Systems metabolic engineering of glutathione biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Pathway balancing coupled with enzyme screening for high-titer production
December 2025
•Novel plasmid-free S. cerevisiae produces 997.46 mg·L⁻¹ glutathione.•Gsh1-Gsh2 fusion resolves γ-glutamylcysteine bottleneck in GSH pathway.•DO-coupled fed-batch boosts GSH titer 2.9 × vs. flasks in...
Diversity analysis of phytase-producing bacteria from coastal seawater and sediment and characterization of their phytases
December 2025
•Diversity of phytate-utilizing bacteria in coastal marine environments was analyzed.•Twenty-seven phytase-producing bacterial strains were isolated.•Five phytases were expressed and characterized.•Phytase...
Enhancement of heat resistance of Bacillus thermoamylovorans drives enhanced PET degradation
Available online 23 December 2025
•First identification of thermotolerance genes in Bacillus thermoamylovorans.•Small heat shock protein enhances cell survival under heat stress.•Engineered stain achieves 84.3% higher PET degradation...
A novel therapeutic strategy of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
September 2025
Staphylococcus aureus is a major public health threat, largely due to its remarkable capacity to develop antimicrobial resistance. Zhang et al. recently demonstrated a highly innovative approach to...
Genotypic and molecular characterization of a moderately thermophilic cyanobacterium, Gloeocapsa sp. strain BRSZ
September 2025
A unicellular-colonial cyanobacterium, designated “BRSZ,” was isolated from a neutral-alkaline hot spring in Thailand. Morphological characterization revealed distinctive features consistent with those...
Production of dicarboxylates from ω-amino acids using a cofactor- and co-substrate-free in vitro biosynthetic system
September 2025
Dicarboxylates are valuable platform compounds with a broad range of applications. The in vitro biosynthetic system used to produce dicarboxylates from ω-amino acids via the natural pathway requires...
Analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing data to examine the gastric inflammation-to-cancer transition and evaluation of the effect of probiotic on precancerous lesions
September 2025
•PR-enriched pit mucous cells drive the inflammation-to-cancer transition.•Gene set was rigorously validated across multiple external cohorts.•Probiotics modulate the gastric cancer-associated tumor-immune...
Screening of molecular elements and improvement of heat resistance in a thermophilic bacterium
September 2025
•Engineered G. stearothermophilus SL-1-H1 survives at 85 °C via gene overexpression.•Developed first efficient electroporation for Geobacillus (10⁴ CFU/µg DNA).•Synergistic gene overexpression (e.g.,...
Tumor-targeting bioluminescent bacteria for in vivo imaging
September 2025
As the understanding of bacteria-mediated cancer therapies deepens, bacteria such as Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) have become a promising platform for cancer therapy. However, their potential...
The role of microbiota dysbiosis in Parkinson’s disease: Pathophysiology and therapeutic opportunities
September 2025
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by debilitating motor and non-motor symptoms. Its etiology is multifactorial, with no single definitive cause...
Production of cycloastragenol in metabolically engineered yeast
September 2025
Cycloastragenol is a bioactive, high-value triterpenoid derived from Astragalus membranaceus. Conventional plant-based extraction and chemical synthesis methods are expensive. To our knowledge, this...
Superoxide-mediated O2 activation drives radical cyclization in ergot alkaloid biosynthesis
June 2025
Conventional heme enzymes utilize iron–oxygen intermediates to activate substrates and drive reactions. Recently, Chen et al. discovered a novel NADPH-independent superoxide mechanism of heme catalase...
Cytochrome P450-catalyzed allylic oxidation of pentalenene to 1-deoxypentalenic acid in pentalenolactone biosynthesis
June 2025
Pentalenolactone is a sesquiterpene antibiotic from Streptomyces. Its biosynthetic pathway has been elucidated, except for the oxidation of pentalen-13-al to 1-deoxypentalenic acid. In this study, we...
Optimizing the CRISPR/Cas9 system for gene editing in Yarrowia lipolytica
June 2025
Yarrowia lipolytica is a promising host for producing valuable chemicals owing to its robustness and metabolic versatility. Efficient genome editing tools are essential for advancing its biotechnological...
Engineering thermotolerant microbial strains via TrRCC1 overexpression for efficient bioethanol production
June 2025
•Overexpression of TrRCC1 gene enhances thermotolerance in T. reesei and S. cerevisiae.•Homologous overexpression of TrRCC1 in T. reesei increases cellulase production by 2.5-fold.•Ethanol production...
Carbon sequestration pathways in microorganisms: Advances, strategies, and applications
June 2025
In recent years, industrial activities have significantly increased atmospheric CO2 levels, exacerbating global warming. Carbon reduction involves implementing measures to minimize CO2 emissions from...
The Kongming defense: Host-pathogen battles take a new face
June 2025
Bacteria employ diverse immune systems, such as CRISPR-Cas, to fend off phage infections. A recent study uncovered the unprecedented mechanistic features of the Kongming bacterial defense system, which...
Functional heterologous expression of the reversible Cu-decarboxylase from the lichen, Cladonia uncialis
June 2025
Despite the isolation of over 1000 known bioactive lichen mycobiont-derived secondary metabolites (SMs), understanding the genetic basis of their biosynthesis remains elusive. Biosynthetic gene clusters...
Advances in synthetic microbial ecosystems approach for studying ecological interactions and their influencing factors
June 2025
Investigating ecological interactions within microbial ecosystems is essential for enhancing our comprehension of key ecological issues, such as community stability, keystone species identification,...
Modification of essential factors mediating post-translational processing for high-quality protein expression in Penicillium
March 2025
The formation of mature proteins requires complex post-translational modification and processing. Efficient post-translational processing machinery is beneficial for the high-quality expression of proteins....
Applications of bacteriophages in precision engineering of the human gut microbiome
March 2025
As our understanding of the role of the gut microbiome in human diseases deepens, precision engineering of the gut microbiome using bacteriophages has gained significant attention. Herein, we review...
Characterization of a small non-coding RNA S612 in Bacillus subtilis
March 2025
Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules that fine-tune various cellular processes and respond to various environmental stimuli. In Bacillus subtilis, the regulatory mechanisms and...
Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase: Properties and applications
March 2025
Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT), a unique DNA polymerase, can elongate DNA by adding deoxynucleotides to the 3′ terminal of a DNA chain in a template-independent manner. Owing to their remarkable...