The apocarotenoid production in microbial biofactories: An overview.

Carotenoids are a vast group of natural pigments that come in a variety of colors ranging from red to orange. Apocarotenoids are derived from these carotenoids, which are hormones, pigments, retinoids, and volatiles employed in the textiles, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Due to the high commercial value and poor natural host abundance, they are significantly undersupplied. Microbes like Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli act as heterologous hosts for apocarotenoid production. This article briefly reviews categories of apocarotenoids, their biosynthetic pathway commencing from the MVA and MEP, its significance, the tool enzymes for apocarotenoid biosynthesis like CCDs, their biotechnological production in microbial factories, and future perspectives.

Recent Advances and Therapeutic Strategies Using CRISPR Genome Editing Technique for the Treatment of Cancer.

CRISPR genome editing technique has the potential to target cancer cells in a precise manner. The latest advancements have helped to address one of the prominent concerns about this strategy which is the off-target integrations observed with dsDNA and have resulted in more studies being carried out for potentially safer and more targeted gene therapy, so as to make it available for the clinical trials in order to effectively treat cancer. CRISPR screens offer great potential for the high throughput investigation of the gene functionality in various tumors. It extends its capability to identify the tumor growth essential genes, therapeutic resistant genes, and immunotherapeutic responses. CRISPR screens are mostly performed in in vitro models, but latest advancements focus on developing in vivo models to view cancer progression in animal models. It also allows the detection of factors responsible for tumorigenesis. In CRISPR screens key parameters are optimized in order to meet proficient gene targeting efficiencies. It also detects various molecular effectors required for gene regulation in different cancers, essential pathways which modulate cytotoxicity to immunotherapy in cancer cells, important genes which contribute to cancer cell survival in hypoxic states and modulate cancer long non-coding RNAs. The current review focuses on the recent developments in the therapeutic application of CRISPR technology for cancer therapy. Furthermore, the associated challenges and safety concerns along with the various strategies that can be implemented to overcome these drawbacks has been discussed.