The technology is available to produce fuel ethanol from renewable lignocellulosic biomass. The current challenge is to assemble the various process options into a commercial venture and begin the task of incremental improvement. Current process designs for lignocellulose are far more complex than grain to ethanol processes. This complexity results in part from the complexity of the substrate and the biological limitations of the catalyst. Our work at the University of Florida has focused primarily on the genetic engineering of Enteric bacteria using genes encoding Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase. These two genes have been assembled into a portable ethanol production cassette, the PET operon, and integrated into the chromosome of Escherichia coli B for use with hemicellulose-derived syrups. The resulting strain, KO11, produces ethanol efficiently from all hexose and pentose sugars present in the polymers of hemicellulose. By using the same approach, we integrated the PET operon into the chromosome of Klebsiella oxytoca to produce strain P2 for use in the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process for cellulose. Strain P2 has the native ability to ferment cellobiose and cellotriose, eliminating the need for one class of cellulase enzymes. Recently, the ability to produce and secrete high levels of endoglucanase has also been added to strain P2, further reducing the requirement for fungal cellulase. The general approach for the genetic engineering of new biocatalysts using the PET operon has been most successful with Enteric bacteria but was also extended to Gram positive bacteria, which have other useful traits for lignocellulose conversion. Many opportunities remain for further improvements in these biocatalysts as we proceed toward the development of single organisms that can be used for the efficient fermentation of both hemicellulosic and cellulosic substrates.

RNA transcripts without obvious coding potential are widespread in many creatures, including the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Several noncoding RNAs have been identified within the Drosophila bithorax complex. These first appear in blastoderm stage embryos, and their expression patterns indicate that they are transcribed only from active domains of the bithorax complex. It has been suggested that these noncoding RNAs have a role in establishing active domains, perhaps by setting the state of Polycomb Response Elements A comprehensive survey across the proximal half of the bithorax complex has now revealed nine distinct noncoding RNA transcripts, including four within the Ultrabithorax transcription unit. At the blastoderm stage, the noncoding transcripts collectively span 75% of the 135 kb surveyed. Recombination-mediated cassette exchange was used to invert the promoter of one of the noncoding RNAs, a 23-kb transcript from the bxd domain of the bithorax complex. The resulting animals fail to make the normal bxd noncoding RNA and show no transcription across the bxd Polycomb Response Element in early embryos. The mutant flies look normal; the regulation of the bxd domain appears unaffected. Thus, the bxd noncoding RNA has no apparent function.

The pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from Bacillus stearothermophilus comprises a structural core, composed of 60 dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2p) subunits, which binds multiple copies of pyruvate decarboxylase (E1p) and dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) subunits. After limited proteolysis with chymotrypsin, the N-terminal lipoyl domain of E2p was excised, purified and sequenced. The residual complex, which remained assembled, was then digested with trypsin under mild conditions. This treatment promoted complete disassembly of the complex and the various components were separated by gel filtration and h.p.l.c. A folded fragment of E2p containing about 50 amino acid residues was identified as being responsible for binding the E3 subunits, although, unlike the corresponding region of the E2p or E2o chains of the pyruvate dehydrogenase or 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes from Escherichia coli, the fragment also bound E1p molecules. Further peptide purification and sequence analysis allowed the determination of the first 211 amino acid residues of the B. stearothermophilus E2p chain, thus providing the complete primary structure of the lipoyl domain, the E1p/E3-binding domain and the regions of polypeptide chain, probably highly flexible in nature, that link the domains to each other and to the inner-core (E2p-binding) domain. Several of the proteolytically sensitive sites were also identified. The sequence of the B. stearothermophilus E2p chain shows close homology with the sequences of the E2p and E2o chains from E. coli, although significant differences in structure are apparent. Detailed evidence for the sequence of the peptides obtained by limited proteolysis and further chemical and enzymic cleavages have been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP 50142 (11 pages) at the British Library Lending Division, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 6BQ, U.K., from whom copies may be obtained as indicated in Biochem. J. (1988) 249, 5.

A set of vectors which facilitates the sequential integration of new functions into the Escherichia coli chromosome by homologous recombination has been developed. These vectors are based on plasmids described by Posfai et al. (J. Bacteriol. 179:4426–4428, 1997) which contain conditional replicons (pSC101 or R6K), a choice of three selectable markers (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, or kanamycin), and a single FRT site. The modified vectors contain twoFRT sites which bracket a modified multiple cloning region for DNA insertion. After integration, a helper plasmid expressing the flippase (FLP) recombinase allows precise in vivo excision of the replicon and the marker used for selection. Sites are also available for temporary insertion of additional functions which can be subsequently deleted with the replicon. Only the DNA inserted into the multiple cloning sites (passenger genes and homologous fragment for targeting) and a single FRT site (68 bp) remain in the chromosome after excision. The utility of these vectors was demonstrated by integrating Zymomonas mobilis genes encoding the ethanol pathway behind the native chromosomaladhE gene in strains of E. coli K-12 andE. coli B. With these vectors, a single antibiotic selection system can be used repeatedly for the successive improvement of E. coli strains with precise deletion of extraneous genes used during construction.

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