Biomaterial-based scaffolds are important cues in tissue engineering (TE) applications. Recent advances in TE have led to the development of suitable scaffold architecture for various tissue defects. In this narrative review on polycaprolactone (PCL), we have discussed in detail about the synthesis of PCL, various properties and most recent advances of using PCL and PCL blended with either natural or synthetic polymers and ceramic materials for TE applications. Further, various forms of PCL scaffolds such as porous, films and fibrous have been discussed along with the stem cells and their sources employed in various tissue repair strategies. Overall, the present review affords an insight into the properties and applications of PCL in various tissue engineering applications.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are self-renewing cells with ability to differentiate into organized, functional network of cells. In recent past research in developing clinical applications for MSCs has increased significantly. MSCs exhibit multi potential proliferation, and are capable of differentiating into cartilage, bone, neuronal cells and adipocytes, etc. Signaling pathways, transcription factors and growth factors modulate the differentiation of MSCs into different cell lineages. Besides, physical factors may regulate the molecular differentiation of stem cells. The main theme of this paper is to review the signaling pathways related to bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), epidermal growth factors (EGF), transforming growth factors (TGF), wingless type MMTV integration site (wnt) proteins, fibroblastic growth factor (FGF), and transcriptional regulating factors significance in the MSCs differentiation.

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The yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) MTCC 3157 was selected for combinatorial biosynthesis of plant sesquiterpene amorpha-4,11-diene. Our main objective was to overproduce amorpha 4-11-diene, which is a key precursor molecule of artemisinin (antimalarial drug) produced naturally in plant Artemisia annua through mevalonate pathway. Farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) is a common intermediate metabolite of a variety of compounds in the mevalonate pathway of yeast and leads to the production of ergosterols, dolichol and ubiquinone, and so forth. In our studies, FPP converted to amorphadiene (AD) by expressing heterologous amorphadiene synthase (ADS) in yeast. First, ERG9 (squalane synthase) promoter of yeast was replaced with repressible methionine (MET3) promoter by using bipartite gene fusion method. Further to overcome the loss of the intermediate FPP through competitive pathways in yeast, fusion protein technology was adopted and farnesyldiphosphate synthase (FPPS) of yeast has been coupled with amorphadiene synthase (ADS) of plant origin (Artemisia annua L.) where amorphadiene production was improved by 2-fold (11.2 mg/L) and 4-fold (25.02 mg/L) in yeast strains YCF-002 and YCF-005 compared with control strain YCF-AD (5.5 mg/L), respectively.