Window to Japan
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, […]
Using a synthetic biology approach with a dehydratase originating from Klebsiella engineered into E. coli, the group around Michihiko KATSUOKA at Osaka Prefectural University obtained about 30 g/L of 1-propanol Osaka researchers produce 1-propanol, a precursor of propylene, from glucose with engineered E. coli
Based on studies with human volunteers, which were preceeded by experiments in mice, the group could show that salacinol, a bioactive metabolite of salacia, a herb used in Ayurveda, inhibits .alpha.-glucosidase in vivo, and changes the composition of the intestinal flora, resulting in reduced sugar resorption JSBBA Sapporo, Poster 2F120, March 28, 2016