Development of fungal cell factories for the production of secondary metabolites: Linking genomics and metabolism

The genomic era has revolutionized research on secondary metabolites and bioinformatics methods have in recent years revived the antibiotic discovery process after decades with only few new active molecules being identified. New computational tools are driven by genomics and metabolomics analysis, and enables rapid identification of novel secondary metabolites. To translate this increased discovery rate into industrial exploitation, it is necessary to integrate secondary metabolite pathways in the metabolic engineering process. In this review, we will describe the novel advances in discovery of secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi, highlight the utilization of genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) in the design of fungal cell factories for the production of secondary metabolites and review strategies for optimizing secondary metabolite production through the construction of high yielding platform cell factories

Innovation trends in industrial biotechnology

Microbial fermentations are used for the sustainable production of a range of products. Due to increasing trends in the food sector toward plant-based foods and meat and dairy product substitutes, microbial fermentation will have an increasing role in this sector, as it will enable a sustainable and scalable production of valuable foods and food ingredients. Microbial fermentation will also be used to advance and expand the production of sustainable chemicals and natural products. Much of this market expansion will come from new start-ups that translate academic research into novel processes and products using state-of-the art technologies. Here, we discuss the trends in innovation and technology and provide recommendations for how to successfully start and grow companies in industrial biotechnology

Physiological characterization of secondary metabolite producing Penicillium cell factories

Abstract Background Penicillium species are important producers of bioactive secondary metabolites. However, the immense diversity of the fungal kingdom is only scarcely represented in industrial bioprocesses and the upscaling of compound production remains a costly and labor intensive challenge. In order to facilitate the development of novel secondary metabolite producing processes, two routes are typically explored: optimization of the native producer or transferring the enzymatic pathway into a heterologous host. Recent genome sequencing of ten Penicillium species showed the vast amount of secondary metabolite gene clusters present in their genomes, and makes them accessible for rational strain improvement. In this study, we aimed to characterize the potential of these ten Penicillium species as native producing cell factories by testing their growth performance and secondary metabolite production in submerged cultivations. Results Cultivation of the fungal species in controlled submerged bioreactors showed that the ten wild type Penicillium species had promising, highly reproducible growth characteristics in two different media. Analysis of the secondary metabolite production using liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry proved that the species produced a broad range of secondary metabolites, at different stages of the fermentations. Metabolite profiling for identification of the known compounds resulted in identification of 34 metabolites; which included several with bioactive properties such as antibacterial, antifungal and anti-cancer activities. Additionally, several novel species–metabolite relationships were found. Conclusions This study demonstrates that the fermentation characteristics and the highly reproducible performance in bioreactors of ten recently genome sequenced Penicillium species should be considered as very encouraging for the application of native hosts for production via submerged fermentation. The results are particularly promising for the potential development of the ten analysed Penicillium species for production of novel bioactive compounds via submerged fermentations

Fluctuation in Sea-Level and Associated Morphological Response: Examples from Denmark

Daten von Pegelbeobachtungen in Dänemark zeigen zwei verschiedenartige Tendenzen des jährlichen Mittelwasserstandes im Verlauf der letzten 90 Jahre. Stationen im nördlichen Teil des Landes zeigen eine fallende Tendenz (—0.39 mm pro Jahr in Hirtshals), während Stationen im südlichen Teil eine steigende Tendenz (+1.08 mm pro Jahr in Fredericia) zeigen. Dieser regionale Unterschied kann zum Teil durch isostatische Landhebung erklärt werden. Es gibt auch eine ausgeprägte saisonale Änderung im Wasserstand: niedriger Wasserstand im Frühjahr und hoher Wasserstand im Herbst. Beispiele von küstengeologischen Konsequenzen dieser Wasserstandvariationen werden besprochen. Die Diskussion befaßt sich auch mit postglazialen Küstenveränderungen in einem Gebiet, in dem die isostatische Hebung auch noch heute andauert.researc

Glassinars!

Glass Structures & Engineering has recently added a new dimension to the journal: the Glassinars! In these live online events, recent papers of the journal are highlighted through short presentations by the authors, followed by Q&A sessions. By means of the Glassinars we provide a direct interaction between the readers and authors, so to initiate a lively discussion on a selection of exciting topics presented in the journal. We trust these free Glassinars will attract a wide audience and will further boost the interaction within the international glass engineering community. So, make sure to be part of the action and sign up for the upcoming Glassinars! Exciting topics in the field of glass engineering are also presented in the six papers of this issue of the Glass Structures & Engineering journal. The first three papers in this issue relate to the mechanical characterisation of various materials and their forms, which are important in glass engineering. The paper by Sanders et al. provides an experimental and numerical investigation of the in-plane and out-of-plane fracture strength of both core-drilled and waterjet cut holes in glass. Then, the paper by Bristogianni et al. uses a variety of experimental techniques, such as Digital Microscopy, Impulse Excitation and four-point bending tests to investigate the bending strength and stiffness of kiln-cast glass specimens. The last paper in this set, by Berlinger et al., determines the local fracture strains of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) specimens in uniaxial tensile tests and provides a statistical analysis based on a generalized Anderson-Darling test. The second three papers in this issue relate to the use of glass in combination with other materials for creating enhanced composite glass components. The paper by Cagnacci et al. investigates the structural performance of FRP (fibre reinforced polymer) reinforced laminated glass beams through a combination of adhesion tests, pull-out tests and four-point bending tests. The paper by Cupać et al., investigates the failure mechanism in post-tensioned glass beams and provides an analytical model, based on post-tensioned concrete technology, for the determination of the allowable preload. The last paper, by Hänig et al., focuses on lightweight composite panels made of thin glass and an PMMA core and determines the mechanical performance of both the PMMA material and the composite panels through combined experimental and numerical investigations. We hope you will again enjoy reading this issue and we are looking forward to seeing you at the upcoming Glassinars

Glass performance

The Glass Structures & Engineering journal performs very well and a stunning 1500 pages were published over the past 4 years! This equals to more than 100 articles which in total are downloaded over 100.000 times so far. This performance is achieved thanks to the contributions and support of our authors, reviewers, board members and of course our readers. The journal now enters its 5th volume and presents with the current edition a second special issue on Glass Performance. Once again a colorful bouquet of articles related to the performance of glass is composed

Glass and digital transformation

A new issue is ready and the world is still trapped in the pandemic of COVID19. Many of us work from home, at least partially. Traveling, especially in an international context, is restricted. Performing research and providing education is challenging. Although we aim for physical distancing only, social distancing is one of the negative effects of the measures implemented to reduce the spread of the virus and its mutants. On the other hand, a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, also opens new chances. For example, the digital transformation of our societies gets a real push and might help us to develop a more sustainable behaviour. Videoconferences are now fully accepted, beneficial effects of remote teaching become visible, and thus in the future we will be better able to evaluate if travels are really needed. The digital transformation also affects our glass research – and this will definitely continue: Digital image processing is used in the paper of Dix et al. for the evaluation of anisotropy effects in pre-stressed glass; Drass et al. use semantic segmentation with deep learning for the detection of cracks at cut edges of flat glass, Hayez et al. give design rules for silicone joints in cold bent glass based on numerical simulations. The other papers in the current issue focus on the glass itself and material combinations with glass. Pauli et al. perform experimental and numerical investigations on glass fragments to derive a material model which in the future might be used to enhance post-fracture models for laminated glass, Brokmann et al. revisit the well-known problem of subcritical crack growth as a function of the environmental conditions, Joachim et al. perform testing of a novel combination of materials in composite panels made of glass and fibre-reinforced plastics and finally Götzinger et al. show first results of a new type of glass laminates adding paper as an interlayer. Stay healthy and keep reading our journal - especially if you are trapped at home

Penicillium arizonense, a new, genome sequenced fungal species, reveals a high chemical diversity in secreted metabolites

A new soil-borne species belonging to the Penicillium section Canescentia is described, Penicillium arizonense sp. nov. (type strain CBS 141311(T) = IBT 12289(T)). The genome was sequenced and assembled into 33.7 Mb containing 12,502 predicted genes. A phylogenetic assessment based on marker genes confirmed the grouping of P. arizonense within section Canescentia. Compared to related species, P. arizonense proved to encode a high number of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, in particular hemicellulases. Mining the genome for genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis resulted in the identification of 62 putative biosynthetic gene clusters. Extracts of P. arizonense were analysed for secondary metabolites and austalides, pyripyropenes, tryptoquivalines, fumagillin, pseurotin A, curvulinic acid and xanthoepocin were detected. A comparative analysis against known pathways enabled the proposal of biosynthetic gene clusters in P. arizonense responsible for the synthesis of all detected compounds except curvulinic acid. The capacity to produce biomass degrading enzymes and the identification of a high chemical diversity in secreted bioactive secondary metabolites, offers a broad range of potential industrial applications for the new species P. arizonense. The description and availability of the genome sequence of P. arizonense, further provides the basis for biotechnological exploitation of this species