Cheng-Huan Liu

Fucosylated human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are important bioactive glycans, but their biosynthetic production requires fucosyltransferases with predictable acceptor selectivity to avoid regioisomer formation and downstream purification burdens. Here we identify an α1,3-fucosyltransferase from Akkermansia muciniphila (AkkFT) that functions as a lactose-selective α1,3-fucosylation module for HMO synthesis. AkkFT preferentially acts on glycans containing a lactose unit and shows no detectable conversion of type-1 or type-2 N-acetyllactosamine acceptors under standard conditions, contrasting with commonly used bacterial α1,3/4-fucosyltransferases. This lactose-anchored selectivity enables late-stage α1,3-fucosylation across neutral and sialylated HMO acceptors, including efficient formation of lacto-N-neofucopentaose V and the blood group B antigen. Notably, AkkFT converts disialyl-lacto-N-tetraose to disialyl-lacto-N-fucopentaose V under conditions where Helicobacter pylori α1,3-fucosyltransferases show no detectable activity. AkkFT also converts free 2′-fucosyllactose to lactodifucotetraose on a preparative scale and was implemented in an engineered Escherichia coli strain for whole-cell 3-fucosyllactose production. Overall, AkkFT expands the repertoire of selectivity-defined biosynthetic parts for fucosylated HMO production and demonstrates how enzyme discovery can complement engineered microbial platforms for glycan biomanufacturing.

Since the construct of bottom-line mentality was introduced by Greenbaum et al. in 2012, a considerable body of research has developed, with prior research demonstrating both negative (e.g., unethi...

The overuse of chemical fertilizers deteriorates soil quality, and the application of organic amendments has been proposed as an alternative to mineral fertilizers. This study aimed to investigate the effects of organic amendment types on soil properties, the soil microbiome, and tomato growth. Tomato seedlings were grown in soils applied with ten fertilizer treatments, including a no fertilization control, a chemical fertilization control, and eight organic amendment treatments. Compared with the chemical fertilization treatment, the application of manure compost significantly increased the shoot dry weight of tomato plants. In addition, manure compost and tea seed meal remarkably increased soil organic matter (SOM) in comparison with the no fertilization and chemical fertilization treatments. Moreover, manure compost significantly increased soil-exchangeable K and Mg. The application of neem cake and manure compost significantly increased both bacterial diversity and richness. The relative abundance of Lysinibacillus was significantly positively related to the shoot and total dry weights of tomato plants, and its relative abundance was positively influenced by SOM and soil-exchangeable K. Overall, the manure compost used in this study can increase SOM, soil-exchangeable K and Mg, and the relative abundance of Lysinibacillus, consequently promoting tomato growth.

The fungus Antrodia cinnamomea has been used as a folk medicine for various diseases, especially cancer. When A. cinnamomea is cultured on the original host, an endangered woody plant Cinnamomum kanehirai Hayata, the fungus produces more active ingredients, but its growth is slow. Here, C. kanehirai leaf ethanol extract (KLEE) was used as a substitute for C. kanehirai wood to culture A. cinnamomea on solid medium to shorten the culture period and produce active metabolites en masse. The antioxidant activities of methanol extracts from A. cinnamomea cultured on KLEE (MEAC-KLEE) were evaluated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging effect, reducing power, and ferrous ion-chelating effect, and the effective concentration (EC₅₀) values were 0.27, 0.74, and 0.37 mg mL⁻¹, respectively. MEAC-KLEE exhibited specific anti-proliferative activity against a non-small-cell lung cancer cell line (A549) by Annexin V assay. A secondary metabolite (2,4-dimethoxy-6-methylbenzene-1,3-diol, DMMB) present in the extract (MEAC-KLEE) was purified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. DMMB exhibited moderate antioxidant activity against DPPH radicals and reducing power, with EC₅₀ values of 12.97 and 25.59 μg mL⁻¹, respectively, and also induced apoptosis in A549 cells. Our results provide valuable insight into the development of DMMB for nutraceutical biotechnology.

The Staphylococcus epidermidis lipase (SeLip, GehC) can be used in flavour-compound production via esterification in aqueous solution. This study reports the crystallization and crystallographic analysis of recombinant GehC (rGehC; Lys303–Lys688) with a molecular weight of 43 kDa. rGehC was crystallized at 293 K using PEG 10 000 as a precipitant, and a 99.9% complete native data set was collected from a cooled crystal at 77 K to a resolution of 1.9 Å with an overall R _merge value of 7.3%. The crystals were orthorhombic and belonged to space group P2₁2₁2₁, with unit-cell parameters a = 42.07, b = 59.31, c = 171.30 Å, α = β = γ = 90°. Solvent-content calculations suggest that there is likely to be one lipase subunit in the asymmetric unit.