Acutely induced cell mortality in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyceae) following exposure to acrylic resin nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles have unique properties that make them attractive for use in industrial and medical technology industries but can also be harmful to living organisms, making an understanding of their molecular mechanisms of action essential. We examined the effect of three different sized poly(isobutyl-cyanoacrylate) nanoparticles (iBCA-NPs) on the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We found that exposure to iBCA-NPs immediately caused C.

UV-mediated Chlamydomonas mutants with enhanced nuclear transgene expression by disruption of DNA methylation-dependent and independent silencing systems.

In this investigation, we succeeded to generate Chlamydomonas mutants that bear dramatically enhanced ability for transgene expression. To yield these mutants, we utilized DNA methyltransferase deficient strain. These mutants must be useful as a plant cell factory.

Robust expression of heterologous genes by selection marker fusion system in improved Chlamydomonas strains.

Chlamydomonas is a very attractive candidate plant cell factory. However, its main drawback is the difficulty to find the transformants that robustly express heterologous genes randomly inserted in the nuclear genome. We previously showed that domestic squalene synthase (SQS) gene of Chlamydomonas was much more efficiently overexpressed in a mutant strain [UV-mediated mutant (UVM) 4] than in wild type.

Construction of individual, fused, and co-expressed proteins of endoglucanase and β-glucosidase for hydrolyzing sugarcane bagasse.

At least a combination of endoglucanase (EglII) and β-glucosidase (BglZ) is required for hydrolyzing crystalline cellulose. To understand the catalytic efficiency of combination enzymes for converting biomass to sugars, EglII and BglZ were constructed in the form of individual, fused as well as co-expression proteins, and their activities for hydrolyzing sugarcane bagasse were evaluated. The genes, eglII isolated from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens PSM3.

β-D-xylosidase from Geobacillus thermoleovorans IT-08: biochemical characterization and bioinformatics of the enzyme.

The gene encoding a thermostable β-D-xylosidase (GbtXyl43B) from Geobacillus thermoleovorans IT-08 was cloned in pET30a and expressed in Escherichia coli; additionally, characterization and kinetic analysis of GbtXyl43B were carried out. The gene product was purified to apparent homogeneity showing M r of 72 by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme exhibited an optimum temperature and pH of 60 °C and 6.

Screening, gene sequencing and characterising of lipase for methanolysis of crude palm oil.

Staphylococcus sp. WL1 lipase (LipFWS) was investigated for methanolysis of crude palm oil (CPO) at moderate temperatures. Experiments were conducted in the following order: searching for the suitable bacterium for producing lipase from activated sludge, sequencing lipase gene, identifying lipase activity, then synthesising CPO biodiesel using the enzyme.