myotubes after termination of artificial exercise.

We found that the active tension of C2C12 myotubes that had been subjected to artificial exercise for ~10 days decreased rapidly after termination of the artificial exercise. When differentiated C2C12 myotubes were subjected to continuous 1 Hz artificial exercise for ~10 days, the active tension increased to ~4× compared to that before application of the artificial exercise, as reported previously. On termination of artificial exercise, the active tension decreased rapidly, the level reaching that before application of the artificial exercise within 8 h.

Designing of a Si-MEMS device with an integrated skeletal muscle cell-based bio-actuator.

With the aim of designing a mechanical drug delivery system involving a bio-actuator, we fabricated a Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) device that can be driven through contraction of skeletal muscle cells. The device is composed of a Si-MEMS with springs and ratchets, UV-crosslinked collagen film for cell attachment, and C2C12 muscle cells. The Si-MEMS device is 600 μm x 1000 μm in size and the width of the collagen film is 250 ~ 350 μm, which may allow the device to go through small blood vessels.

Functional evaluation of artificial skeletal muscle tissue constructs fabricated by a magnetic force-based tissue engineering technique.

Skeletal muscle tissue engineering is currently applied in a variety of research fields, including regenerative medicine, drug screening, and bioactuator development, all of which require the fabrication of biomimic and functional skeletal muscle tissues. In the present study, magnetite cationic liposomes were used to magnetically label C2C12 myoblast cells for the construction of three-dimensional artificial skeletal muscle tissues by an applied magnetic force. Skeletal muscle functions, such as biochemical and contractile properties, were evaluated for the artificial tissue constructs.

Evaluation of serum-free differentiation conditions for C2C12 myoblast cells assessed as to active tension generation capability.

We have compared several serum-free media for the differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts and assessed the extent of differentiation in several ways including as to active tension generation capability. C2C12 cells were allowed to differentiate in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) containing Ham's F-12 (F-12), AIM-V (AIM), 0.2% Ultroser-G in DMEM (Ult-G), and 0.