Discovery of a new polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase from limestone soil through metagenomic approach
Yen Teng Tai, Choon Pin Foong, Nazalan Najimudin, Kumar Sudesh

AoRim15 is involved in conidial stress tolerance, conidiation and sclerotia formation in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae
Hidetoshi Nakamura, Takashi Kikuma, Feng Jie Jin, Jun-ichi Maruyama, Katsuhiko Kitamoto

Highlights

・AoRim15 is involved in the stress tolerance of conidia in A. oryzae.
・Both deletion and overexpression of Aorim15 cause a decrease in conidiation.
・AoRim15 plays a positive regulatory role in sclerotia formation.
・AoRim15 differentially regulates between conidia and sclerotia formation.

Regulation of production of the blue pigment indigoidine by the pseudo γ-butyrolactone receptor FarR2 in Streptomyces lavendulae FRI-5
Yohanes Novi Kurniawan, Shigeru Kitani, Aya Iida, Asa Maeda, Jelger Lycklama a Nijeholt, Yong Jik Lee, Takuya Nihira

De novo transcriptome analysis of Inonotus baumii by RNA-seq
Li Zou, Tingting Sun, Danlei Li, Yun Tan, Guoquan Zhang, Feng Wang, Jian Zhang

Highlights

・First publication of the Inonotus baumii transcriptome by Illumina sequencing.
・30,051 assembled unigenes were obtained including 20,634 unigenes with annotation.
・12 candidate genes involved in the triterpenoid biosynthesis pathway were found.
・197 putative wood-degrading genes in the I. baumii transcriptome were obtained.
・Providing insights into the genetic background of I. baumii.

Inhibitory effects of cefotaxime on the activity of mushroom tyrosinase
Yong-Hua Hu, Jiang-Xing Zhuang, Feng Yu, Yi Cui, Wen-Wen Yu, Chong-Ling Yan, Qing-Xi Chen

Immobilized sialyltransferase fused to a fungal biotin-binding protein: Production, properties, and applications
Hitomi Kajiwara, Masako Tsunashima, Toshiki Mine, Yoshimitsu Takakura, Takeshi Yamamoto

Highlights

・The enzymatic property of immobilized marine bacterial sialyltransferase was investigated.
・The optimum pH and temperature of the immobilized enzyme were changed compared to those of a free form of the sialyltransferase.
・No decrease in productivity of 6′-sialyllactose using immobilized enzyme was detected even after seven cycles of sialyllactose production.

Cryptic antifungal compounds active by synergism with polyene antibiotics
Hiroshi Kinoshita, Mariko Yoshioka, Fumio Ihara, Takuya Nihira

Metabolomic approach for improving ethanol stress tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Erika Ohta, Yasumune Nakayama, Yukio Mukai, Takeshi Bamba, Eiichiro Fukusaki

Improved quorum sensing capacity by culturing Vibrio harveyi in microcapsules
Meng Gao, Huiyi Song, Xiudong Liu, Weiting Yu, Xiaojun Ma

Highlights

・Quorum sensing of microencapsulated Vibrio harveyi has been demonstrated.
・ELDCwc method promotes cells to grow into aggregation structure.
・Improved quorum sensing capacity has been proved with encapsulated cell aggregates.

Metabolome analysis reveals the effect of carbon catabolite control on the poly(γ-glutamic acid) biosynthesis of Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945
Hitoshi Mitsunaga, Lena Meissner, Thomas Palmen, Takeshi Bamba, Jochen Büchs, Eiichiro Fukusaki

Highlights

・This is the first report of metabolome analysis on PGA producing Bacillus licheniformis.
・This study revealed the carbon catabolite repression mechanism in PGA production.
・Pulsed addition of citrate and ammonium achieved the highest PGA production.

Lentiavidins: Novel avidin-like proteins with low isoelectric points from shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes)
Yoshimitsu Takakura, Kozue Sofuku, Masako Tsunashima, Shigeru Kuwata

Highlights

・A biotin-binding protein with a low isoelectric point (pI) is potentially valuable.
・We discovered novel biotin-binding proteins (lentiavidins) from Lentinula edodes.
・The pI of lentiavidin 1 was 3.9; the lowest in the known biotin-binding proteins.
・Lentiavidin 1 has potential broad applications as a novel biotin-binding protein.

Glycine induced culture-harvesting strategy for Botryococcus braunii
Ying Shen, Wenzhe Zhu, Chaozhou Chen, Yilei Nie

Highlights

・A glycine induced culture-harvesting strategy was provided.
・As natural complex biopolymers, EPS were found involved in flocculation.
・Tightly bound EPS, which were the main parts of EPS, were found positively related to suspended solids concentration.
・Suspended solids concentration of 7.06% with biomass recovery rate of 70.6% was achieved.

Bioproduction of volatile fatty acid from the fermentation of waste activated sludge for in situ denitritation
Bo Wang, Yongzhen Peng, Yuanyuan Guo, Shuying Wang

Characterization of microfouling and corrosive bacterial community of a firewater distribution system
Balamurugan Palaniappan, Subba Rao Toleti

Biodegradation and detoxification of textile dye Disperse Red 54 by Brevibacillus laterosporus and determination of its metabolic fate
Mayur B. Kurade, Tatoba R. Waghmode, Rahul V. Khandare, Byong-Hun Jeon, Sanjay P. Govindwar

Highlights

・The decolorization of Disperse Red 54 was studied using a potent bacterial strain.
・Peptone and yeast extract were good nitrogen sources that accelerate decolorization.
・Different oxido-reductive enzymes were found to be involved in decolorization.
・Disperse Red 54 were biodegraded into final product-N-(1λ3-chlorinin-2-yl)acetamide.
・Metabolic and phytotoxicity studies suggested the detoxification of Disperse Red 54.

In situ probing of microbial activity within anammox granular biomass with microelectrodes
Yongtao Lv, Kai Ju, Lei Wang, Ting Sun, Rui Miao, Xudong Wang, Fan Wei, Siqing Xia

Highlights

・Beside biofilm, granules with average diameter of approximately 5 mm formed in an AnRBC.
・In situ microbial activity of anammox and denitrification within granules were investigated with microelectrodes.
・The most active zone of anammox was in the surface layer of 200–400 μm, and anammox activity increased with increasing of substrate concentration.
・Denitrification activity was identified and the most active zone was limited to the inner layer of the granules.

Production of raw starch-degrading enzyme by Aspergillus sp. and its use in conversion of inedible wild cassava flour to bioethanol
Anselm P. Moshi, Ken M.M. Hosea, Emrode Elisante, Gashaw Mamo, Linda Önnby, Ivo Achu Nges

Highlights

・Ethanol was produced effectively from inedible cassava flour.
・Newly isolated strain Aspergillus sp. MZA-3 produced raw starch-degrading enzyme.
・Bioconversion of raw cassava starch to ethanol at low temperature was achieved.
・Mono- and co-culture fermentation resulted in high ethanol yields.

A rapid method for simultaneous evaluation of free light chain content and aggregate content in culture media of Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing monoclonal antibodies for cell line screening
Yoichi Ishii, Masayoshi Tsukahara, Kaori Wakamatsu

Highlights

・A rapid, simple, reliable method for evaluating cells expressing mAb is reported.
・This method determines the contents of light chain in culture medium.
・This method determines the aggregate content in medium without prior purification.

Handmade microfluidic device for biochemical applications in emulsion
Marsel Murzabaev, Takaaki Kojima, Takuro Mizoguchi, Isao Kobayashi, Brandon J. DeKosky, George Georgiou, Hideo Nakano

Corrigendum to “Inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin pathway by Dickkopf-1 affects midfacial morphogenesis in chick embryo” [J Biosci Bioeng 117 (6) (2014) 664–669]
Masayoshi Kawakami, Hiroaki Okuda, Kouko Tatsumi, Tadaaki Kirita, Akio Wanaka