Stanford engineers reprogram yeast cells to become microscopic drug factories

EurekAlert  September 2, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (Stanford University, industry) engineered baker’s yeast to produce the medicinal alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, starting from simple sugars and amino acids. They combined functional genomics to identify a missing pathway enzyme, protein engineering to enable the functional expression of an acyltransferase via trafficking to the vacuole, heterologous transporters to facilitate intracellular routing, and strain optimization to improve titres. Their integrated system positions more than twenty proteins adapted from yeast, bacteria, plants, and animals across six sub-cellular locations to recapitulate the spatial organization of tropane alkaloid biosynthesis in plants. Once […]

Metal-breathing bacteria could transform electronics, biosensors, and more

Science Daily  July 28, 2020 Some bacteria that are adapted to specific geochemical or biochemical environments can create interesting and novel materials. Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute synthesised molybdenum disulfide nanomaterials at the site of S. oneidensis biofilms grown in the presence of molybdenum trioxide and sodium thiosulfate. Analysis revealed the presence of molybdenum disulfide nanoparticle aggregates 50–300 nm in diameter with both hexagonal and rhombohedral polytypes. The use of S. oneidensis offers the advantage of significantly reduced heat and chemical solvent input compared to conventional methods of synthesizing molybdenum disulfide nanoparticles. The process can be used for the generation […]