Recent
Patents on Biotechnology
ISSN: 1872-2083
Recent Patents on Biotechnology
Volume 1, Number 2, June 2007
Contents
Bacteriophage and Peptidoglycan Degrading Enzymes
with Antimicrobial Applications Pp. 113-122
David M. Donovan
[Abstract]
Secondary Metabolites from Cordyceps Species
and their Antitumor Activity Studies Pp. 123-137
Jian-Hui Xiao and Jian-Jiang Zhong
[Abstract]
Effect of Flavonoids on Human Health: Old Subjects
but New Challenges Pp. 139-150
Eung-Ryoung Lee, Geun-Ho Kang and Ssang-Goo Cho
[Abstract]
Plasmid DNA Manufacturing Technology Pp.
151-166
Aaron E. Carnes and James A. Williams
[Abstract]
Gluconic Acid Production Pp. 167-180
Savas Anastassiadis and Igor G. Morgunov
[Abstract]
Carbon Nanotubes Based Electrochemical Biosensing
Platforms: Fundamentals, Applications, and Future Possibilities
Pp. 181-191
John H.T. Luong, Keith B. Male and Sabahudin Hrapovic
[Abstract]
Patent Selections Pp. 193
Abstracts
[Back to top]
Bacteriophage and Peptidoglycan Degrading Enzymes
with Antimicrobial Applications
David M. Donovan
Peptidoglycan is the major structural component of bacterial
cell walls. In this era of increasingly antibiotic resistant
pathogens, peptidoglycan hydrolases that degrade this important
cell wall structure have emerged as a potential novel source
of new antimicrobials. Included in this class are bacteriocins
(lysostaphin), lysozyme, and bacteriophage endolysins. Bacteriophage
are viruses that infect and utilize bacteria as their host.
They can reside in the bacterial genome as a prophage, or
enter the lytic phase, take over the bacterial gene expression
machinery, synthesize new phage particles, lyse the host,
and release up to hundreds of phage progeny. Lysis occurs
during the late phase of the lytic cycle when the phage endolysin
and a holin molecule are produced. The holin creates holes
in the cells lipid bilayer allowing the phage endolysin (peptidoglycan
hydrolase) to escape and degrade the structural portion of
the cell wall. These (and other phage encoded proteins) have
been shown to inhibit bacterial growth. The ability to inhibit
growth or kill bacteria make both the bacteriophage and their
gene products a rich source of potential antimicrobials. This
review summarizes the recent resurgence of these potential
antimicrobials as both diagnostic and therapeutic agents and
identifies recent patents that describe these technologies.
[Back to top]
Secondary Metabolites from Cordyceps Species
and their Antitumor Activity Studies
Jian-Hui Xiao and Jian-Jiang Zhong
Cordyceps, an entomopathogenic mushroom, is a famous
traditional Chinese medicinal herb (TCM). This higher fungus
contains various known and untapped bioactive metabolites,
and is looked at as an important source of natural drugs while
simultaneously provides good opportunities for discovering
new drugs with immunomodulatory, antitumor, hypoglycemic and
hypocholesterolemic functions. Therefore, the Cordyceps
spp. has been receiving an increasing interest around the
world as an interesting natural drug resource. Various secondary
metabolites from Cordyceps fungi were reported to
have antitumor activities, and antitumor mechanism of those
bioactive compounds possesses multi-target, multi-level and
multi-pathway characteristics. Challenges in investigations
on Cordyceps fungi include the further elucidation
of antitumor molecular mechanism and relationship between
structure and function of their secondary metabolites.
[Back to top]
Effect of Flavonoids on Human Health: Old Subjects
but New Challenges
Eung-Ryoung Lee, Geun-Ho Kang and Ssang-Goo Cho
Flavonoids are highly diversified plant pigments that are
present in a wide range of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beverages.
They are regularly consumed in the human diet and have various
biological activities including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer,
and anti-viral properties. The flavonoids maybe one of the
safest non-immunogenic drugs because they are small organic
compounds which have been normally absorbed by the human body
for long time. During the past decades, the patents on their
health effects have inflated very much and the yearly number
of the patents is on an increasing trend. This review summarizes
the current patents on the health effects of various flavonoids,
and suggests the possible expectation that a wide variety
of diseases are successful treated with newly-developed specific
flavonoids or their derivatives in the near future. In recent
patents, specific flavonoids were described to function as
anti-oxidants, enzyme inhibitors, hormones, or immune modulators.
Moreover, the recent patents also tried to provide the molecular
mechanism of the flavonoid compounds on treating or preventing
various human diseases. Recent mechanistic studies in molecular
level make it possible that specific flavonoids are identified
to have a wide range of biological properties that can contribute
to the beneficial effects on human health.
[Back to top]
Plasmid DNA Manufacturing Technology
Aaron E. Carnes and James A. Williams
Today, plasmid DNA is becoming increasingly important as the
next generation of biotechnology products (gene medicines
and DNA vaccines) make their way into clinical trials, and
eventually into the pharmaceutical marketplace. This review
summarizes recent patents and patent applications relating
to plasmid manufacturing, in the context of a comprehensive
description of the plasmid manufacturing intellectual property
landscape. Strategies for plasmid manufacturers to develop
or in-license key plasmid manufacturing technologies are described
with the endpoint of efficiently producing kg quantities of
plasmid DNA of a quality that meets anticipated European and
FDA quality specifications for commercial plasmid products.
[Back to top]
Gluconic Acid Production
Savas Anastassiadis and Igor G. Morgunov
Gluconic acid, the oxidation product of glucose, is a mild
neither caustic nor corrosive, non toxic and readily biodegradable
organic acid of great interest for many applications. As a
multifunctional carbonic acid belonging to the bulk chemicals
and due to its physiological and chemical characteristics,
gluconic acid itself, its salts (e.g. alkali metal salts,
in especially sodium gluconate) and the gluconolactone form
have found extensively versatile uses in the chemical, pharmaceutical,
food, construction and other industries. Present review article
presents the comprehensive information of patent bibliography
for the production of gluconic acid and compares the advantages
and disadvantages of known processes. Numerous manufacturing
processes are described in the international bibliography
and patent literature of the last 100 years for the production
of gluconic acid from glucose, including chemical and electrochemical
catalysis, enzymatic biocatalysis by free or immobilized enzymes
in specialized enzyme bioreactors as well as discontinuous
and continuous fermentation processes using free growing or
immobilized cells of various microorganisms, including bacteria,
yeast-like fungi and fungi. Alternatively, new superior fermentation
processes have been developed and extensively described for
the continuous and discontinuous production of gluconic acid
by isolated strains of yeast-like mold Aureobasidium pullulans,
offering numerous advantages over the traditional discontinuous
fungi processes.
[Back to top]
Carbon Nanotubes Based Electrochemical Biosensing
Platforms: Fundamentals, Applications, and Future Possibilities
John H.T. Luong, Keith B. Male and Sabahudin Hrapovic
Biosensors can be considered as a most plausible and exciting
application area for nanobiotechnology. The recent bloom of
nanofabrication technology and biofunctionalization methods
of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has stimulated significant research
interest to develop CNT-based biosensors for monitoring biorecognition
events and biocatalytic processes. The unique properties of
CNTs, rolled-up sheets of carbon atoms with a diameter less
than 1 nm, offer excellent prospects for interfacing biological
recognition events with electronic signal transduction. CNT-based
biosensors could be developed to sense only a few or even
a single molecule of a chemical or biological agent. Both
hydrogen peroxide and NADH, two by-products of over 300 oxidoreductases,
are efficiently oxidized by CNT-modified electrodes at significantly
lower potentials with minimal surface fouling. This appealing
feature enables the development of useful biosensors for diversified
applications. Aligned CNT “forests” can act as
molecular wires to allow efficient electron transfer between
the detecting electrode and the redox centers of enzymes to
fabricate reagentless biosensors. Electrochemical sensing
for DNA can greatly benefit from the use of CNT based platforms
since guanine, one of the four bases, can be detected with
significantly enhanced sensitivity. CNTs fluoresce, or emit
light after absorbing light, in the near infrared region and
retain their ability to fluoresce over time. This feature
will allow CNT-based sensors to transmit information from
inside the body. The combination of micro/nanofabrication
and chemical functionalization, particularly nanoelectrode
assembly interfaced with biomolecules, is expected to pave
the way to fabricate improved biosensors for proteins, chemicals,
and pathogens. However, several technical challenges need
to be overcome to tightly integrate CNT-based platforms with
sampling, fluidic handling, separation, and other detection
principles. The biosensing platform must function well in
a real-world sample environment where selectivity, sensitivity,
detection limits, and ruggedness are the four prerequisites.
Carbon nanotube patents look more controversial in electronics
but are less problematical in energy, health care, and cosmetics.
The use of CNTs in biosensing looks very promising as reflected
by some significant patents in this area and other research
and developement endeavors.
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