Incorporation of nonstandard amino acids into proteins: principles and applications.

The cellular ribosome shows a naturally evolved strong preference for the synthesis of proteins with standard amino acids. An in-depth understanding of the translation process enables scientists to go beyond this natural limitation and engineer translating systems capable of synthesizing proteins with artificially designed and synthesized non-standard amino acids (nsAA) featuring more bulky sidechains. The sidechains can be functional groups, with chosen biophysical or chemical activities, that enable the direct application of these proteins. Alternatively, the sidechains can be designed to contain highly reactive groups: enabling the ready formation of conjugates via a covalent bond between the sidechain and other chemicals or biomolecules. This co-translational incorporation of nsAAs into proteins allows for a vast number of possible applications. In this paper, we first systematically summarized the advances in the engineering of the translation system. Subsequently, we reviewed the extensive applications of these nsAA-containing proteins (after chemical modification) by discussing representative reports on how they can be utilized for different purposes. Finally, we discussed the direction of further studies which could be undertaken to improve the current technology utilized in incorporating nsAAs in order to use them to their full potential and improve accessibility across disciplines.

Engineering the Translational Machinery for Biotechnology Applications.

The ribosome is an essential organelle in charge of the translational processes in all kinds of cells. Currently, the scenario of its function has been significantly expanded from the classic machine for protein synthesis to a regulatory platform for quality control to maintain the protein homeostasis in a living cell. The ribosome is much more than a mechanical device with a static structure: it is inherently dynamic in structure and function, especially in response to the environmental fluctuations. Considerable effort has been made to regulate its structure and physiological function by engineering the components of a ribosome. The findings of the pioneering studies significantly deepened our understanding of a ribosome and exemplified how a ribosome could be engineered for biotechnology purposes in the era of synthetic biology. The engineering of ribosome offered highly accessible methods capable of comprehensively optimizing the performance of strains of industrial importance. In this article, the relevant recent advances were systematically reviewed.

Detecting Protein-Protein Interaction Based on Protein Fragment Complementation Assay.

Proteins are the most critical executive molecules by responding to the instructions stored in the genetic materials in any form of life. More frequently, proteins do their jobs by acting as a roleplayer that interacts with other protein(s), which is more evident when the function of a protein is examined in the real context of a cell. Identifying the interactions between (or amongst) proteins is very crucial for the biochemistry investigation of an individual protein and for the attempts aiming to draw a holo-picture for the interacting members at the scale of proteomics (or protein-protein interactions mapping). Here, we introduced the currently available reporting systems that can be used to probe the interaction between candidate protein pairs based on the fragment complementation of some particular proteins. Emphasis was put on the principles and details of experimental design. These systems are dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), ß-lactamase, tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease, luciferase, ß- galactosidase, GAL4, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), focal adhesion kinase (FAK), green fluorescent protein (GFP), and ubiquitin.

Strategical isolation of efficient chicken feather-degrading bacterial strains from tea plantation soil sample

Chicken feather waste is generally insufficiently utilized despite its high content of protein, constituting an environmental issue. Biodegradation of the waste with enabling microbes provides an advantageous option among the available solutions. In this study, an efficient whole feather-degrading strain was strategically isolated from a soil sample taken from a local tea plantation that has little or nothing to do with feathers. The strain was identified as Bacillus thuringiensis (designated as FDB-10) according to the cloned complete 16S rRNA sequence. The FDB-10 could efficiently degrade briefly heat-treated whole feather (102 °C, 5 min; up to 90% of a maximum concentration of 30 g/L) in a salt medium supplemented with 0.1 g/L yeast extract within 24 h (37°C, 150 rpm). Addition of carbon sources (glycerol, glucose, starch, Tween 20, Tween 80, 1.25 g/L as glycerol) to the fermentation medium could improve the degradation. However, significant inhibition could be observed when the added carbon source reached the amount usually adopted in the investigation of carbon source preference (1%). Nitrogen source (NH4Cl, (NH4)2SO4, peptone) adversely influenced the performance of the strain. When the molar concentrations of NH4+ were equal for the two salt, the inhibitory effect on degradation of whole feathers was similar. Entirely different from other reported feather-degrading strains showing a preference to melanin-free feather substrates, the strain isolated in this study could degrade melanin-containing feather equally efficiently, and higher protease activity could be detected in the digest mix. As a plus, the strain could degrade feathers in rice wash produced in daily cooking, indicating its potential use in the simultaneous treatment of rice cooker wastewater produced by a rice processing plant. All these results imply that the FDB-10 is a strain with great potential in the biodegradation of feather waste

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Strategical isolation of efficient chicken feather-degrading bacterial strains from tea plantation soil sample.

Chicken feather waste is generally insufficiently utilized despite its high content of protein, constituting an environmental issue. Biodegradation of the waste with enabling microbes provides an advantageous option among the available solutions. In this study, an efficient whole feather-degrading strain was strategically isolated from a soil sample taken from a local tea plantation that has little or nothing to do with feathers. The strain was identified as Bacillus thuringiensis (designated as FDB-10) according to the cloned complete 16S rRNA sequence. The FDB-10 could efficiently degrade briefly heat-treated whole feather (102 °C, 5 min; up to 90% of a maximum concentration of 30 g/L) in a salt medium supplemented with 0.1 g/L yeast extract within 24 h (37 °C, 150 rpm). Addition of carbon sources (glycerol, glucose, starch, Tween 20, Tween 80, 1.25 g/L as glycerol) to the fermentation medium could improve the degradation. However, significant inhibition could be observed when the added carbon source reached the amount usually adopted in the investigation of carbon source preference (1%). Nitrogen source (NH4Cl, (NH4)2SO4, peptone) adversely influenced the performance of the strain. When the molar concentrations of NH4+ were equal for the two salt, the inhibitory effect on degradation of whole feathers was similar. Entirely different from other reported feather-degrading strains showing a preference to melanin-free feather substrates, the strain isolated in this study could degrade melanin-containing feather equally efficiently, and higher protease activity could be detected in the digest mix. As a plus, the strain could degrade feathers in rice wash produced in daily cooking, indicating its potential use in the simultaneous treatment of rice cooker wastewater produced by a rice processing plant. All these results imply that the FDB-10 is a strain with great potential in the biodegradation of feather waste.