Scientists Identify Enzyme That Could Help Grow Biofuel Crops In Harsh Environments Oct 21, 2009
"We sought to understand the synthesis of the 'wall-bound' phenolic component of different biopolymers, including this important suberin polymer, by identifying the enzymes responsible for their construction," said Liu. This information could eventually be used to modify plants for agricultural purposes, including improved biomass production. (Science Daily)
Building better bone replacements with bacteria Sep 7, 2009
Using Serratia bacteria, the research showed that the bacterial cells stuck tightly to surfaces such as titanium alloy, polypropylene, porous glass and polyurethane foam by forming a biofilm layer containing biopolymers that acted as a strong adhesive. The HA coating then builds up over the surface. (EurekAlert!)
Silk-based optical waveguides meet biomedical needs Sep 1, 2009
The research capitalized on Tufts' knowledge of silk-based biopolymers and biophotonics and the expertise of UIUC Professor Jennifer A. Lewis and graduate student Sara T. Parker in direct-write assembly to create complex planar and three-dimensional structures. "Silks are well suited for this purpose, because they are the strongest and toughest natural fibers known," said David Kaplan, professor and chair of the biomedical engineering department at Tufts' School of Engineering. (EurekAlert!)
Protein bodies boost production Aug 8, 2009
Elastin-like polypeptides are synthetic biopolymers composed of a repeating pentapeptide 'VPGXG' sequence that are valuable for the simple non-chromatographic purification of recombinant proteins. In addition, elastin-like polypeptide fusions have been shown to enhance the accumulation of a range of different recombinant proteins in plants, thus addressing the major limitation of plant-based expression systems, which is a low production yield. (BioMed Central)
A further insight into the biosorption mechanism of Pt() by infrared spectrometry Jul 6, 2009
The infrared (IR) spectrometry on D02 biomass and that challenged with Pt(), and on glucose and that reacted with Pt() demonstrated that the interaction of the biomass with Pt() seems to be through oxygenous or nitrogenous chemical functional groups on the cell wall biopolymers; that the potential binding sites for Pt species include hydroxyl of saccharides, carboxylate anion and carboxyl of amino acid residues, peptide bond, etc. and that the free monosaccharic group bearing hemiacetalic... (BioMed Central)
