Bert Vallee-A 20th Century Adventure(r) in Zincology.

Prelude [...].

Phytochemicals: "A Small Defensive Advantage for Plants and Fungi; a Great Remedy for the Health of Mankind".

In the chronology of Biochemistry, as a new science that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century after its separation from Organic Chemistry and Physiology, its beginnings were characterized by an intense search and subsequent isolation and characterization of different organic compounds that were part of the chemical composition of living organisms [...].

Genetic Code Expansion: A Brief History and Perspective.

Since the establishment of site-specific mutagenesis of single amino acids to interrogate protein function in the 1970s, biochemists have sought to tailor protein structure in the native cell environment. Fine-tuning the chemical properties of proteins is an indispensable way to address fundamental mechanistic questions. Unnatural amino acids (UAAs) offer the possibility to expand beyond the 20 naturally occurring amino acids in most species and install new and useful chemical functions. Here, we review the literature about advances in UAA incorporation technology from chemoenzymatic aminoacylation of modified tRNAs to in vitro translation systems to genetic encoding of UAAs in the native cell environment and whole organisms. We discuss innovative applications of the UAA technology to challenges in bioengineering and medicine.

Recent advances in lignocellulose prior-fractionation for biomaterials, biochemicals, and bioenergy.

Due to over-consumption of fossil resources and environmental problems, lignocellulosic biomass as the most abundant and renewable materials is considered as the best candidate to produce biomaterials, biochemicals, and bioenergy, which is of strategic significance and meets the theme of Green Chemistry. Highly efficient and green fractionation of lignocellulose components significantly boosts the high-value utilization of lignocellulose and the biorefinery development. However, heterogeneity of lignocellulosic structure severely limited the lignocellulose fractionation. This paper offers the summary and perspective of the extensive investigation that aims to give insight into the lignocellulose prior-fractionation. Based on the role and structure of lignocellulose component in the plant cell wall, lignocellulose prior-fractionation can be divided into cellulose-first strategy, hemicelluloses-first strategy, and lignin-first strategy, which realizes the selective dissociation and transformation of a component in lignocellulose. Ultimately, the challenges and opportunities of lignocellulose prior-fractionation are proposed on account of the existing problems in the biorefining valorization.

The Future of Protein Secondary Structure Prediction Was Invented by Oleg Ptitsyn.

When Oleg Ptitsyn and his group published the first secondary structure prediction for a protein sequence, they started a research field that is still active today. Oleg Ptitsyn combined fundamental rules of physics with human understanding of protein structures. Most followers in this field, however, use machine learning methods and aim at the highest (average) percentage correctly predicted residues in a set of proteins that were not used to train the prediction method. We show that one single method is unlikely to predict the secondary structure of all protein sequences, with the exception, perhaps, of future deep learning methods based on very large neural networks, and we suggest that some concepts pioneered by Oleg Ptitsyn and his group in the 70s of the previous century likely are today's best way forward in the protein secondary structure prediction field.

Synthetic Biochemistry: The Bio-inspired Cell-Free Approach to Commodity Chemical Production.

Metabolic engineering efforts that harness living organisms to produce natural products and other useful chemicals face inherent difficulties because the maintenance of life processes often runs counter to our desire to maximize important production metrics. These challenges are particularly problematic for commodity chemical manufacturing where cost is critical. A cell-free approach, where biochemical pathways are built by mixing desired enzyme activities outside of cells, can obviate problems associated with cell-based methods. Yet supplanting cell-based methods of chemical production will require the creation of self-sustaining, continuously operating systems where input biomass is converted into desired products at high yields, productivities, and titers. We call the field of designing and implementing reliable and efficient enzyme systems that replace cellular metabolism, synthetic biochemistry.

[Transition of the Field from Biochemical Engineering to Pharmaceutical Sciences during 40 Years of the Research].

This review reflects back over almost 40 years of the author's basic research conducted at Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Japan. After performing postdoctoral research in USA, the author became a research associate at Prof. Yoshiharu Miura's lab and started research on Biochemical Engineering in 1984. At that time, the main research purpose was to solve global environmental issues for maintaining human health. The author's achievements included novel useful material production system under inorganic conditions and genetically engineered whole-cell bacterial sensors detecting arsenite by naked eye without a detecting device. Another theme in the lab was to construct bioartificial liver support system. Various scaffolds for hepatocytes were newly prepared for constructing the compact reactor. Besides the bioreactor study, the author conducted cell transplantation research for the treatment of chronic liver diseases. It was shown that mesenchymal stem cells derived from third molars (wisdom teeth) could differentiate into hepatocytes and exhibit therapeutic effects in liver-damaged animals. After 2006, the lab started research on drug delivery systems, including noninvasive delivery of drugs such as peptides and nucleic acids by regulating epithelial tight junctions. Many substances enabling drug delivery through "paracellular" route were newly prepared. The author started basic research on Biochemical Engineering in the 1970s. Although these studies eventually shifted into the pharmaceutical field, the underlying concept was based on "engineering" throughout a 40-year research period. The author cordially thanks all colleagues for supporting engineering research in our lab.

Systems biology: old news or new stimulus for biochemistry.

In this issue of Essays in Biochemistry, biochemistry meets systems biology-a blind date that may hold all the promises, pitfalls and failures of a relationship where a new discipline has been sprung upon a well-established one. As the articles in this issue show, the blind date in this case has great potential to develop into a long-term relationship, where both partners share common values but can benefit from different complementary approaches. Together this partnership is well poised to address and solve some of the major challenges in modern biology.