Biosynthesis of Hesperetin, Homoeriodictyol, and Homohesperetin in a Transcriptomics-Driven Engineered Strain of .

Flavonoids exhibit various bioactivities including anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral properties. Methylated flavonoids are particularly significant due to their enhanced oral bioavailability, improved intestinal absorption, and greater stability. The heterologous production of plant flavonoids in bacterial factories involves the need for enough biosynthetic precursors to allow for high production levels.

Streptomycetes as platform for biotechnological production processes of drugs.

Streptomyces is one of the most versatile genera for biotechnological applications, widely employed as platform in the production of drugs. Although streptomycetes have a complex life cycle and metabolism that would need multidisciplinary approaches, review papers have generally reported only studies on single aspects like the isolation of new strains and metabolites, morphology investigations, and genetic or metabolic studies. Besides, even if streptomycetes are extensively used in industry, very few review papers have focused their attention on the technical aspects of biotechnological processes of drug production and bioconversion and on the key parameters that have to be set up.

Biotechnological Transformation of Hydrocortisone into 16α-Hydroxyprednisolone by Coupling and .

16α-Hydroxyprednisolone, an anti-inflammatory drug, could be potentially obtained from hydrocortisone bioconversion by combining a 1,2-dehydrogenation reaction performed by 31652 with a 16α-hydroxylation reaction by 13400. In this study we tested, for the first time, potential approaches to couple the two reactions using similar pH and temperature conditions for hydrocortisone bioconversion by the two strains. The capability to 1,2-dehydrogenate the 16α-hydroxyhydrocortisone, the product of transformation of hydrocortisone, and vice versa the capability of to 16α-hydroxylate the prednisolone were assessed.

Molecular weight determination of heparosan- and chondroitin-like capsular polysaccharides: figuring out differences between wild -type and engineered Escherichia coli strains.

Heparin and chondroitin sulfate are used as anti-thrombic and anti-osteoarthritis drugs, respectively, but their pharmacological actions depend on their structural characteristics such as their sulfation grade and their molecular weight. In the last years, new fermentation-based biotechnological approaches have tried to obtain heparin and chondroitin sulfate starting from the heparosan and chondroitin-like capsular polysaccharides produced by Escherichia coli K5 and K4. The study of the microbial capsular polysaccharide molecular weight is critical to obtain nature-like or structural tailor cut glycosaminoglycan homologues.