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Rawoof, A.; Lin, Y. T.; Rajendran, S.; Antoine, G.; Jayasundara, S.; Cai, Y.; Singh, D.; Whitehead, P.; Dornberger, H.; Mall et al.
Commercial penicillin production has relied on microbial fermentation for more than 80 years. Here, we engineered the plant, Nicotiana benthamiana, to produce penicillin G in its leaves by transient expression of up to seven fungal biosynthetic genes. Remarkably, all recombinant proteins localize to the analogous subcellular compartments without engineering signal peptide sequences or post-translational modification sites. Although non-ribosomal peptide synthetases occur widely in fungi and bacteria to produce a plethora of specialized metabolites, their evolutionary distribution does not extend to plants. Our results now open a new metabolic frontier for natural product synthesis, and offer possibilities to address global health concerns through an alternative biotechnology platform for fungal-derived pharmaceutical production.
Plants go full pharma-factory mode as scientists cram seven fungal genes into Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, turning tobacco into a living penicillin G synthesizer—complete with perfect subcellular compartmentalization, no signal peptides needed, like Mother Nature suddenly moonlighting as a biotech wizard.
Highlighted by synthetic biology accounts like @bioRxiv_synbio for its metabolic engineering feat; drew interest from plant biotech and natural products researchers excited about alternative production platforms for antibiotics
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CD4⁺ T cells confer transplantable rejuvenation via Rivers of telomeres
Lanna, A.; Valvo, S.; Dustin, M.; Rinaldi, F.
Using a GPT-5-driven autonomous lab to optimize the cost and titer of cell-free protein synthesis
Smith, A. A.; Wong, E. L.; Donovan, R. C.; Chapman, B. A.; Harry, R.; Tirandazi, P.; Kanigowska, P.; Gendreau, E. A.; Dahl, R. H.; Jastrzebski, M.; Cortez, J. E.; Bremner, C. J.; Hemuda, J. C. M.; Dooner, J.; Graves, I.; Karandikar, R.; Lionetti, C.; Christopher, K.; Consiglio, A. L.; Tran, A.; McCusker, W.; Nguyen, D. X.; Nunes da Silva, I. B.; Bautista-Ayala, A. R.; McNerney, M. P.; Atkins, S.; McDuffie, M.; Serber, W.; Barber, B. P.; Thanongsinh, T.; Nesson, A.; Lama, B.; Nichols, B.; LaFrance, C.; Nyima, T.; Byrn, A.; Thornhill, R.; Cai, B.; Ayala-Valdez, L.; Wong, A.; Che, A. J.; Thavaraj
A Single-Cell and Spatial 3D Multi-omic Atlas of Developing Human Basal Ganglia and Inhibitory Neurons
Heffel, M. G.; Xu, H.; Pastor-Alonso, O.; Li, X.; Baig, M. S.; Irfan Ghoor, R.; Li, R.; Kern, C.; Kum, J.; Zhang, Y.; Paino, J.; Tsai, M. J.; Tai, C.-Y.; Tucker, G.; Zhao, Z.; Hou, A.; von Behren, Z.; Bhade, M.; Li, S.; Sandoval, K.; Scholes, J.; Codrea, F.; Calimlim, J.; Liao, E. K.; Leung, G.; Kim, J.; Eskin, E.; Flint, J.; Cotter, J. A.; Pasaniuc, B.; Bintu, B.; Zhu, Q.; Mukamel, E. A.; Ernst, J.; Paredes, M. F.; Luo, C.
Prediction of transformative breakthroughs in biomedical research
Davis, M. T.; Busse, B. L.; Arabi, S.; Meyer, P.; Hoppe, T. A.; Meseroll, R. A.; Hutchins, B. I.; Willis, K. A.; Santangelo, G. M.