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1.
Unlocking Nature's Biosynthetic Power-Metabolic Engineering for the Fermentative Production of Chemicals.
Hoff, B, Plassmeier, J, Blankschien, M, Letzel, AC, Kourtz, L, Schröder, H, Koch, W, Zelder, O
Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English). 2021;(5):2258-2278
Abstract
Fermentation as a production method for chemicals is especially attractive, as it is based on cheap renewable raw materials and often exhibits advantages in terms of costs and sustainability. The tremendous development of technology in bioscience has resulted in an exponentially increasing knowledge about biological systems and has become the main driver for innovations in the field of metabolic engineering. Progress in recombinant DNA technology, genomics, and computational methods open new, cheaper, and faster ways to metabolically engineer microorganisms. Existing biosynthetic pathways for natural products, such as vitamins, organic acids, amino acids, or secondary metabolites, can be discovered and optimized efficiently, thereby enabling competitive commercial production processes. Novel biosynthetic routes can now be designed by the rearrangement of nature's unlimited number of enzymes and metabolic pathways in microbial strains. This expands the range of chemicals accessible by biotechnology and has yielded the first commercial products, while new fermentation technologies targeting novel active ingredients, commodity chemicals, and CO2 -fixation methods are on the horizon.
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2.
Shining New Light on the Kinetics of Water Uptake by Organic Aerosol Particles.
Diveky, ME, Gleichweit, MJ, Roy, S, Signorell, R
The journal of physical chemistry. A. 2021;(17):3528-3548
Abstract
The uptake of water vapor by various organic aerosols is important in a number of applications ranging from medical delivery of pharmaceutical aerosols to cloud formation in the atmosphere. The coefficient that describes the probability that the impinging gas-phase molecule sticks to the surface of interest is called the mass accommodation coefficient, αM. Despite the importance of this coefficient for the description of water uptake kinetics, accurate values are still lacking for many systems. In this Feature Article, we present various experimental techniques that have been evoked in the literature to study the interfacial transport of water and discuss the corresponding strengths and limitations. This includes our recently developed technique called photothermal single-particle spectroscopy (PSPS). The PSPS technique allows for a retrieval of αM values from three independent, yet simultaneous measurements operating close to equilibrium, providing a robust assessment of interfacial mass transport. We review the currently available data for αM for water on various organics and discuss the few studies that address the temperature and relative humidity dependence of αM for water on organics. The knowledge of the latter, for example, is crucial to assess the water uptake kinetics of organic aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere. Finally, we argue that PSPS might also be a viable method to better restrict the αM value for water on liquid water.
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3.
Metabolic engineering of microorganisms for production of aromatic compounds.
Huccetogullari, D, Luo, ZW, Lee, SY
Microbial cell factories. 2019;(1):41
Abstract
Metabolic engineering has been enabling development of high performance microbial strains for the efficient production of natural and non-natural compounds from renewable non-food biomass. Even though microbial production of various chemicals has successfully been conducted and commercialized, there are still numerous chemicals and materials that await their efficient bio-based production. Aromatic chemicals, which are typically derived from benzene, toluene and xylene in petroleum industry, have been used in large amounts in various industries. Over the last three decades, many metabolically engineered microorganisms have been developed for the bio-based production of aromatic chemicals, many of which are derived from aromatic amino acid pathways. This review highlights the latest metabolic engineering strategies and tools applied to the biosynthesis of aromatic chemicals, many derived from shikimate and aromatic amino acids, including L-phenylalanine, L-tyrosine and L-tryptophan. It is expected that more and more engineered microorganisms capable of efficiently producing aromatic chemicals will be developed toward their industrial-scale production from renewable biomass.
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4.
Transport of organic substances through the cytoplasmic membrane of cyanobacteria.
Stebegg, R, Schmetterer, G, Rompel, A
Phytochemistry. 2019;:206-218
Abstract
Cyanobacteria are mainly known to incorporate inorganic molecules like carbon dioxide and ammonia from the environment into organic material within the cell. Nevertheless cyanobacteria do import and export organic substances through the cytoplasmic membrane and these processes are essential for all cyanobacteria. In addition understanding the mechanisms of transport of organic molecules through the cytoplasmic membrane might become very important. Genetically modified strains of cyanobacteria could serve as producers and exporters of commercially important substances. In this review we attempt to present all data of transport of organic molecules through the cytoplasmic membrane of cyanobacteria that are currently available with the transported molecules ordered according to their chemical classes.
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5.
Myco-Remediation of Xenobiotic Organic Compounds for a Sustainable Environment: A Critical Review.
Noman, E, Al-Gheethi, A, Mohamed, RMSR, Talip, BA
Topics in current chemistry (Cham). 2019;(3):17
Abstract
In this article, the utilization of fungi for the degradation of xenobiotic organic compounds (XOCs) from different wastewater and aqueous solutions has been reviewed. The myco-remediation (myco-enzymes, myco-degradation, and myco-sorption) process is widely used to remove XOCs, which are not easily biodegradable. The removal of XOCs from textile wastewaters through chemical and physical processes has been addressed by many researchers. Currently, the application of oxidative enzymes [manganese peroxidase (MnP), lignin peroxidase (LiP), and laccase] and myco-adsorption is becoming more common for the removal of XOCs from wastewater. Although the advanced oxidation process (AOPs) is a preferred technology for removing XOCs, its use is restricted due to its relatively high cost, which led to research studies on non-traditional and low-cost technology. The current review aimed to organize the scattered available information on the potential of myco-remediation for XOC removal. Moreover, the utilization of agricultural wastes as a production substrate for oxidative enzymes has been reported by many authors. Agricultural waste materials are highly inducible for oxidative enzyme production by fungi and are cost-effective in comparison to commercial substances. It is evident from the literature survey of 80 recently published papers that myco-enzymes have demonstrated outstanding XOC removal capabilities. Fungal laccase enzyme is the first step to degrade the lignin and then to get the carbon source form the cellulose by cellulose enzyme.
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6.
Organohalide respiratory chains: composition, topology and key enzymes.
Schubert, T, Adrian, L, Sawers, RG, Diekert, G
FEMS microbiology ecology. 2018;(4)
Abstract
The utilization of halogenated organic compounds as terminal electron acceptors separates the phylogenetically diverse organohalide-respiring bacteria from other respiratory anaerobes that predominantly use nitrate, fumarate, sulfate or oxidized metals. Organohalide respiration is unique in recruiting a cobamide-containing iron-sulfur protein, the extracellular membrane-bound reductive dehalogenase, as terminal reductase in the electron transfer chain. In recent years substantial contributions have been made to the understanding of how electron transfer paths couple mechanistically to chemiosmosis in the organohalide-respiring bacteria. The structural analysis of a respiratory and a non-respiratory reductive dehalogenase revealed the intramolecular electron transfer via two cubane iron-sulfur clusters to the cobamide at the active site. Based on whether quinones are involved, two types of intermolecular electron transfer chains have been identified, which differ in their composition and mode of proton translocation. Indeed, various respiratory chain architectures have been unraveled and evidence for different putative coupling mechanisms presented. The identification of a multienzyme respiratory complex that combines uptake hydrogenase, a complex iron-sulfur molybdoenzyme and a reductive dehalogenase in Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain CBDB1 has raised new questions regarding the mode of energy conservation in these enigmatic microbes. In this mini-review, we highlight these findings and provide an outlook on potential future developments.
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7.
A review of measured bioaccumulation data on terrestrial plants for organic chemicals: Metrics, variability, and the need for standardized measurement protocols.
Doucette, WJ, Shunthirasingham, C, Dettenmaier, EM, Zaleski, RT, Fantke, P, Arnot, JA
Environmental toxicology and chemistry. 2018;(1):21-33
Abstract
Quantifying the transfer of organic chemicals from the environment into terrestrial plants is essential for assessing human and ecological risks, using plants as environmental contamination biomonitors, and predicting phytoremediation effectiveness. Experimental data describing chemical uptake by plants are often expressed as ratios of chemical concentrations in the plant compartments of interest (e.g., leaves, shoots, roots, xylem sap) to those in the exposure medium (e.g., soil, soil porewater, hydroponic solution, air). These ratios are generally referred to as "bioconcentration factors" but have also been named for the specific plant compartment sampled, such as "root concentration factors," "leaf concentration factors," or "transpiration stream (xylem sap) concentrations factors." We reviewed over 350 articles to develop a database with 7049 entries of measured bioaccumulation data for 310 organic chemicals and 112 terrestrial plant species. Various experimental approaches have been used; therefore, interstudy comparisons and data-quality evaluations are difficult. Key exposure and plant growth conditions were often missing, and units were often unclear or not reported. The lack of comparable high-confidence data also limits model evaluation and development. Standard test protocols or, at a minimum, standard reporting guidelines for the measurement of plant uptake data are recommended to generate comparable, high-quality data that will improve mechanistic understanding of organic chemical uptake by plants. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:21-33. © 2017 SETAC.
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8.
Effect of Organic Solvents on Microalgae Growth, Metabolism and Industrial Bioproduct Extraction: A Review.
Miazek, K, Kratky, L, Sulc, R, Jirout, T, Aguedo, M, Richel, A, Goffin, D
International journal of molecular sciences. 2017;(7)
Abstract
In this review, the effect of organic solvents on microalgae cultures from molecular to industrial scale is presented. Traditional organic solvents and solvents of new generation-ionic liquids (ILs), are considered. Alterations in microalgal cell metabolism and synthesis of target products (pigments, proteins, lipids), as a result of exposure to organic solvents, are summarized. Applications of organic solvents as a carbon source for microalgal growth and production of target molecules are discussed. Possible implementation of various industrial effluents containing organic solvents into microalgal cultivation media, is evaluated. The effect of organic solvents on extraction of target compounds from microalgae is also considered. Techniques for lipid and carotenoid extraction from viable microalgal biomass (milking methods) and dead microalgal biomass (classical methods) are depicted. Moreover, the economic survey of lipid and carotenoid extraction from microalgae biomass, by means of different techniques and solvents, is conducted.
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9.
Biotechnological production of aromatic compounds of the extended shikimate pathway from renewable biomass.
Lee, JH, Wendisch, VF
Journal of biotechnology. 2017;:211-221
Abstract
Aromatic chemicals that contain an unsaturated ring with alternating double and single bonds find numerous applications in a wide range of industries, e.g. paper and dye manufacture, as fuel additives, electrical insulation, resins, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, in food, feed and cosmetics. Their chemical production is based on petroleum (BTX; benzene, toluene, and xylene), but they can also be obtained from plants by extraction. Due to petroleum depletion, health compliance, or environmental issues such as global warming, the biotechnological production of aromatics from renewable biomass came more and more into focus. Lignin, a complex polymeric aromatic molecule itself, is a natural source of aromatic compounds. Many microorganisms are able to catabolize a plethora of aromatic compounds and interception of these pathways may lead to the biotechnological production of value-added aromatic compounds which will be discussed for Corynebacterium glutamicum. Biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids not only gives rise to l-tryptophan, L-tyrosine and l-phenylalanine, but also to aromatic intermediates such as dehydroshikimate or chorismate from which value-added aromatic compounds can be derived. In this review, we will summarize recent strategies for the biotechnological production of aromatic and related compounds from renewable biomass by Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas putida, C. glutamicum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In particular, we will focus on metabolic engineering of the extended shikimate pathway.
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10.
A synthesis of parameters related to the binding of neutral organic compounds to charcoal.
Hale, SE, Arp, HP, Kupryianchyk, D, Cornelissen, G
Chemosphere. 2016;:65-74
Abstract
The sorption strength of neutral organic compounds to charcoal, also called biochar was reviewed and related to charcoal and compound properties. From 29 studies, 507 individual Freundlich sorption coefficients were compiled that covered the sorption strength of 107 organic contaminants. These sorption coefficients were converted into charcoal-water distribution coefficients (K(D)) at aqueous concentrations of 1 ng/L, 1 µg/L and 1 mg/L. Reported log K(D) values at 1 µg/L varied from 0.38 to 8.25 across all data. Variation was also observed within the compound classes; pesticides, herbicides and insecticides, PAHs, phthalates, halogenated organics, small organics, alcohols and PCBs. Five commonly reported variables; charcoal production temperature T, surface area SA, H/C and O/C ratios and organic compound octanol-water partitioning coefficient, were correlated with KD values using single and multiple-parameter linear regressions. The sorption strength of organic compounds to charcoals increased with increasing charcoal production temperature T, charcoal SA and organic pollutant octanol-water partitioning coefficient and decreased with increasing charcoal O/C ratio and charcoal H/C ratio. T was found to be correlated with SA (r(2) = 0.66) and O/C (r(2) = 0.50), particularly for charcoals produced from wood feedstocks (r(2) = 0.73 and 0.80, respectively). The resulting regression: log K(D)=(0.18 ± 0.06) log K(ow) + (5.74 ± 1.40) log T + (0.85 ± 0.15) log SA + (1.60 ± 0.29) log OC + (-0.89 ± 0.20) log HC + (-13.20 ± 3.69), r(2) = 0.60, root mean squared error = 0.95, n = 151 was obtained for all variables. This information can be used as an initial screening to identify charcoals for contaminated soil and sediment remediation.