Window to Japan
The test is based on PCR analysis of gene BRD-C and to be used with Toshiba’s Genelyzer instrument. It was jointly developed with the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives. It is Toshiba Medical’s 2nd agro-targeted DNA test kit, after a kit focused on the detection of rice varieties. Toshiba Medical news release, March 31, 2016
The group of Yasuhisa ASANO isolated an enone reductase from Süporidiobolus salmonicolor, obtained by screening, which after expression in E. coli was able to reduce E/Z-3-methylated cyclopentadecenone into muscone with 55 % yield JSBBA Sapporo, Poster 4D033, March 30, 2016
Starting from glycerol, the biosynthetic pathway proceeds through R-reticuline which is further transformed into morphine using 20 enzymes from six different species. JSBBA Sapporo, Poster 4F158, March 30, 2016
Akihiko KONDO’s team from Kobe University has engineered C. glutamicum to produce shinorine (mycosporine – glycine – serine), a tripeptide which has a strong absorption between 310 and 365 nm and might be used as a UV-A protectant. The gene cluster was introduced into C. glutamicum from Actinosynnema mirumshinorine and the metabolic pathway was optimized. […]
D-psicose, the 3-epimer of D-fructose, has nearly 0 calories and about 70 % of saccharose sweetness. Kyowa has reported on a high efficiency production process (29 g/L) based on self-cloning in E. coli JSBBA Sapporo, Poster 4F046, March 30, 2016
Peptide Dreams provides in their PDPS platform of special cyclic peptides, which will be tested on the multiple drug discovery platform of Asahi Kasei Pharma Peptide Dreams news release, March 29, 2016
In collaboration with Profs. Tetsushi SAKUMA and Takashi YAMAMOTO of Hiroshima University, a Kao team has studied how to modify the genome of Rhizopus oryzae in order to enhance yields of lactic acid JSBBA Annual Meeting Sapporo, Poster 3F216, March 30, 2016
In the framework of JST’s ALCA program on white biotechnology”, the two groups have used metabolic engineering of genome-reduced mutants of B. subtilis and have achieved about 30 % higher yields of both products.” JSBBA Sapporo, Poster 2F206, 2F207, March 29, 2016
The group of Jun OGAWA at Kyoto University has developed a procedure to produce up to 280 g/L 12-oxo fatty acids using strains of Latobacillus plantarum, followed by a laccase reaction which oxidizes these intermediates into sebacic acid in about 30 % yield JSBBA Sapporo, poster 2F213, March 28, 2015
A group led by the Japan Institute of Marine and Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) has studied the structure of enzymes isolated from a Calyptogena strain living at about 11.000 m depth in the Mariana trench. Using isopropyl malate dehydrogenase isolated from a deep sea microorganism and comparing to a standard enzyme from Shewanella oneidensis, […]