Bioproduction of Linalool From Paper Mill Waste.

A key challenge in chemicals biomanufacturing is the maintenance of stable, highly productive microbial strains to enable cost-effective fermentation at scale. A "cookie-cutter" approach to microbial engineering is often used to optimize host stability and productivity. This can involve identifying potential limitations in strain characteristics followed by attempts to systematically optimize production strains by targeted engineering.

From Bugs to Bioplastics: Total (+)-Dihydrocarvide Biosynthesis by Engineered Escherichia coli.

The monoterpenoid lactone derivative (+)-dihydrocarvide ((+)-DHCD) can be polymerised to form shape-memory polymers. Synthetic biology routes from simple, inexpensive carbon sources are an attractive, alternative route over chemical synthesis from (R)-carvone. We have demonstrated a proof-of-principle in vivo approach for the complete biosynthesis of (+)-DHCD from glucose in Escherichia coli (6.

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of the Intermediates in the Peppermint Monoterpenoid Biosynthetic Pathway.

A chemoenzymatic approach providing access to all four intermediates in the peppermint biosynthetic pathway between limonene and menthone/isomenthone, including noncommercially available intermediates (-)- trans-isopiperitenol (2), (-)-isopiperitenone (3), and (+)- cis-isopulegone (4), is described. Oxidation of (+)-isopulegol (13) followed by enolate selenation and oxidative elimination steps provides (-)-isopiperitenone (3). A chemical reduction and separation route from (3) provides both native (-)- trans-isopiperitenol (2) and isomer (-)- cis-isopiperitenol (18), while enzymatic conjugate reduction of (-)-isopiperitenone (3) with IPR [(-)-isopiperitenone reductase)] provides (+)- cis-isopulegone (4).

Enzymatic Menthol Production: One-Pot Approach Using Engineered Escherichia coli.

Menthol isomers are high-value monoterpenoid commodity chemicals, produced naturally by mint plants, Mentha spp. Alternative clean biosynthetic routes to these compounds are commercially attractive. Optimization strategies for biocatalytic terpenoid production are mainly focused on metabolic engineering of the biosynthesis pathway within an expression host.

Human cryptochrome-1 confers light independent biological activity in transgenic Drosophila correlated with flavin radical stability.

Cryptochromes are conserved flavoprotein receptors found throughout the biological kingdom with diversified roles in plant development and entrainment of the circadian clock in animals. Light perception is proposed to occur through flavin radical formation that correlates with biological activity in vivo in both plants and Drosophila. By contrast, mammalian (Type II) cryptochromes regulate the circadian clock independently of light, raising the fundamental question of whether mammalian cryptochromes have evolved entirely distinct signaling mechanisms.

Local control of a disorder-order transition in 4E-BP1 underpins regulation of translation via eIF4E.

The molecular mechanism underpinning regulation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF4E by 4E-BP1 has remained unclear. We use isothermal calorimetry, circular dichroism, NMR, and computational modeling to analyze how the structure of the eIF4E-binding domain of 4E-BP1 determines its affinity for the dorsal face of eIF4E and thus the ability of this regulator to act as a competitive inhibitor. This work identifies the key role of solvent-facing amino acids in 4E-BP1 that are not directly engaged in interactions with eIF4E.