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GM scissors
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News & Comment
TRENDS in Biotechnology Vol.19 No.4 April 2001
In Brief
New HHMI lab
Soft rice
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the largest private funder of biomedical research in the USA, is to build a major new laboratory facility outside Washington, DC, at a cost of US$ 500 million (The Scientist, 19 February). The new complex will house up to 300 research and support staff and is scheduled to open in mid 2005. Probable areas of research for the new facility will be proteomics, imaging, computational biology, chemical synthesis and robotics. M.J.D.
Genome workshop A joint Human Genome workshop co-sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health and Celera Genomics has been scheduled for the beginning of April, reports The Blue Sheet (14 February). Following the online and paper publication of the full draft of the Human Genome in Nature and Science, the workshop will explore the methods, results and different findings of the commercial and publicly funded teams. It will also discuss what further public–private collaborative genome mapping projects could be undertaken in the future. M.J.D.
1387 new genes in O157 While the publication of the human genome is grabbing the headlines, other smaller, but no less important, organisms have had their full sequences mapped. Nicole Perna and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have reported the genome sequence of the pathogenic bacterium Escherichia coli O157:H7, responsible for thousands of cases of food poisoning – and some fatalities – every year (Nature, 409). Comparison with the genome of more harmless strains of E. coli found in the human digestive system revealed the presence of 1387 new genes in E. coli O157, and the existence of ‘DNA islands’, sections of DNA unique to this strain scattered throughout its sequence, which, it is proposed, might have come form other species through ‘horizontal gene transfer’. M.J.D.
Konduru Krishnamurthy and Michael J. Giroux (Nature Biotechnology, 19 February) report the construction of a transgenic rice variety in which rice grain texture was converted from hard to soft. Before you think the exercise was conducted for the benefit of those of us with poor dentition or for a rapidly-aging population, the work resulted in a flour prepared from these softer seeds, which had reduced starch damage and an increased percentage of fine flour particles – useful attributes for the production of some foodstuffs such as bread. The conversion was achieved using the puroindoline genes (pinA and pinB), which are believed to play critical roles in wheat grain texture. D.M.
Protein farming The creators of Dolly the sheep and leaders in transgenic animal research, The Roslin Institute and PPL Therapeutics, have both announced new research collaborations (Chemistry in Britain, February). PPL is entering into a joint venture with New Zealand-based company Celentis, to produce transgenic cattle whose milk will contain therapeutic proteins; the first product will be a protein for treatment of multiple sclerosis. The Roslin Institute has begun a new collaboration with US biotechnology firm Viragen, to create transgenic chickens that will lay eggs containing therapeutic proteins and antibodies. Its first target is a monoclonal antibody to treat melanoma and other cancers. M.J.D.
Antibacterial biopolymers A new class of polythioester (PTE) biopolymer has been developed at the
University of Münster, Germany, which could reduce the rate of post-operative infections in surgical implants (Microbiology, 147). Led by Alexander Steinbüchel, researchers grew the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha in the presence of 3-mercaptopropionic acid or 3,3′-thiodipropionic acid as a carbon source, in addition to fructose and glucoronic acid, and produced a 3-hydroxy butyrate/3-mercaptopropionate co-polymer – the first bacterially produced polymer to contain sulfur in the backbone. The inherent anti-bacterial properties of the biopolymers means that they will have significant advantages over hydrocarbonbased polymers, which are susceptible to bio-fouling which can cause inflammation of surrounding tissue and infection. M.J.D.
GM scissors A solution to the problem of potential environmental uptake of foreign DNA from crops genetically modified with antibiotic resistance marker genes might have been found, following development of a GM Arabidopsis species that can excise its own antibiotic marker DNA (Nature Biotechnology, 19). Plant biologists at Rockefeller University in New York produced Thale cress plants containing the antibiotic marker sequence, a recombinase gene and a chemically inducible promoter sequence. This series of genes is flanked on either side by sequences that are targets for the recombinase. When activated by beta-estradiol the recombinase excises the flanking sequences thus removing the entire stretch of foreign DNA. M.J.D.
Arrays in excess Using automated microarray technology borrowed from genomic and proteomic screening, researchers at Harvard University have developed new analytical tests for measuring enantiomeric excess (ee), which could be used in combinatorial ligand optimisation for asymmetric catalysis (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 123). The team, led by Matthew Shair, prepared a 15000 amino acid sample microarray, and the ee of each sample was probed using two chiral fluorescent dyes. Depending on the
http://tibtech.trends.com 0167-7799/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
News & Comment
TRENDS in Biotechnology Vol.19 No.4 April 2001
In Brief
New HHMI lab
Soft rice
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the largest private funder of biomedical research in the USA, is to build a major new laboratory facility outside Washington, DC, at a cost of US$ 500 million (The Scientist, 19 February). The new complex will house up to 300 research and support staff and is scheduled to open in mid 2005. Probable areas of research for the new facility will be proteomics, imaging, computational biology, chemical synthesis and robotics. M.J.D.
Genome workshop A joint Human Genome workshop co-sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health and Celera Genomics has been scheduled for the beginning of April, reports The Blue Sheet (14 February). Following the online and paper publication of the full draft of the Human Genome in Nature and Science, the workshop will explore the methods, results and different findings of the commercial and publicly funded teams. It will also discuss what further public–private collaborative genome mapping projects could be undertaken in the future. M.J.D.
1387 new genes in O157 While the publication of the human genome is grabbing the headlines, other smaller, but no less important, organisms have had their full sequences mapped. Nicole Perna and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have reported the genome sequence of the pathogenic bacterium Escherichia coli O157:H7, responsible for thousands of cases of food poisoning – and some fatalities – every year (Nature, 409). Comparison with the genome of more harmless strains of E. coli found in the human digestive system revealed the presence of 1387 new genes in E. coli O157, and the existence of ‘DNA islands’, sections of DNA unique to this strain scattered throughout its sequence, which, it is proposed, might have come form other species through ‘horizontal gene transfer’. M.J.D.
Konduru Krishnamurthy and Michael J. Giroux (Nature Biotechnology, 19 February) report the construction of a transgenic rice variety in which rice grain texture was converted from hard to soft. Before you think the exercise was conducted for the benefit of those of us with poor dentition or for a rapidly-aging population, the work resulted in a flour prepared from these softer seeds, which had reduced starch damage and an increased percentage of fine flour particles – useful attributes for the production of some foodstuffs such as bread. The conversion was achieved using the puroindoline genes (pinA and pinB), which are believed to play critical roles in wheat grain texture. D.M.
Protein farming The creators of Dolly the sheep and leaders in transgenic animal research, The Roslin Institute and PPL Therapeutics, have both announced new research collaborations (Chemistry in Britain, February). PPL is entering into a joint venture with New Zealand-based company Celentis, to produce transgenic cattle whose milk will contain therapeutic proteins; the first product will be a protein for treatment of multiple sclerosis. The Roslin Institute has begun a new collaboration with US biotechnology firm Viragen, to create transgenic chickens that will lay eggs containing therapeutic proteins and antibodies. Its first target is a monoclonal antibody to treat melanoma and other cancers. M.J.D.
Antibacterial biopolymers A new class of polythioester (PTE) biopolymer has been developed at the
University of Münster, Germany, which could reduce the rate of post-operative infections in surgical implants (Microbiology, 147). Led by Alexander Steinbüchel, researchers grew the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha in the presence of 3-mercaptopropionic acid or 3,3′-thiodipropionic acid as a carbon source, in addition to fructose and glucoronic acid, and produced a 3-hydroxy butyrate/3-mercaptopropionate co-polymer – the first bacterially produced polymer to contain sulfur in the backbone. The inherent anti-bacterial properties of the biopolymers means that they will have significant advantages over hydrocarbonbased polymers, which are susceptible to bio-fouling which can cause inflammation of surrounding tissue and infection. M.J.D.
GM scissors A solution to the problem of potential environmental uptake of foreign DNA from crops genetically modified with antibiotic resistance marker genes might have been found, following development of a GM Arabidopsis species that can excise its own antibiotic marker DNA (Nature Biotechnology, 19). Plant biologists at Rockefeller University in New York produced Thale cress plants containing the antibiotic marker sequence, a recombinase gene and a chemically inducible promoter sequence. This series of genes is flanked on either side by sequences that are targets for the recombinase. When activated by beta-estradiol the recombinase excises the flanking sequences thus removing the entire stretch of foreign DNA. M.J.D.
Arrays in excess Using automated microarray technology borrowed from genomic and proteomic screening, researchers at Harvard University have developed new analytical tests for measuring enantiomeric excess (ee), which could be used in combinatorial ligand optimisation for asymmetric catalysis (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 123). The team, led by Matthew Shair, prepared a 15000 amino acid sample microarray, and the ee of each sample was probed using two chiral fluorescent dyes. Depending on the
http://tibtech.trends.com 0167-7799/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.