Category: metabolism

Targeting enzymes to subcellular compartment increases metabolite concentration and productivity in metabolic engineering

May 10, 2021

Traditional metabolic engineering approaches sought to overexpress key enzymes in pathways leading to the production of desired metabolites and products. This approach also commonly requires the deletion of genes encoding enzymes in competing pathways to help boost productivity of the production strain in synthesizing the compound of interest. While useful, cytosolic expression of heterologous enzymes … More Targeting enzymes to subcellular compartment increases metabolite concentration and productivity in metabolic engineering

Modern metabolic engineering constructs heterologous pathway with genes from different species

October 5, 2020

Heterologous expression of genes and pathways is a foundational technology of metabolic engineering, whose primary goal is to rewire cellular metabolism to generate high titer of desired products from simple substrates such as glucose or xylose. While heterologous expression of genes in chassis microorganism such as Escherichia coli is routine, some genes from particular species … More Modern metabolic engineering constructs heterologous pathway with genes from different species

Delivery of insulin through the oral route using a capsule

May 18, 2020

Biologics drugs typically require infusion or injection for delivery to systemic circulation. However, injections and infusions are invasive procedures that pale in comparison to the oral route. Thus, research efforts have been directed to the development of oral delivery methods for biologics. Using insulin as a model drug for delivery, new research described an innovative … More Delivery of insulin through the oral route using a capsule

Differing cellular physiology meant that drugs are metabolized differently in different individuals

November 24, 2019

Individuals differ at the genome, proteome, transcriptome and metabolome level. What potentiated these differences are fundamental differences in the genetic complement of individuals where mutations at particular genes as well as single nucleotide polymorphism result in differences in gene expression and enzyme function that cascade to observable differences at the metabolite level. Ultimately, dysregulation at … More Differing cellular physiology meant that drugs are metabolized differently in different individuals

Big data drives precision medicine

June 30, 2019

Advent of omics technologies such as genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics poise to revolutionise healthcare. Specifically, tools and methods have been promulgated that would provide a molecular understanding of pathological processes in the human body. Together with computer algorithms that sought to understand and mine inferences from these data sources concerning the genetic complement and … More Big data drives precision medicine

Metabolic sensor in cells may react to nutritional environment available and decide on growth decision

October 29, 2018

In microbial ecology, experimental observations of fast-growing microbes able to grow on rich medium at the expense of slow-growing ones suggested that depletion of nutrients by fast-growers and subsequent domination of available agar surface may hamper the growth of slow-growing ones. However, why didn’t the slow-growing microbes also react to the high nutritional content of … More Metabolic sensor in cells may react to nutritional environment available and decide on growth decision

Lipid metabolism and its role in obesity and health

September 28, 2017

Obese but healthy, thin but suffering from a multitude of disorders including metabolic syndrome. For years, this clinical observation, also known as metabolic healthy obese, has befuddled doctors and medical researchers, and motivated significant amount of research aimed at understanding the aetiology of obesity and its implications in health and disease.   Why would obesity … More Lipid metabolism and its role in obesity and health