Comparison of Antibody Immune responses to different HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Mutants.

The identification of immunogens is crucial for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine development. In our previous study, we demonstrated that HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein mutants based on the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)attenuated vaccine enhance immunogenicity, both for DNA immunization alone and as a combined DNA prime-vaccinia boost immunization. An RV144 clinical trial has demonstrated that an envelope protein boost may provide some degree of protection against HIV-1 infection. In order to explore the antibody immune responses to two HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein mutants based on the EIAV vaccine and wild-type envelope glycoprotein, mice and guinea pigs were immunized using a DNA prime-protein boost immunization strategy. The result showed, compared with wild-type gp140, gp140 2M (which contained 2 sites amino acid mutations) and gp140 5M (which contained 5 sites amino acid mutations) increased env-specific IgG and IgG3 binding antibody titers.Gp140 2M resulted in a slight improvement in the neutralizing antibody response against sensitive HIV-1 isolates compared with gp140. These findings have implications for HIV-1 vaccine development based on the HIV-1 CN54 envelope glycoprotein.

Regulation of metabolic flux in Lactobacillus casei for lactic acid production by overexpressed ldhL gene with two-stage oxygen supply strategy.

This study describes a novel strategy to regulate the metabolic flux for lactic acid production in Lactobacillus casei. The ldhL gene encoding L-lactate dehydrogenase (L-LDH) was overexpressed in L. casei, and a two-stage oxygen supply strategy (TOS) that maintained a medium oxygen supply level during the early fermentation phase, and a low oxygen supply level in the later phase was carried out. As a consequence, a maximum L-LDH activity of 95.6 U/ml was obtained in the recombinant strain, which was over 4-fold higher than that of the initial strain. Under the TOS for L. casei (pMG-ldhL), the maximum lactic acid concentration of 159.6 g/l was obtained in 36 h, corresponding to a 62.8% increase. The results presented here provide a novel way to regulate the metabolic flux of L. casei for lactic acid production in different fermentation stages, which is available to enhance organic acid production in other strains.

Improve carbon metabolic flux in Saccharomyces cerevisiae at high temperature by overexpressed TSL1 gene.

This study describes a novel strategy to improve the glycolysis flux of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at high temperature. The TSL1 gene-encoding regulatory subunit of the trehalose synthase complex was overexpressed in S. cerevisiae Z-06, which increased levels of trehalose synthase activity in extracts, enhanced stress tolerance and glucose consuming rate of the yeast cells. As a consequence, the final ethanol concentration of 185.5 g/L was obtained at 38 °C for 36 h (with productivity up to 5.2 g/L/h) in 7-L fermentor, and the ethanol productivity was 92.7 % higher than that of the parent strain. The results presented here provide a novel way to enhance the carbon metabolic flux at high temperature, which will be available for the purposes of producing other primary metabolites of commercial interest using S. cerevisiae as a host.

The effect of temperature on L-lactic acid production and metabolite distribution of Lactobacillus casei.

The effect of temperature on the growth and L-lactic acid production of Lactobacillus casei G-03 was investigated in a 7-L bioreactor. It was found that the maximum specific growth rate (0.27 hr⁻¹) and L-lactic acid concentration (160.2 g L⁻¹) were obtained at a temperature of 41°C. Meanwhile, the maximum L-lactic acid yield, productivity, and dry cell weight were up to 94.1%, 4.44 g L⁻¹ hr⁻¹, and 4.30 g L⁻¹, respectively. At lower or higher temperature, the Lactobacillus casei G-03 showed lower acid production and biomass. Moreover, the main metabolite distribution of strain G-03 response to variations in temperatures was studied. The results suggested that temperature has a remarkable effect on metabolite distribution, and the maximum carbon flux toward lactic acid at the pyruvate node was obtained at 41°C, which had the minimum carbon flux toward acetic acid.

Improvement of polygalacturonase production at high temperature by mixed culture of Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Catabolic repression in the synthesis of inducible enzymes by glucose, fructose, and intermediates of the glycolytic cycle has been observed in many microorganisms. In order to enhance the polygalacturonase (PG) production of Aspergillus niger GJ-2, Saccharomyces cerevisiae J-1 was inoculated to the medium at 12h of culture, which resulted in a significant improvement of PG production. It was also found that maximum PG activity of 512.7 U/ml was obtained at 37°C in the mixed culture, which was nearly twofold higher than that of the culture without the inoculation of S. cerevisiae J-1.

Improvement of L-lactic acid production by osmotic-tolerant mutant of Lactobacillus casei at high temperature.

L-Lactic acid production by Lactobacillus casei was used as a model to study the mechanism of substrate inhibition and the strategy for enhancing L-lactic acid production. It was found that the concentration of cell growth and L-lactate decreased with the increase of glucose concentration and fermentation temperature. To enhance the osmotic stress resistance of the strain at high temperature, a mutant G-03 was screened and selected with 360 g/L glucose at 45°C as the selective criterion. To further increase the cell growth for lactic acid production, 3 g/L of biotin was supplemented to the medium. As a result, L: -lactate concentration by the mutant G-03 reached 198.2 g/L (productivity of 5.5 g L(-1) h(-1)) at 41°C in a 7-L fermentor with 210 g/L glucose as carbon source. L: -Lactate concentration and productivity of mutant G-03 were 115.2% and 97.8% higher than those of the parent strain, respectively. The strategy for enhancing L: -lactic acid production by increasing osmotic stress resistance at high temperature may provide an alternative approach to enhance organic acid production with other strains.

Enhancement of L-lactic acid production in Lactobacillus casei from Jerusalem artichoke tubers by kinetic optimization and citrate metabolism.

Efficient L-lactic acid production from Jerusalem artichoke tubers by Lactobacillus casei G-02 using simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) in fed-batch culture is demonstrated. The kinetic analysis in the SSF signified that the inulinase activity was subjected to product inhibition, while the fermentation activity of G-02 was subjected to substrate inhibition. It was also found that the intracellularly NOX activity was enhanced by the citrate metabolism, which increased the carbon flux of Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway dramatically, and resulted more ATP production. As a result, when the SSF was carried out at 40 degrees after the initial hydrolysis of 1 h with supplemented sodium citrate of 10g/L, L-lactic acid concentration of 141.5 g/L was obtained in 30 h with a volumetric productivity of 4.7 g/L/h. The conversion efficiency and product yield were 93.6% of the theoretical lactic acid yield and 52.4 g lactic acid/100 g Jerusalem artichoke flour, respectively. Such a high concentration of lactic acid with high productivity from Jerusalem artichoke has not been reported previously, and hence G-02 could be a potential candidate for economical production of L-lactic acid from Jerusalem artichoke at a commercial scale.

Improvement of L-lactic acid production from Jerusalem artichoke tubers by mixed culture of Aspergillus niger and Lactobacillus sp.

Aspergillus niger SL-09 and Lactobacillus sp. G-02 were used as a mixed culture in a 7-l fermentor to directly form L-lactic acid from Jerusalem artichoke tubers. The synthesis of inulinase and invertase from A. niger SL-09 was enhanced significantly by the inoculation of Lactobacillus sp. G-02 at 12h of culture, which reached 275.6 and 571.8 U/ml in 60 h, over 5-folds higher than that of the culture using single strain. In the following simultaneous saccharification and fermentation procedure, the highest L-lactic acid concentration of 120.5 g/l was obtained in 36 h of the fed-batch fermentation with high conversion efficiency of 94.5%.

Improved production of an enzyme that hydrolyses raw yam starch by Penicillium sp. S-22 using fed-batch fermentation.

A newly isolated strain, Penicillium sp. S-22, was used to produce an enzyme that hydrolyses raw yam starch [raw yam starch digesting enzyme (RYSDE)]. The enzyme activity and overall enzyme productivity were respectively 16 U/ml and 0.19 U/ml h in the batch culture. The enzyme activity increased to 85 U/ml by feeding of partially hydrolyzed raw yam starch. When a mixture containing partially hydrolyzed raw yam starch and peptone was fed by a pH-stat strategy, the enzyme activity reached 366 U/ml, 23-fold of that obtained in the batch culture, and the overall productivity reached 3.4 U/ml h, which was 18-fold of that in the batch culture.