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Bioengineering of Polysaccharide Production Systems

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A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 October 2022) | Viewed by 17976

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pumtiwitt C. McCarthy

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemistry, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA
Interests: glycobiology; enzymology; protein structure-function relationships; carbohydrate biosynthesis; chemoenzymatic synthesis; carbohydrate-based materials; vaccine development; bioremediation

Dr. James Wachira

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Guest Editor

Department of Biology, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA
Interests: biomolecular interactions; biomaterials; protein evolution; RNA packaging; cell signaling; gene expression

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Carbohydrates play a variety of functional roles in microbes, plants, and animals. Oligosaccharides and polysaccharides derived from these sources are used in drug and vaccine development, pollution remediation, food stabilization, and cosmetic chemistry, among other applications. The isolation of oligo- and polysaccharides from natural sources often involves multi-step purification techniques and can be labor intensive. As such, there is an impetus to not only understand the endogenous biosynthetic routes, but also to develop approaches for the efficient synthesis and functionalization of oligosaccharide- and polysaccharide-based biomaterials. Unlike nucleic acids and proteins, carbohydrates are not encoded for by the genome and thus the sequence and diversity of polymeric carbohydrates is determined by the existing biosynthetic pathways. Modern efforts using bioengineering methods exploit these pathways to increase carbohydrate production. This Special Issue welcomes submissions that focus on novel techniques in metabolic, genetic, and protein engineering leading to the large-scale production of natural and unnatural polysaccharides.

Dr. Pumtiwitt C. McCarthy
Dr. James Wachira
Guest Editors

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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Keywords

metabolic engineering
genetic engineering
protein engineering
industrial polysaccharides
medically relevant polysaccharides
computation-guided engineering

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 2459 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Effects of Iron on Mycelial Growth, Metabolism and In Vitro Antioxidant Activity of Polysaccharides from Lentinula edodes

by Quanju Xiang, Huijuan Zhang, Xiaoqian Chen, Shiyao Hou, Yunfu Gu, Xiumei Yu, Ke Zhao, Xiaoping Zhang, Menggen Ma, Qiang Chen, Penttinen Petri and Xiaoqiong Chen

Bioengineering 2022, 9(10), 581; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9100581 - 19 Oct 2022

Viewed by 1436

Abstract

The polysaccharides found in Lentinula edodes have a variety of medicinal properties, such as anti-tumor and anti-viral effects, but their content in L. edodes sporophores is very low. In this study, Fe²⁺ was added to the liquid fermentation medium of L. edodes to analyze its effects on mycelial growth, polysaccharide and enzyme production, gene expression, and the activities of enzymes involved in polysaccharide biosynthesis, and in vitro antioxidation of polysaccharides. The results showed that when 200 mg/L of Fe²⁺ was added, with 7 days of shaking at 150 rpm and 3 days of static culture, the biomass reached its highest value (0.28 mg/50 mL) 50 days after the addition of Fe²⁺. Besides, Fe²⁺ addition also enhanced intracellular polysaccharide (IPS) and exopolysaccharide (EPS) productions, the levels of which were 2.98- and 1.79-fold higher than the control. The activities of the enzymes involved in polysaccharides biosynthesis, including phosphoglucomutase (PGM), phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI), and UDPG-pyrophosphorylase (UGP) were also increased under Fe²⁺ addition. Maximum PGI activity reached 1525.20 U/mg 30 days after Fe²⁺ addition, whereas PGM and UGP activities reached 3607.05 U/mg and 3823.27 U/mg 60 days after Fe²⁺ addition, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed a strong correlation (p < 0.01) between IPS production and PGM and UGP activities. The corresponding coding genes of the three enzymes were also upregulated. When evaluating the in vitro antioxidant activities of polysaccharides, EPS from all Fe²⁺-treated cultures exhibited significantly better capacity (p < 0.05) for scavenging -OH radicals. The results of the two-way ANOVA indicated that the abilities of polysaccharides to scavenge O₂⁻ radicals were significantly (p < 0.01) affected by Fe²⁺ concentration and incubation time. These results indicated that the addition of iron provided a good way to achieve desirable biomass, polysaccharide production, and the in vitro antioxidation of polysaccharides from L. edodes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioengineering of Polysaccharide Production Systems)

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0 pages, 1135 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Viscoelastic Characterization of Corn Starch Paste: (I) The First Normal Stress Difference of a Cross-Linked Waxy Corn Starch Paste with Sucrose

by Shuxin Huang

Bioengineering 2022, 9(9), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9090465 - 13 Sep 2022

Viewed by 1068

Abstract

Experimental viscoelastic data and the corresponding theoretical analysis of corn starch paste in the past 30 years indicate an evident deficiency of the viscoelastic characterization of the paste. The purposes of the study are to check the capability of a recent model on describing the viscoelasticity of the paste and to improve the viscoelastic analysis. The linear viscoelastic property; the steady shear viscosity and the first normal stress difference (N₁) of a cross-linked waxy corn starch paste mixed with sucrose experimentally reported in 2003 were characterized with a structuralized viscoelastic constitutive equation in the present paper. The structuralized parameter f in the equation was obtained using the viscosities in the dynamic and steady shear experiment. Both a power law strain model and a linear strain model were proposed to describe the normal component in the strain matrix. Three kinds of viscoelastic properties of the paste can be described well with the structuralized equation. Both the power law and the linear strain model can yield reasonable calculations of N₁. The maximum deviation of N₁ calculated by two strain models is about 10%. The theoretical model adopted is available for describing the complex viscoelastic behaviors of corn starch paste usually appearing in the processing of corn starch. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioengineering of Polysaccharide Production Systems)

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Review

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11 pages, 1120 KiB

Open AccessReview

Conjugation Mechanism for Pneumococcal Glycoconjugate Vaccines: Classic and Emerging Methods

by Victor Morais and Norma Suarez

Bioengineering 2022, 9(12), 774; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9120774 - 06 Dec 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3011

Abstract

Licensed glycoconjugate vaccines are generally prepared using native or sized polysaccharides coupled to a carrier protein through random linkages along the polysaccharide chain. These polysaccharides must be chemically modified before covalent linking to a carrier protein in order to obtain a more defined polysaccharide structure that leads to a more rational design and safer vaccines. There are classic and new methods for site-selective glycopolysaccharide conjugation, either chemical or enzymatic modification of the polysaccharide length or of specific amino acid residues of the protein carrier. Here, we discuss the state of the art and the advancement of conjugation of S. pneumoniae glycoconjugate vaccines based on pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides to improve existing vaccines. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioengineering of Polysaccharide Production Systems)

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28 pages, 1462 KiB

Open AccessReview

Fucoidan from Marine Macroalgae: Biological Actions and Applications in Regenerative Medicine, Drug Delivery Systems and Food Industry

by Grace Sathyanesan Anisha, Savitha Padmakumari, Anil Kumar Patel, Ashok Pandey and Reeta Rani Singhania

Bioengineering 2022, 9(9), 472; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9090472 - 14 Sep 2022

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4985

Abstract

The marine macroalgae produce a collection of bioactive polysaccharides, of which the sulfated heteropolysaccharide fucoidan produced by brown algae of the class Phaeophyceae has received worldwide attention because of its particular biological actions that confer nutritional and health benefits to humans and animals. The biological actions of fucoidan are determined by their structure and chemical composition, which are largely influenced by the geographical location, harvest season, extraction process, etc. This review discusses the structure, chemical composition and physicochemical properties of fucoidan. The biological action of fucoidan and its applications for human health, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and drug delivery are also addressed. The industrial scenario and prospects of research depicted would give an insight into developing fucoidan as a commercially viable and sustainable bioactive material in the nutritional and pharmacological sectors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioengineering of Polysaccharide Production Systems)

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24 pages, 4254 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Plant Polysaccharides in Engineered Pharmaceutical Gels

by Juliana O. Bahú, Lucas R. Melo de Andrade, Raquel de Melo Barbosa, Sara Crivellin, Aline Pioli da Silva, Samuel D. A. Souza, Viktor O. Cárdenas Concha, Patrícia Severino and Eliana B. Souto

Bioengineering 2022, 9(8), 376; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9080376 - 09 Aug 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3099

Abstract

Hydrogels are a great ally in the pharmaceutical and biomedical areas. They have a three-dimensional polymeric structure that allows the swelling of aqueous fluids, acting as an absorbent, or encapsulating bioactive agents for controlled drug release. Interestingly, plants are a source of biogels, specifically polysaccharides, composed of sugar monomers. The crosslinking of these polymeric chains forms an architecture similar to the extracellular matrix, enhancing the biocompatibility of such materials. Moreover, the rich hydroxyl monomers promote a hydrophilic behavior for these plant-derived polysaccharide gels, enabling their biodegradability and antimicrobial effects. From an economic point of view, such biogels help the circular economy, as a green material can be obtained with a low cost of production. As regards the bio aspect, it is astonishingly attractive since the raw materials (polysaccharides from plants-cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, inulin, pectin, starch, guar, and cashew gums, etc.) might be produced sustainably. Such properties make viable the applications of these biogels in contact with the human body, especially incorporating drugs for controlled release. In this context, this review describes some sources of plant-derived polysaccharide gels, their biological function, main methods for extraction, remarkable applications, and properties in the health field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioengineering of Polysaccharide Production Systems)

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15 pages, 1674 KiB

Open AccessReview

N-Acetylglucosamine Sensing and Metabolic Engineering for Attenuating Human and Plant Pathogens

by Sekhu Ansari, Vinay Kumar, Dharmendra Nath Bhatt, Mohammad Irfan and Asis Datta

Bioengineering 2022, 9(2), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9020064 - 05 Feb 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3717

Abstract

During evolution, both human and plant pathogens have evolved to utilize a diverse range of carbon sources. N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), an amino sugar, is one of the major carbon sources utilized by several human and phytopathogens. GlcNAc regulates the expression of many virulence genes of pathogens. In fact, GlcNAc catabolism is also involved in the regulation of virulence and pathogenesis of various human pathogens, including Candida albicans, Vibrio cholerae, Leishmania donovani, Mycobacterium, and phytopathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae. Moreover, GlcNAc is also a well-known structural component of many bacterial and fungal pathogen cell walls, suggesting its possible role in cell signaling. Over the last few decades, many studies have been performed to study GlcNAc sensing, signaling, and metabolism to better understand the GlcNAc roles in pathogenesis in order to identify new drug targets. In this review, we provide recent insights into GlcNAc-mediated cell signaling and pathogenesis. Further, we describe how the GlcNAc metabolic pathway can be targeted to reduce the pathogens’ virulence in order to control the disease prevalence and crop productivity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioengineering of Polysaccharide Production Systems)

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