Annual acknowledgement of manuscript reviewers

Contributing reviewers The Editors of Microbial Cell Factories would like to thank all our Reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 11 (2012).</p

Nanotechnology, bionanotechnology and microbial cell factories

Nanotechnology is increasingly using both materials and nano-objects synthesized by living beings, most of them produced by microbial cells. Emerging technologies and highly integrative approaches (such as 'omics and systems biology), that have been largely proven successful for the production of proteins and secondary metabolites are now expected to become fully adapted for the improved biological production of nanostructured materials with tailored properties. The so far underestimated potential of microbial cell factories in nanotechnology and nanomedicine is expected to emerge, in the next years, in the context of novel needs envisaged in the nanoscience universe. This should prompt a careful revisiting of the microbial cell factories as the most versatile biological platforms to supply functional materials for nanotechnological applications

Insereixen material genètic al nucli cel·lular per a teràpia gènica amb nanodiscs

Investigadors de la UAB han aconseguit encapsular material genètic i alliberar-lo directament dins el nucli de les cèl·lules, per tal de dur a terme teràpia gènica, mitjançant partícules amb forma de disc de la grandària de només un pocs nanòmetres. Els nanodiscs, tal i com els han batejat els investigadors, travessen ràpidament l'interior de la cèl·lula i es concentren en el nucli, de manera que incrementarien l'eficiència del procés de transferència genètica.Investigadores de la UAB han conseguido encapsular material genético y liberarlo directamente dentro del núcleo de las células, para llevar a cabo terapia génica, mediante partículas con forma de disco del tamaño de sólo unos pocos nanómetros. Los nanodiscos, tal y como los han bautizado los investigadores, atraviesan rápidamente el interior de la célula y se concentran en el núcleo, de manera que incrementarían la eficiencia del proceso de transferencia genética.Researchers at UAB have discovered a novel gene therapy method using particles measuring only a few nanometres which encapsulate genetic material and introduce themselves directly into the cell nucleus. The nanodisks, as researchers have named the particles, travel rapidly to the interior of the cell until reaching the nucleus, thus increasing the efficiency of the gene transfer process

Recombinant protein production in the new Millennium

Abstract in dt. Sprache nicht vorhandenAbstract not available(VLID)90200

O adolescente viril: o maurismo en Galicia, 1914-1923

A figura de Antonio Maura e o heteroxéneo movemento que invocou a súa figura foron obxecto nos últimos anos dunha atención considerable, na procura de comprender mellor as vías de evolución do sistema restauracionista, as orixes da dereita autoritaria (e non) e a crise última que leva á Ditadura de Primo. Para Galicia o descoñecemento é absoluto, baleiro que nos propoñemos paliar con esta achega e que se produce malia contar con factores específicos que incrementan o interese do seu estudo e permiten participar dos debates ó respecto no seo da historiografía española: a) A condición de galegos ou ben os vencellos intensos con Galicia de varios dos principais protagonistas do movemento (Calvo Sotelo, Goicoechea, Prudencio Rovira, marqués de Figueroa) b) A nada desprezable contribución das provincias galegas en termos de escanos. c) A intervención dos mauristas en polémicas como a do rexionalismo ou a cuestión foral. d) Dado que Galicia constitúe na historiografía española un dos paradigmas de clientelismo e desmobilización, representa un inmellorable campo de probas para calibrar ata que punto o maurismo quixo e puido rachar coas eivas da cultura política restauracionista.Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Consello da Cultura Galega. Real Academia Galeg

Converging antigenic structure of a recombinant viral peptide displayed on different frameworks of carrier proteins

AbstractA peptide reproducing the G-H loop amino acid sequence of foot-and-mouth disease virus VP1 protein was fused to the solvent-exposed C-terminus of the bacteriophage P22 tailspike protein [Carbonell and Villaverde (1996) Gene, in press], a homotrimeric polypeptide with a strong β-helical structure. This fusion does not interfere with the biological activities of the phage tail. The antigenic profile of the complex antigenic site A within the G-H loop has been determined by competitive ELISA with a panel of monoclonal antibodies directed against different overlapping B-cell epitopes. The antigenic data have been compared with those obtained with a set of 12 chimeric β-galactosidases displaying the G-H loop on different exposed regions. A high coincidence has been evidenced between the antigenicity of the viral peptide fused to the phage protein and that of some peptides inserted in an exposed loop of the activating interface of β-galactosidase. This indicates that completely different structural frameworks of carrier proteins can provide similar constraints that allow the recombinant peptide to successfully mimic the antigenicity, and probably conformational features, of the natural peptide on the virion surface

Fine architecture of bacterial inclusion bodies

AbstractThe molecular organisation of protein aggregates, formed under physiological conditions, has been explored by in vitro trypsin treatment and electron microscopy analysis of bacterially produced inclusion bodies (IBs). The kinetic modelling of protein digestion has revealed variable proteolysis rates during protease exposure that are not compatible with a surface-restricted erosion of body particles but with a hyper-surfaced disintegration by selective enzymatic attack. In addition, differently resistant species of the IB proteins coexist within the particles, with half-lives that differ among them up to 50-fold. During in vivo protein incorporation throughout IB growth, a progressive increase of proteolytic resistance in all these species is observed, indicative of folding transitions and dynamic reorganisations of the body structure. Both the heterogeneity of the folding state and the time-dependent folding transitions undergone by the aggregated polypeptides indicate that IBs are not mere deposits of collapsed, inert molecules but plastic reservoirs of misfolded proteins that would allow, at least up to a certain extent, their in vivo recovery and transference to the soluble cell fraction