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Topic Review
Endophytic Fungi Biosynthesize Important Therapeutic Drugs
In general, microbes produce a collection of secondary metabolites with therapeutic activities. Many are used as anticancer, immunosuppressive, hypocholesterolemic, antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory agents, or as enzyme inhibitors. Indeed, endophytic fungi have become a treasure trove for bioactive compounds of medicinal and agricultural importance. Several endophytic fungi produce important therapeutic drugs, initially discovered in traditional medicinal plants; for example, paclitaxel, podophyllotoxin, Vinca alkaloids, camptothecin, and fusidic acid.
  • 1.2K
  • 11 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Targeted Drug-Delivery Systems with Aptamers
The field of drug delivery has witnessed remarkable progress, driven by the quest for more effective and precise therapeutic interventions. Among the myriad strategies employed, the integration of aptamers as targeting moieties and stimuli-responsive systems has emerged as a promising avenue, particularly in the context of anticancer therapy. The conventional chemotherapy paradigm often suffers from systemic toxicity, as potent cytotoxic agents are indiscriminately delivered throughout the body, causing adverse effects on healthy tissues. To address this limitation, the integration of smart targeting mechanisms has gained prominence. Within this paradigm, aptamers, short nucleic acid sequences with a unique ability to bind specifically to target molecules, have emerged as valuable targeting ligands. Aptamers share similarities with antibodies as they exhibit a high affinity for specific targets, making them a focus of research in disease-targeted therapy owing to their remarkable selectivity. Regarded as promising therapeutic agents, aptamers possess attributes such as non-immunogenicity, high specificity, and stability.
  • 1.2K
  • 24 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Intrapancreatic Parenchymal Cell Transplantation
In vivo inoculation of cells such as cancer cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS)/embryonic stem (ES) cells into immunocompromised mice, such as nude mice, has been considered a powerful technique for evaluating these cells' potential to form solid tumors made of proliferating cells or teratomas made of various types of differentiated cells originating from three germ cell layers. Two major approaches, i.e., subcutaneous grafting and grafting under the kidney capsule, have been widely utilized for this purpose. Unfortunately, large numbers of tumor cells are required for successful inoculation, and often, failure of tumorigenesis is encountered. This is attributable to dispersion/escaping of grafted cells from the inoculation site. To avoid such cell dispersion/escaping, choosing an appropriate inoculation site from where grafted cells cannot easily disperse is important. Intrapancreatic parenchymal injection of tumorigenic cells is apparently very effective for this purpose; the grafted cells seldom escape from the injection site and are found to form solid tumors even from small numbers (~15 × 103 cells) of cells. The procedure is very simple—it requires only surgical exposure of the pancreas over the dorsal skin under anesthesia and subsequent injection of cells toward the pancreatic parenchyma under dissecting microscope-based observation using a mouthpiece-controlled glass micropipette. The inoculated cells generally grow as solid tumors 1–1.5 months after surgery. This novel technique is known as “intrapancreatic parenchymal cell transplantation (IPPCT).” Apart from the abovementioned benefit, IPPCT may be useful for those wanting to obtain large amounts of tumorigenic cells for biochemical or molecular biological analyses or for those rescuing specific cells that are difficult to cultivate in vitro.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Epigenetics for Crop Improvement
Heritable epigenetic changes can arise independently of DNA sequence alterations and have been associated with altered gene expression and transmitted phenotypic variation. By modulating plant development and physiological responses to environmental conditions, epigenetic diversity—naturally, genetically, chemically, or environmentally induced—can help optimise crop traits in an era challenged by global climate change. Beyond DNA sequence variation, the epigenetic modifications may contribute to breeding by providing useful markers and allowing the use of epigenome diversity to predict plant performance and increase final crop production
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Implications of MALDI-TOF MS for Microbial Recognition
MALDI-TOF MS has various benefits over the conventional method of biochemical identification, including ease of use, speed, accuracy, and low cost.
  • 1.2K
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Diatom–Bacteria Interactions in the Marine Environment
Diatom–bacteria interactions evolved during more than 200 million years of coexistence in the same environment. In this time frame, they established complex and heterogeneous cohorts and consortia, creating networks of multiple cell-to-cell mutualistic or antagonistic interactions for nutrient exchanges, communication, and defence. The most diffused type of interaction between diatoms and bacteria is based on a win-win relationship in which bacteria benefit from the organic matter and nutrients released by diatoms, while these last rely on bacteria for the supply of nutrients they are not able to produce, such as vitamins and nitrogen. Despite the importance of diatom–bacteria interactions in the evolutionary history of diatoms, especially in structuring the marine food web and controlling algal blooms, the molecular mechanisms underlying them remain poorly studied.
  • 1.2K
  • 25 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Three-Dimensional Culture Systems
It is getting more and more clear that cancer cell culture models are switching from two-dimension to three-dimensional, in order to better reflect in vivo situations where tumor cells have to cope with a highly interactive three-dimensional microenvironment. Several such culture models have been reported, predominantly multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) and patient-derived tumor organoids (PDTO). These are used both to investigate fundamental aspects of cancer development and as test systems for innovative therapies against gastric cancer, the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The authors review the actual state of research in this field to provide an overview of the contribution of MCTS and PDTO, especially in the areas of molecular profiling, drug discovery, pathogen infection, and personalized medicine.
  • 1.2K
  • 18 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Biomedical Applications of Gold Nanoparticles
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are extremely promising objects for solving a wide range of biomedical problems. The gold nanoparticles production by biological method (“green synthesis”) is eco-friendly and allows minimization of the amount of harmful chemical and toxic byproducts. 
  • 1.2K
  • 13 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Wastewater Treatment by Microalgae through Biosorption
Bacteria naturally present in wastewater contribute to nutrient removal. The analysis here are promising for the potential environmentally friendly application of C. vulgaris in the development of an integrated biorefinery in sugar beet processing plants for improved and cost-effective wastewater treatment. It could also be considered particularly important for a multifaceted approach to managing the environmental sustainability of wastewater bioremediation.
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Computational Approaches to Enzyme Inhibition by Natural Products
The exploration of biologically relevant chemical space for the discovery of small bioactive molecules present in marine organisms has led not only to important advances in certain therapeutic areas, but also to a better understanding of many life processes. The still largely untapped reservoir of countless metabolites that play biological roles in marine invertebrates and microorganisms opens new avenues and poses new challenges for research. Computational technologies provide the means to (i) organize chemical and biological information in easily searchable and hyperlinked databases and knowledgebases; (ii) carry out cheminformatic analyses on natural products; (iii) mine microbial genomes for known and cryptic biosynthetic pathways; (iv) explore global networks that connect active compounds to their targets (often including enzymes); (v) solve structures of ligands, targets, and their respective complexes using X-ray crystallography and NMR techniques, thus enabling virtual screening and structure-based drug design; and (vi) build molecular models to simulate ligand binding and understand mechanisms of action in atomic detail.
  • 1.2K
  • 23 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Coumarins with Potential Medicinal Properties
Coumarins are a structurally varied set of 2H-chromen-2-one compounds categorized also as members of the benzopyrone group of secondary metabolites. Coumarin derivatives attract interest owing to their wide practical application and the unique reactivity of fused benzene and pyrone ring systems in molecular structure. Coumarins have their own specific fingerprints as antiviral, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiadipogenic, cytotoxic, apoptosis, antitumor, antitubercular, and cytotoxicity agents. Natural products have played an essential role in filling the pharmaceutical pipeline for thousands of years. Biological effects of natural coumarins have laid the basis of low-toxic and highly effective drugs.
  • 1.2K
  • 02 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Secretome Proteomic Approaches
Searching for new cancer-related biomarkers is a key priority for the early detection of solid tumors, such as colorectal cancer (CRC), in clinically relevant biological fluids. The cell line and/or tumor tissue secretome represents a valuable resource for discovering novel protein markers secreted by cancer cells. The advantage of a secretome analysis is the reduction of the large dynamic range characterizing human plasma/serum, and the simultaneous enrichment of low abundance cancer-secreted proteins, thereby overcoming the technical limitations underlying the direct search in blood samples.
  • 1.2K
  • 11 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Non-Thermal Hydroxyapatite Coating Methods
Polymers are widely used in many applications in the field of biomedical engineering. Among eclectic selections of polymers, those with low melting temperature (Tm < 200 degrees Celcius), such as poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) or polyethylene, are often used in bone, dental, maxillofacial, and corneal tissue engineering as substrates or scaffolds. These polymers, however, are bioinert, lack of reactive surface functional groups, and had poor wettability, affecting their ability to promote cellular functions and biointegration with the surrounding tissue. Improving the biointegration can be achieved by depositing hydroxyapatite (HAp) on the polymeric substrates. Conventional thermal spray and vapor phase coating, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved plasma spray technique, is not suitable for application on the low Tm polymers due to the high processing temperature, reaching more than 1000 degrees Celcius. Two non-thermal HAp coating approaches have been described in the literature, namely the biomimetic deposition and direct nanoparticle immobilization techniques. Here, we elaborate on the unique features of each technique, followed by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each technique to help readers decide on which method is more suitable for their intended applications.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Enzymes for Lignin Depolymerization
Lignin, a rigid polymer composed of phenolic subunits with high molecular weight and complex structure, ranks behind only cellulose in the contribution to the biomass of plants. Therefore, lignin can be used as a new environmentally friendly resource for the industrial production of a variety of polymers, dyes and adhesives. Since laccase was found to be able to degrade lignin, increasing attention had been paid to the valorization of lignin. The enzymes involved in lignin depolymerization are mainly divided into four categories: laccase, lignin peroxidase (LiP), manganese peroxidase (MnP) and versatile peroxidase (VP).
  • 1.2K
  • 05 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Bacterial Cellulose and Xanthan
Degradable biopolymers have become increasingly important as potential environmentally friendly biomaterials, providing a wide range of applications in various fields. Bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are biomacromolecules, which due to their unique properties have found applications in biomedicine, foodstuff, textiles, cosmetics, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, nanoelectronics, and environmental remediation. One of the important commercial polysaccharides produced on an industrial scale is xanthan. In recent years, the range of its application has expanded significantly. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is another unique EPS with a rapidly increasing range of applications. 
  • 1.2K
  • 12 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Quorum Sensing
Quorum sensing (QS) of various microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, microalgae) today attracts the attention of researchers mainly from the point of view of clarifying the biochemical basics of this general biological phenomenon, establishing chemical compounds that regulate it, and studying the mechanisms of its realization. Today the particular attention focused on biotechnological sides of QS application in the elaboration of various prospective biocatalytic systems for different processes carried out under aerobic and anaerobic conditions (synthesis of enzymes, polysaccharides, organic acids, etc.). 
  • 1.2K
  • 01 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Genome Editing Technologies
Genome editing is the technique of precise genome modifications that facilitate the targeted modifications within the genome through the deletions, insertions, or substitution of single base or specific sequences.
  • 1.2K
  • 08 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Antibiofilm Therapeutics Strategies to Overcome Antimicrobial Drug Resistance
Biofilms embrace the capability to resist and survive harsh environmental conditions and defeat the host immune system, so there is a desire for exploring new antibiofilm agents. Antibiofilm agents that can abet the process of dismantling the biofilm has provided research strategies for designing new biofilm dispersal inducers.
  • 1.2K
  • 10 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Anticancer Secondary Metabolites of Astragalus Species
Some of the most effective anticancer compounds are still derived from plants since the chemical synthesis of chiral molecules is not economically efficient. Rapid discovery of lead compounds with pronounced biological activity is essential for the successful development of novel drug candidates. The genus Astragalus L. is the largest in the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae), with more than 3500 species. Astragalus, excluding Astracantha (formerly Astragalus subgenus Tragacantha), has a world total of ca. 2500 species, of which ca. 500 are in the Americas. Many of the species have conservation status “vulnerable” or “critically endangered”.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Co-Inoculation of three species
The adoption of multi-species starter cultures is highly considered in modern winemaking to enhance the complexity and wine attributes. However, the valuation of strains compatibility at the industrial-scale is essential to guarantee the quality and the safety during the process. This concept is particularly important when the starter is composed of non-Saccharomyces, Saccharomyces spp. and malolactic bacteria, three organisms with dissimilar biological properties and oenological implication.
  • 1.2K
  • 28 Oct 2020
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