Biotechnology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The detection and quantification of bioparticles is important to a range of applications including disease diagnostics. Here, the authors present a fluorescent label-free detection method using deterministic lateral displacement and demonstrate its use in detecting a range of proteins and vesicles.

    • Kerwin Kwek Zeming
    • , Thoriq Salafi
    •  & Yong Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Efficient assimilation of nutrients is essential for the production of value-added products in microbial fermentation. Here the authors design a semi-synthetic xylose regulon to improve growth characteristics of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on this non-native sugar.

    • Venkatesh Endalur Gopinarayanan
    •  & Nikhil U. Nair

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellobiohydrolases (CBHs) are critical for natural and industrial biomass degradation but their structure–activity relationships are not fully understood. Here, the authors present the biochemical and structural characterization of two CBHs, identifying protein regions that confer enhanced CBH activity.

    • Larry E. Taylor II
    • , Brandon C. Knott
    •  & Gregg T. Beckham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Integrating cell-laden hydrogels effectively into the 3D printing process is a challenge in the creation of tissue engineering scaffolds. Here, the authors describe an additive manufacturing technique to combine polymer and cell-containing networks with 3D-printed mechanical supports.

    • Héloïse Ragelle
    • , Mark W. Tibbitt
    •  & Robert Langer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Production of aromatic monoterpene molecules in hop flowers is affected by genetic, environmental, and processing factors. Here, the authors engineer brewer’s yeast for the production of linalool and geraniol, and show pilot-scale beer produced by engineered strains reconstitutes some qualities of hop flavor.

    • Charles M. Denby
    • , Rachel A. Li
    •  & Jay D. Keasling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Personalised medicine requires cell cultures from defined genetic backgrounds, but providing sufficient numbers of cells is a challenge. Here the authors develop gene cocktails to expand primary cells from a variety of different tissues and species, and show that expanded endothelial and hepatic cells retain properties of the differentiated phenotype.

    • Christoph Lipps
    • , Franziska Klein
    •  & Tobias May

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Availability of irrigation water will be an increasing barrier to global crop yield increases. Here the authors show transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing Photosystem II Subunit S have less stomatal opening in response to light and a 25% reduction in water loss per CO2 assimilated under replicated field trials.

    • Katarzyna Głowacka
    • , Johannes Kromdijk
    •  & Stephen P. Long

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One of the challenges of biologic drug therapy is delivery into target cells and tissues. Here the authors present ARMMs (arrestin domain containing protein 1 mediated microvesicles) as a versatile platform for packaging and delivery of a myriad of molecules, including p53, RNAs and CRISPR-Cas9.

    • Qiyu Wang
    • , Jiujiu Yu
    •  & Quan Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The restoration of light response using retinal prosthesis could be a way to restore vision following retinal degenerative disease. Here the authors develop gold-titania nanowire arrays that restore visual response in blind mice.

    • Jing Tang
    • , Nan Qin
    •  & Gengfeng Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Positive selection for gene targeting is a common and reliable method to generate isogenic disease models in human pluripotent stem cells. Here, the authors present engineered selection markers which achieve scarless excision by CRISPR-Cas9 and microhomology mediated end-joining.

    • Shin-Il Kim
    • , Tomoko Matsumoto
    •  & Knut Woltjen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting HIV Env could potentially be utilized as therapeutics. Here, Steinhardt et al. engineer a trispecific antibody with specificity for the receptor-binding site, a conserved Env glycan patch and the Env membrane proximal region with nearly pan-isolate neutralization breadth and high potency.

    • James J. Steinhardt
    • , Javier Guenaga
    •  & Yuxing Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthesis of protein-polymer conjugates typically relies on multi-step processes in solution and on challenging purification strategies. Here the authors show a robust synthesis approach which eliminates purification processes by immobilizing proteins reversibly on modified agarose beads before grafting from polymers via ATRP.

    • Hironobu Murata
    • , Sheiliza Carmali
    •  & Alan J. Russell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the biological role of graphene in eukaryotic cells is essential for future biomedicine applications. Here, the authors investigate the interaction of neurons and fibroblasts with graphene substrates, which increase cell membrane cholesterol and potentiate neurotransmitter release and receptor signaling.

    • Kristina E. Kitko
    • , Tu Hong
    •  & Qi Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fouling of solid surfaces is a problem when designing microchannel systems for applications such as bioassays and drug delivery. Here Hou et al. propose a way to overcome this issue by controlling fluid flow by means of an immiscible functional liquid partly infiltrated in a porous solid matrix.

    • Xu Hou
    • , Jianyu Li
    •  & Joanna Aizenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have potential for regenerative medicine applications, but are generated with very low efficiency. Here, the authors show highly efficient reprogramming of human primary fibroblasts to iPSCs via the synergistic activity of synthetic modified mRNAs, mature miRNA mimics, and optimized culture methods.

    • Igor Kogut
    • , Sandra M. McCarthy
    •  & Ganna Bilousova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of nitrogen assimilation is crucial for developing crop cultivars with improved nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUE). Here the authors identify a new negative regulator of NUE and mutation of this gene increases 10–20% rice grain yield under nitrogen-limiting field conditions.

    • Qing Wang
    • , Jinqiang Nian
    •  & Jianru Zuo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The declining performance of scale-up bioreactor cultures is commonly attributed to phenotypic and physical heterogeneities. Here, the authors reveal multiple recurring intra-pathway error modes that limit engineered E. coli mevalonic acid production over time- and industrial-scale fermentations.

    • Peter Rugbjerg
    • , Nils Myling-Petersen
    •  & Morten O. A. Sommer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A subset of chemically-modified siRNAs conjugated to trivalent GalNAc may fail during nonclinical development due to rat hepatotoxicity. Here, the authors show that hepatotoxicity may be accounted for by microRNA-like off-target effects of siRNA and can be mitigated by a thermally destabilizing modification in the siRNA seed region.

    • Maja M. Janas
    • , Mark K. Schlegel
    •  & Vasant Jadhav

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Competition between synthetic genetic circuits and host genes for shared resources can complicate circuit design and lead to failure. Here the authors demonstrate, mathematically and experimentally, the use of orthogonal ribosomes to decouple competing genes.

    • Alexander P. S. Darlington
    • , Juhyun Kim
    •  & Declan G. Bates

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanocarrier administration is often performed via intermittent bolus injection while sustained delivery platforms are rarely reported. Here the authors demonstrate that the cylinder-to-sphere transitions of self-assembled filomicelle scaffolds can be used for sustained delivery with improved resorptive capacity and biocompatibility.

    • Nicholas B. Karabin
    • , Sean Allen
    •  & Evan A. Scott

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacteria and other pathogens entering the blood stream can have serious consequences, which can even lead to death. Here, the authors developed a sieve containing nano-sized claws that capture and hold these intruders, thus aiding their removal from patient’s blood

    • Lizhi Liu
    • , Sheng Chen
    •  & Tie Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a widely used plastic and its accumulation in the environment has become global problem. Here the authors report the crystal structure of a Ideonella sakaiensis PET-degrading enzyme and propose a molecular mechanism for PET degradation.

    • Seongjoon Joo
    • , In Jin Cho
    •  & Kyung-Jin Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA based technology holds promise for non-volatile memory and computational tasks, yet the relatively slow hybridization kinetics remain a bottleneck. Here, Song et al. have developed an electric field-induced hybridization platform that can speed up multi-bit memory and logic operations.

    • Youngjun Song
    • , Sejung Kim
    •  & Xiaohua Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Capsaicin prevents atherosclerotic plaque formation by activating TRPV1 cation channels, but its toxicity precludes its use in clinical settings. Here, Tang and colleagues use copper sulfide nanoparticles as a photothermal switch to locally and temporally activate TRPV1 in vascular smooth muscle cells and reduce plaque formation without apparent toxicity.

    • Wen Gao
    • , Yuhui Sun
    •  & Bo Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spatial localization of genetic information is important for tissue heterogeneity but difficult to capture with current analytical techniques. Here the authors present “Pixelated RT-LAMP”, an approach that uses parallel on-chip reactions to provide the distribution of target sequences directly from tissue.

    • A. Ganguli
    • , A. Ornob
    •  & R. Bashir

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing pathway design tools make use of existing reactions from databases or successively apply retrosynthetic rules. novoStoic provides an integrated optimization-based framework combining known reactions with novel steps in pathway design allowing for constraints on thermodynamic feasibility, product yield, pathway length and number of novel steps.

    • Akhil Kumar
    • , Lin Wang
    •  & Costas D. Maranas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Poor adherence to daily antiretrovirals can significantly affect treatment efficacy, but oral long-acting antiretrovirals are currently lacking. Here, the authors develop a once-weekly oral dosage form for anti-HIV drugs, assess its pharmacokinetics in pigs, and model its impact on viral resistance and disease epidemics.

    • Ameya R. Kirtane
    • , Omar Abouzid
    •  & Giovanni Traverso

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The generation of functional skeletal muscle tissue from human pluripotent stem cells has not been reported. Here, the authors describe engineering of contractile skeletal muscle bundles in culture, which become vascularized and maintain functionality when transplanted into mice.

    • Lingjun Rao
    • , Ying Qian
    •  & Nenad Bursac

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ability to combine the production of multiple biologics into a single ‘on demand’ system could help in situations where resources are limited. Here the authors demonstrate a proof-of-concept approach for the co-production of three biologics, allowing singular, mixed and combination drug products.

    • Jicong Cao
    • , Pablo Perez-Pinera
    •  & Timothy K. Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fermentative production of aromatic polyesters from glucose has been unsuccessful. Here, the authors achieve the objective by one-step fermentation of metabolically engineered E. coli expressing a isocaprenoyl-CoA:2-hydroxyisocaproate CoA-transferase and an evolved polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase.

    • Jung Eun Yang
    • , Si Jae Park
    •  & Sang Yup Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion gating in biological channels is commonly controlled by functional elements. Here, the authors elucidate the contribution of outer-surface functional elements on ion gating of biomimetic nanochannels, providing insight into the design of effective nanochannel-based biosensors and electronics.

    • Xinchun Li
    • , Tianyou Zhai
    •  & Fan Xia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    FRET has been used to study protein conformational changes but has never been applied to RNA aptamers. Here the authors develop a genetically encodable RNA aptamer-based FRET system on single-stranded RNA origami scaffolds, and demonstrate it can be used to study RNA conformational changes.

    • Mette D. E. Jepsen
    • , Steffen M. Sparvath
    •  & Ebbe S. Andersen

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