Biotechnology/Systems biology

It has been known for several years that bacteria can degrade PET, which is mainly used for plastic bottles: Microorganisms such as Ideonella sakaiensis - discovered in 2016 on a partially decayed PET bottle in Japan - release an enzyme called PETase. This enzyme is able to break down the chain molecules of the plastic into its components. "This is of particular interest when it comes to the degradation of microparticles, for example microplastics," explains Daniel Moog, head of the junior research group at the Philipps University in Marburg.

In many countries of the world, rice is a staple food. Small farmers, especially in South Asia and Africa, live from the cultivation of this important crop. However, their livelihood and food security are threatened by the plant disease bacterial blight. This is caused by the pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). In India alone, the bacterium causes annual harvest losses worth around 3.6 billion dollars.

The genetic engineering ruling of the European Court of Justice in the summer of 2018 has political repercussions: the European Council, the EU's leading political body, has asked the EU Commission to clarify how "novel genomic techniques" are to be legally classified and regulated in the future. The results of this study are to be presented by April 2021 - including proposals and an impact assessment.

The search for new active ingredients for the production of antibiotics is going strong. A promising source is the sea. Many microorganisms that have the potential to produce antibiotics settle here. With the marine phylum Planctomycetes, an international team of researchers has now identified a new source of active substances. Initial analyses suggest that these microorganisms, which have so far received little attention, are actually able to produce antibiotics.

There are many environmental factors like drought and overfertilization that put plants under stress. In such cases, a complex signalling cascade is triggered inside the plant. This stress management apparatus works the same for all land plants - in moss just as in rye. An international research team led by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in which the University of Göttingen participated, wanted to know exactly how stress management works. The scientists therefore focused on a specific gene for the receptor in this signalling cascade.

The bacterium Escherichia coli is one of the favourite organisms of microbiologists and biotechnologists. E. coli is easy to cultivate in the laboratory. It has been well researched and is well suited for the implementation of biotechnological processes. So far, however, the bacterium has used carbohydrates as a source of carbon both in nature and in industrial applications. An international research team led by the Weizman Institute in Israel has now succeeded in converting the diet of E. coli to carbon dioxide from the air.

Astin is a herbal agent to which healing powers are attributed - not least in the fight against cancer. One source of this medicinal substance is Aster tataricus, also known as Tatarinow's aster. This medicinal plant, which is native to the higher altitudes of Asia, is used primarily in traditional Chinese medicine. A research team from the University of Tübingen and the Technical University of Dresden has now succeeded in isolating astins from the plant, cultivating them and producing them in larger quantities using biotechnology.

The predators of crop plants, such as the corn borer, are a nuisance for farmers. Where the larvae are at work, hardly a leaf remains. Usually, only pesticides help to control the pest. In the EU project OLEFINE, a European research association, which includes the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP in Stuttgart, hopes to find a sustainable alternative to solve the problem.

Tree sap contains important ingredients for food or pharmaceutical industry. Besides minerals and nutrients, it is the microorganisms, especially yeasts, that make the sugar-rich sap interesting for biotechnologists. These yeasts produce important enzymes such as lipases, which digest fat, or plant substances such as the carotenoid astaxanthin. Astaxanthin is extracted from the tree yeast Phaffia rhodozyma, for example, and used as an additive in fish feed, which later gives the salmon its distinctive color.

It is a big step on the way away from crude oil and towards a bio-based future: The chemical park Leuna, steeped in tradition, will become the site of an industrial biorefinery. Finnish group UPM, one of the world's leading manufacturers of paper, pulp and wood products, announced the plans on 30 January 2020. The company will invest the impressive sum of 550 million euros in the construction of the plant. The biorefinery will produce wood-based biochemicals.