Bioengineered 5:4, 212213; July/August 2014; 2014 Landes Bioscience

BIO-BITES!
212 Bioengineered Volume 5 Issue 4
BIO-BITES!
Bio-Bites!
Vermont has mandated labeling of food
containing genetically modified ingredients
by July 2016. Representatives of the food and
biotechnology industries and the US Grocery
Manufacturers Association in Washington DC
are opposed to the law, and it is likely to be
challenged in the federal court.
References
The week in science: Britain pledges to be more
open about animal research; Stanford University
axes coal-company investments; and Vermont
passes GM-labelling law [Internet]. New York
(NY): Nature News: c2014 May 14 [cited 2014 June
30]. Available from: http://www.nature.com/
news/seven-days-9-15-may-2014-1.15217?WT.
ec_id=NATURE-20140515
GM-food to be labeled in Vermont?
Constructing a phylogenetic tree for brewers yeast
Californian yeast distributing company
White Labs and two researchers from the
University of Leuven, The Netherlands (K
Verstrepen and B Landuyt) have teamed up
to sequence more than 240 different brewing
yeast strains from around the world.
By comparing each yeasts sequence
information with the brewing data of the
respective beers, the researchers hope to be
able to select different properties in yeasts
and breed them together to generate new
ones.
The falling cost of sequencing have
made this project possible; the first 96
strains at White Labs were sequenced free of
charge by the biotechnology company
Illumina to assess one of its new sequencing
machines.
References
Herkewitz W. Craft Beer at the Genetic Level
[Internet]. New York (NY): The New York Times:
c2014 May 26 [cited 2014 June 30]. Available from:
http: //www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/science/
craft-beer-at-the-genetic-level.html?_r=0
Synthetic biology enters the market
According to a recent article in The
New York Times, several companies have
started using ingredients produced by
synthetic biology methods. Examples
cited in this article include a liquid laundry
detergent containing an oil produced by
genetically modified algae. This oil is used
as a replacement for palm kernel oil. The
high global demand for palm kernel oil is
considered a major ecological problem, as
tropical rain forests are being felled to make
way for palm plantations.
Environmental and consumer groups are
calling on companies to include labels on their
products that indicate that synthetic biology
was used to make some of its ingredients.
References
Stein S. Biofuel Tools Applied to Household Soaps
[Internet]. New York (NY): The New York Times:
c2014 May 30 [cited 2014 June 30]. Available from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/business/
biofuel-tools-applied-to-household-soaps.html
Direct ethanol production from switchgrass
In a publication authored by Janet
Westpheling, the direct conversion of
plant biomass to ethanol by engineered
Caldicellulosiruptor bescii is reported. The
authors engineered the thermophilic,
anaerobic, cellulolytic bacterium, which
efficiently uses non-pretreated biomass,
to produce ethanol. This process was
accomplished by deletion of lactate
dehydrogenase and heterologous
expression of a Clostridium thermocellum
bifunctional acetaldehyde and/or alcohol
dehydrogenase. Direct conversion of biomass
to ethanol offers the potential for carbon
neutral, cost-effective, sustainable fuel
production.
References
Chung D, Cha M, Guss AM, Westpheling J. Direct
conversion of plant biomass to ethanol by engi-
neered Caldicellulosiruptor bescii. Proc Natl Acad
Sci U S A 2014; 111:8931-6; PMID:24889625; http://
dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1402210111
www.landesbioscience.com Bioengineered 213
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused
by Plasmodium parasites that are transmitted
to people via infected Anopheles mosquitoes.
According to a fact sheet published on the
World Health Organizations website, in 2012,
malaria caused an estimated 627 000 deaths,
mostly among African children. In a recent
publication authored by N Windbichler and
A Crisanti of Imperial College London, control
of the mosquito population by genetic
engineering is described. The highly specific
homing endonuclease I-PpoI, which cuts a
conserved sequence within the ribosomal
rDNA repeats located on the mosquitos X
chromosome, is expressed restrictively during
male meiosis, resulting in fully fertile mosquito
strains that produce >95% male offspring.
These so-called distorter male mosquitoes
can efficiently suppress caged wild-
type mosquito populations, providing the
foundation for a new class of genetic vector
control strategies.
References
Galizi R, Doyle LA, Menichelli M, Bernardini F,
Deredec A, Burt A, Stoddard BL, Windbichler N,
Crisanti A. A synthetic sex ratio distortion system
for the control of the human malaria mosquito.
Nat Commun 2014; 5:3977; PMID:24915045; http://
dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4977
Controlling malaria by genetically engineered mosquitoes?
First human trial on GM banana to start soon
In 2012, an international team led by
investigators in France sequenced the banana
genome. Two years later, the Queensland
University of Technology in Brisbane,
Australia, announced in a press release that
the worlds first human trial of pro-vitamin
A-enriched banana, expected to lift the health
and well-being of millions of Ugandans and
other East Africans, was imminent. The QUT
project, led by Professor James Dale and
financed with close to $10 million from the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of
the most significant biofortification projects
in the world today. The bananas have been
harvested from the QUT field trial in Innisfail,
North Queensland, and were transported to
the United States for the worlds first human
trial. The human trial will last for six weeks
with conclusive results expected by the end
of the year.
References
Trapnell R. Super bananas world first human
trial [Internet]. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland
University of Technology: c2014 June 16 [cited
2014 June 30]. Available from: https://www.qut.
edu.au/about/news/news?news-id=74075