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Production and Modification of Functional Compounds by Microbial Cell Factories

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 15873

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Qihe Chen

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Guest Editor

College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: food biotechnology; synthetic biology; microbial metabolic engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Functional compounds derived from plants or animals are becoming more prevalent in human health and social development. These high-value metabolites are traditionally extracted from natural resources, but ongoing research is exploring the possibilities for constructing efficient microbial cell factories that can replace traditional production methods. Recent advances in metabolic engineering and systems biology have made it possible to produce a variety of value-added functional compounds in food, medical, and other industries. Efficacy and safety issues as well as industrial production costs require more attention through the development of novel strategies and more efficient cell factory design using multi-omics, synthetic biology techniques, and microbial consortia construction.

Participants in the symposium as well as all researchers working in the field are cordially invited to contribute original research papers or reviews to this Special Issue of Molecules, which aims to present reports on the design, construction, and optimization of novel microbial cell factories for producing functional compounds, or studies about the design and modification of microbial enzymes for catalyzing functional compound production.

Prof. Dr. Qihe Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

functional compounds
microbial cell factory
molecular engineering
synthetic biology
metabolic engineering
biocatalyst design
microbial consortia construction
microbial enzyme catalysis

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2467 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficient Bioconversion of Stevioside and Rebaudioside A to Glucosylated Steviol Glycosides Using an Alkalihalobacillus oshimesis-Derived Cyclodextrin Glucanotransferase

by Ruiqin Zhang, Ruiqi Tang, Jiahua Bi, Shanshan Shen, Qin Wu, Qihe Chen and Yanjun Li

Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1245; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules28031245 - 27 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1837

Abstract

The enzymatic transglycosylation of steviol glycosides can improve the edulcorant quality of steviol glycosides. Cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase) is one of the most popular glucanotransferases applied in this reaction. Herein, the CGTase-producing strain Alkalihalobacillus oshimensis CGMCC 23164 was isolated from Stevia planting soil. Using mass spectrometry-based secretome profiling, a high-efficiency CGTase that converted steviol glycosides to glucosylated steviol glycosides was identified and termed CGTase-13. CGTase-13 demonstrated optimal transglycosylation activity with 10 g/L steviol glycoside and 50 g/L soluble starch as substrates at <40 °C. Under the above conditions, the conversion rate of stevioside and rebaudioside A, two main components of steviol glycosides, reached 86.1% and 90.8%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest conversion rate reported to date. Compared with Toruzyme^® 3.0 L, the commonly used commercial enzyme blends, glucosylated steviol glycosides produced using CGTase-13 exhibited weaker astringency and unpleasant taste, faster sweetness onset, and stronger sweetness intensity. Thus, CGTase provides a novel option for producing high-quality glucosylated steviol glycoside products and has great potential for industrial applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production and Modification of Functional Compounds by Microbial Cell Factories)

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13 pages, 1847 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Changes in Organic Acids, Phenolic Compounds, and Antioxidant Activities of Lemon Juice Fermented by Issatchenkia terricola

by Biao Liu, Dongxia Yuan, Qiaoyue Li, Xin Zhou, Hao Wu, Yihong Bao, Hongyun Lu, Ting Luo and Jinling Wang

Molecules 2021, 26(21), 6712; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26216712 - 05 Nov 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2634

Abstract

High content of citric acid in lemon juice leads to poor sensory experience. The study aimed to investigate the dynamics changes in organic acids, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activities of lemon juice fermented with Issatchenkia terricola WJL-G4. The sensory evaluation of fermented lemon juice was conducted as well. Issatchenkia terricola WJL-G4 exhibited a potent capability of reducing the contents of citric acid (from 51.46 ± 0.11 g/L to 8.09 ± 0.05 g/L within 60 h fermentation) and increasing total phenolic level, flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activities compared to those of unfermented lemon juice. A total of 20 bioactive substances, including 10 phenolic acids and 10 flavonoid compounds, were detected both in fermented and unfermented lemon juice. The lemon juice fermented for 48 h had better sensory characteristics. Our findings demonstrated that lemon juice fermented with Issatchenkia terricola exhibited reduced citric acid contents, increased levels of health-promoting phenolic compounds, and enhanced antioxidant activities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production and Modification of Functional Compounds by Microbial Cell Factories)

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11 pages, 1782 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Enhanced Oxytetracycline Production by Streptomyces rimosus in Submerged Co-Cultures with Streptomyces noursei

by Tomasz Boruta and Anna Ścigaczewska

Molecules 2021, 26(19), 6036; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26196036 - 05 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1923

Abstract

In the present study, Streptomyces rimosus was confronted with Streptomyces noursei, Penicillium rubens, Aspergillus niger, Chaetomium globosum, or Mucor racemosus in two-species submerged co-cultures in shake flasks with the goal of evaluating the oxytetracycline production and morphological development. The co-culture of S. rimosus with S. noursei exhibited stimulation in oxytetracycline biosynthesis compared with the S. rimosus monoculture, whereas the presence of M. racemosus resulted in a delay in antibiotic production. Different strategies of initiating the “S. rimosus + S. noursei” co-cultures were tested. The improvement in terms of oxytetracycline titers was recorded in the cases where S. noursei was co-inoculated with S. rimosus in the form of spores. As the observed morphological changes were not unique to the co-culture involving S. noursei, there was no evidence that the improvement of oxytetracycline levels could be attributed mainly to morphology-related characteristics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production and Modification of Functional Compounds by Microbial Cell Factories)

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Review

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14 pages, 1078 KiB

Open AccessReview

Enterocins: Classification, Synthesis, Antibacterial Mechanisms and Food Applications

by Yajing Wu, Xinxin Pang, Yansha Wu, Xiayu Liu and Xinglin Zhang

Molecules 2022, 27(7), 2258; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules27072258 - 30 Mar 2022

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3080

Abstract

Enterococci, a type of lactic acid bacteria, are widely distributed in various environments and are part of the normal flora in the intestinal tract of humans and animals. Although enterococci have gradually evolved pathogenic strains causing nosocomial infections in recent years, the non-pathogenic strains have still been widely used as probiotics and feed additives. Enterococcus can produce enterocin, which are bacteriocins considered as ribosomal peptides that kill or inhibit the growth of other microorganisms. This paper reviews the classification, synthesis, antibacterial mechanisms and applications of enterocins, and discusses the prospects for future research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production and Modification of Functional Compounds by Microbial Cell Factories)

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17 pages, 3034 KiB

Open AccessReview

Metabolic Engineering of Microbial Cell Factories for Biosynthesis of Flavonoids: A Review

by Hanghang Lou, Lifei Hu, Hongyun Lu, Tianyu Wei and Qihe Chen

Molecules 2021, 26(15), 4522; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26154522 - 27 Jul 2021

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5344

Abstract

Flavonoids belong to a class of plant secondary metabolites that have a polyphenol structure. Flavonoids show extensive biological activity, such as antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, anti-cancer, and antibacterial properties, so they are widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical industries. However, traditional sources of flavonoids are no longer sufficient to meet current demands. In recent years, with the clarification of the biosynthetic pathway of flavonoids and the development of synthetic biology, it has become possible to use synthetic metabolic engineering methods with microorganisms as hosts to produce flavonoids. This article mainly reviews the biosynthetic pathways of flavonoids and the development of microbial expression systems for the production of flavonoids in order to provide a useful reference for further research on synthetic metabolic engineering of flavonoids. Meanwhile, the application of co-culture systems in the biosynthesis of flavonoids is emphasized in this review. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Production and Modification of Functional Compounds by Microbial Cell Factories)

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