Zwitterionic Peptides: From Mechanism, Design Strategies to Applications.

Zwitterionic peptides, as a type of peptide composed of charged residues, are electrically neutral, which combine the advantages of zwitterionic materials and biological peptides, exhibiting hydrophilicity and programmable properties. As attractive candidates for resisting nonspecific adsorption of biomacromolecules and microorganisms, zwitterionic peptides have been applied in materials science, biomedicine, and biochemistry over the past decade. In this review, the development of zwitterionic peptides has been systematically outlined and analyzed, including their mechanisms, structure-function relationships, and design strategies.

Mussel-inspired protein-based nanoparticles for curcumin encapsulation and promoting antitumor efficiency.

Curcumin demonstrated therapeutic potential for cancer. However, its medical application is limited due to low solubility, poor stability and low absorption rate. Here, we used the mussel-inspired functional protein (MPKE) to fabricate the curcumin-carrying nanoparticle (Cur-MPKE) for encapsulating and delivering curcumin.

Engineering strategies for enhanced heterologous protein production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Microbial proteins are promising substitutes for animal- and plant-based proteins. S. cerevisiae, a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) microorganism, has been frequently employed to generate heterologous proteins.

Mussel-inspired proteins functionalize catheter with antifouling and antibacterial properties.

Bacterial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation on catheter can cause inevitably infection. The development of multifunctional antibacterial coating is a promising strategy to resist the bacteria adhesion and biofilm formation. Herein, a mussel-inspired chimeric protein MZAgP is prepared and employed to modify a variety of polymeric catheters.

Investigation into antifreeze performances of natural amino acids for novel CPA development.

Cryopreservation can prolong the viability of cells and help meet the demand for biosamples of high medical value. Cryoprotectants (CPAs) can mitigate unavoidable cell cryoinjury caused by the formation and growth of ice crystals during freeze-thaw cycles. Therefore, the development of efficient and biocompatible CPAs has attracted extensive attention.

[Molecular engineering and immobilization of lysine decarboxylase for synthesis of 1, 5-diaminopentane: a review].

1, 5-diaminopentane, also known as cadaverine, is an important raw material for the production of biopolyamide. It can be polymerized with dicarboxylic acid to produce biopolyamide PA5X whose performances are comparable to that of the petroleum-based polyamide materials. Notably, biopolyamide uses renewable resources such as starch, cellulose and vegetable oil as substrate.

Engineering synthetic microbial consortium for cadaverine biosynthesis from glycerol.

Objectives: 1,5-pentanediamine (cadaverine) is a C5 platform chemical, also an important raw material for bio-polyamide PA5X. With increasing concerns about the depletion of fossil resources and global environmental protection, cadaverine bio-production has attracted more attentions.

Results: Here, a microbial consortium consisting of Corynebacterium glutamicum cgl-FDK and Escherichia coli BL-ABST-Spy was constructed to de novo synthesize cadaverine utilizing glycerol as the sole carbon resource.

Development of Organogels for Live Encapsulation.

Encapsulation of cells/microorganisms attracts great attention in many applications, but current studies mainly focus on hydrophilic encapsulation materials. Herein, we develop a new class of hydrophobic and lipophilic organogels for highly efficient encapsulation of , an oleaginous yeast, by a mild and nonsolvent photopolymerization method. The organogels allow free diffusion of hydrophobic molecules that oleaginous yeasts require to survive and function.

Zwitterionic peptide-functionalized highly dispersed carbon nanotubes for efficient wastewater treatment.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have displayed great potential as catalyst carriers due to their nanoscale structure and large specific surface area. However, their hydrophobicity and poor dispersibility in water restrict their applications in aqueous environments. Herein, the dispersibility of MWCNTs was significantly enhanced with a chimeric protein MPKE which consisted of a zwitterionic peptide unit and a mussel adhesive protein unit.

Beetle and mussel-inspired chimeric protein for fabricating anti-icing coating.

Ice accretion on surfaces can cause serious damages and economic losses in industries and civilian facilities. Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) as evolutionary adaptation products of organisms to cold climates, provide solutions for alleviating icing problems. In this work, a chimeric protein Mfp-AFP was rationally designed combining mussel-inspired adhesive domain with Tenebrio molitor-derived antifreeze protein domain.

Mussel-inspired triblock functional protein coating with endothelial cell selectivity for endothelialization.

Surface modification of biomaterials for rapid endothelialization is a promising approach for improving long-term patency of artificial vascular grafts (e.g. polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE) with small-caliber vascular (<6 mm).

Engineered a novel pH-sensitive short major ampullate spidroin.

The pH diversification has been proved as an important factor affecting the self-assembly of spidroin. Herein, we constructed a novel spider silk protein (NT-MaSp1s-CT) with the pH-dependent secondary structures, containing pH-sensitive N-terminal, C-terminal domains and a repeated core region with merely 191 amino acids. Then pH sensitivity of NT-MaSp1s-CT was detected at different pH conditions and NT-MaSp1s-CT displayed pH-dependent conformational transitions consistent with rational designed objective.

Facile fabrication of a high-efficient and biocompatibility biocatalyst for bisphenol A removal.

In this study, we developed a smart microfluidic device to prepare biocatalyst HRP-pCBMA. HRP-pCBMA is composed of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and zwitterionic polymers poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (pCBMA), and could be applied to biodegrade bisphenol A (BPA) efficiently. Compared to free HRP, HRP-pCBMA exhibited an obviously enhanced degrading capability for 1 mM BPA with 99.

Bioinspired Multifunctional Protein Coating for Antifogging, Self-Cleaning, and Antimicrobial Properties.

A multifunctional coating with antifogging, self-cleaning, and antimicrobial properties has been prepared based on a mussel-inspired chimeric protein MP-KE, which is the first example that these proteins were successfully applied to fabricate antifogging surfaces. The coating exhibits super hydrophilic properties, as indicated by contact angles less than 5° and high light transmittance similar to bare glass substrates about 90%. The zwitterionic peptides of MP-KE empower water molecules to expand into thin hydrated films rapidly, providing the protein coating with diverse surface functions.

Novel Mussel-Inspired Universal Surface Functionalization Strategy: Protein-Based Coating with Residue-Specific Post-Translational Modification in Vivo.

Surface functionalization can effectively endow materials with desirable properties, promoting the performance between the material and environment, with extensive applications. However, a universal and straightforward surface functionalization method with biocompatibility is scarce. In this study, with synthetic biology strategy, recombinant mussel plaque protein with a zwitterionic peptide inspired by molecular chaperone was engineered through post-translational modification, in which 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine was residue-specifically obtained efficiently from tyrosine with tyrosinase coexpressed in vivo.

A mussel-inspired chimeric protein as a novel facile antifouling coating.

A mussel-inspired chimeric protein as a multifunctional coating was engineered rationally and applied in antifouling. 3,4-Dihydroxyphenyl-alanine (Dopa) and zwitterionic peptides inspired from molecular chaperones were incorporated into the designed protein. The multifunctional protein coating can anchor onto various substrates surfaces readily and exhibits superior antifouling properties.

A facile modification to improve the biocompatibility and adsorbability of activated carbon with zwitterionic hydrogel.

In this work, poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) hydrogel (pCBMA) was employed to modify the activated carbon (AC) for improving the biocompatibility and adsorption capacity of AC in biological environments. First, size-controlled hydrogel beads and hydrogel coated AC (pCBMA-AC) were fabricated with a homemade device, and the preparation conditions were optimized. Then the physical and biological properties of pCBMA-AC with different diameters were investigated.

Biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles grafted by poly(carboxybetaine acrylamide) for enzyme immobilization.

Herein, the zwitterionic material poly (carboxybetaine acrylamide) was grafted onto iron oxide to obtain biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles FeO-pCBAA which were employed to immobilize enzymes. The nanocomplxes FeO-pCBAA were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectra and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX). The urease as a model enzyme was immobilized with the novel supports and the properties of immobilized urease were further investigated in comparison with the free urease counterpart.

Metabolomics assisted metabolic network modeling and network wide analysis of metabolites in microbiology.

Metabolomics is the science of qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing low molecular weight metabolites occur in a given biological system. It provides valuable information to elucidate the functional roles and relations of different metabolites in a metabolic pathway. In recent years, a large amount of research on microbial metabolomics has been conducted.

Poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate)-functionalized magnetic composite particles: A biofriendly support for lipase immobilization.

In this work, poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) as an extremely hydrophilic polymer was modified on superparamagnetic FeO nanoparticles (pCB-FeO), which were employed to immobilize porcine pancreatic lipase. The properties of immobilized lipase were investigated in comparison with the free enzyme counterpart. Enzymatic stability, reusability, and activity of the immobilized lipase were found significantly superior to that of the free lipase.

Engineering of the LysR family transcriptional regulator FkbR1 and its target gene to improve ascomycin production.

Ascomycin (FK520), a macrocyclic polyketide natural antibiotic, displays high anti-fungal and immunosuppressive activity. In this study, the LysR family transcriptional regulator FkbR1 was characterized, and its role in ascomycin biosynthesis was explored by gene deletion, complementation, and overexpression. Inactivation of fkbR1 led to 67.

Integration of parallel C-labeling experiments and in silico pathway analysis for enhanced production of ascomycin.

Herein, the hyper-producing strain for ascomycin was engineered based on C-labeling experiments and elementary flux modes analysis (EFMA). First, the metabolism of non-model organism Streptomyces hygroscopicus var. ascomyceticus SA68 was investigated and an updated network model was reconstructed using C- metabolic flux analysis.

Model-driven intracellular redox status modulation for increasing isobutanol production in Escherichia coli.

Background: Few strains have been found to produce isobutanol naturally. For building a high performance isobutanol-producing strain, rebalancing redox status of the cell was very crucial through systematic investigation of redox cofactors metabolism. Then, the metabolic model provided a powerful tool for the rational modulation of the redox status.

Engineering Scheffersomyces stipitis for fumaric acid production from xylose.

In this work, Scheffersomyces stipitis, the yeast with excellent xylose-utilizing ability, was firstly engineered for fumaric acid production from xylose with the heterologous reductive pathway from Rhizopus oryzae FM19, and 1.86g/L fumaric acid was produced by the initial strain PSRPMF under the oxygen-limited condition. Furthermore, three strategies were performed to improve the fumaric acid production, including increasing the reductive pathway activity by codon optimization, blocking the fumaric acid conversion in tricarboxylic acid cycle by knocking out the native fumarases, and improving the fumaric acid transportation by overexpressing heterologous transporter.

Comparative metabolomic-based metabolic mechanism hypothesis for microbial mixed cultures utilizing cane molasses wastewater for higher 2-phenylethanol production.

The mixed microbes coculture method in cane molasses wastewater (CMW) was adopted to produce 2-phenylethanol (2-PE). Comparative metabolomics combined with multivariate statistical analysis was performed to profile the differences of overall intracellular metabolites concentration for the mixed microbes cocultured under two different fermentation conditions with low and high 2-PE production. In total 102 intracellular metabolites were identified, and 17 of them involved in six pathways were responsible for 2-PE biosynthesis.