Can Fungi Replace Plastics? Maybe, Say Researchers

Fungi, with the exception of shitake and certain other mushrooms, tend to be something we associate with moldy bread or dank-smelling mildew. But they really deserve more respect. Fungi have fantastic capabilities and can be grown, under certain circumstances, in almost any shape and be totally biodegradable. And, if this weren’t enough, they might have the potential to replace plastics one day. The secret is in the mycelia.
Union College Biology Professor Steve Horton likens this mostly underground portion of fungi (the mushrooms that pop up are the reproductive structures) to a tiny biological chain of tubular cells.
“It’s this linked chain of cells that’s able to communicate with the outside world, to sense what’s there in terms of food and light and moisture,” he said. “Mycelia can take in nutrients from available organic materials like wood and use them as food, and the fungus is able to grow as a result.”
“When you think of fungi and their mycelia, their function – ecologically – is really vital in degrading and breaking things down,” Horton added. “Without fungi, and bacteria, we’d be I don’t know how many meters deep in waste, both plant matter and animal tissue.”
Looking something like extremely delicate, white dental floss, mycelia grow in, through and around just about any organic substrate. Whether it’s leaves or mulch, mycelia digest these natural materials and can also bind everything together in a cohesive mat. And these mats can be grown in molds, such as those that might make a packing carton.
Ecovative Design, in Green Island, N.Y., is harnessing this particular mycological power and is being helped by Horton, and another Union researcher, Ronald Bucinell, associate professor of mechanical engineering.
Ecovative uses several species of fungi to manufacture environmentally-friendly products. The process starts with farming byproducts, like cotton gin waste; seed hulls from rice, buckwheat and oats; hemp or other plant materials. These are sterilized, mixed with nutrients and chilled. Then the mycelia spawn are added and are so good at proliferating that every cubic inch of material soon contains millions of tiny fungal fibers.
This compact matrix is then grown in a mold the shape of whatever item Ecovative is making. Once the desired texture, rigidity and other characteristics of the product are achieved, it’s popped from its mold and heated and dried to kill the mycelia and stop its growth.
The all-natural products, the creation of which can take less than 5 days, have no allergy concerns and are completely non-toxic. More impressive is the fact that they’re also impervious to fire (to a point), and just as water resistant as Styrofoam, but they won’t sit around taking up space in a landfill. They are also more UV-stable than foam since they are not petrochemical-based, and won’t emit volatile organic compounds. When exposed to the right microbes, they will break down in 180 days in any landfill or backyard.
Mycelium is comparatively inexpensive too as it can grow on farm waste that can’t be fed to animals or burned for fuel. Better yet, the fungi can be propagated without sunlight or much human oversight in simple trays at room temperature – no immense greenhouses with costly temperature-control systems needed. It also means a smaller carbon footprint and Ecovative is hoping to the point where they can displace all plastics and foams in the market.
source :http://www.newswise.com/articles/can-fungi-replace-plastics-maybe-say-union-college-researchers

Biological Wires Carry Electricity Thanks to Special Amino Acids

In nature, the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens uses  nanowires, called pili, to transport electrons to remote iron particles or other microbes, but the benefits of these wires can also be harnessed by humans for use in fuel cells or bioelectronics. The study in mBio® reveals that a core of aromatic amino acids are required to turn these hair-like appendages into functioning electron-carrying biological wires.

“It’s the aromatic amino acids that make it a wire,” says lead author Derek Lovley of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Lovley and his colleagues removed the pivotal amino acids from the pili and replaced them with smaller, non-aromatic amino acids. Without these key components, Lovley says, the pili are nothing more than protein strings. “We showed it’s not good enough to just make the string – you’ve got to make a wire,” says Lovley.

G. sulfurreducens “breathes” by removing electrons from organic materials and funneling them to iron oxides or to other microorganisms, much the way humans pull electrons out of organic molecules in food and dump them on oxygen. The bacteria use their pili to reach out to iron oxides or other microbes, transferring the “waste” electrons along the structure to the destination. Geobacter‘s pili are only 3-5 nanometers wide, but they can be 20 micrometers long, many times longer than the cell itself.
Trafficking in electrons is how all living things breathe, but it is normally carried out by discrete proteins or other molecules that act like containers for shuttling electrons from one place to another. Lovley says earlier results showed the pili in G. sulfurreducens possess metallic-like conductivity, the ability to carry electrons along a continuous structure, a controversial finding in biology.

To investigate how pili accomplish this singular feat, Lovley says they looked to non-biological organic materials that can conduct electricity. “In those synthetic materials, it’s aromatic compounds that are responsible for the conductivity. We hypothesized that maybe it’s similar in the Geobacter pili. In this case, it would be aromatic amino acids.” Aromatic compounds have a highly stable ring-shaped structure made of carbon atoms.

Turning to the pili, Lovley says his group looked for aromatic amino acids in the parts of the pili proteins that would most likely contribute to the conductivity. Using genetic techniques, they developed a strain of Geobacter that makes pili that lack aromatic amino acids in these key regions, then they tested whether these pili could still conduct electricity. They could not. Removing the aromatic amino acids was a bit like taking the copper out of a plastic-covered electrical wire: no copper means no current, and all you’re left with is a string.

Removing aromatic amino acids from the pili prevents the bacteria from reducing iron, too, says Lovley, an important point because it adds further proof that Geobacter uses its pili as nanowires for carrying electrons to support respiration.

Metal reducers like Geobacter show a lot of promise for use in fuel cells, says Lovley, and by feeding electrons to the microbes that produce the methane, they’re an important component of anaerobic digesters that produce methane gas from waste products. Understanding how they shuttle their electrons around and how to optimize the way the pili function could lead to better technologies.

Moving forward, Lovley says his own lab plans to explore the possibilities of biological nanowires, exploring how to make them more or less conductive.

source:http://www.asm.org/index.php/news-room-2/92-news-room/press-releases/91563-biological-wires-carry-electricity-thanks-to-special-amino-acids

What Holds Chromosomes Together – Max Planck Researchers Elucidate the Structure of DNA-Packaging Proteins

SMC-Kleisin-Complex. (Credit: Image courtesy of Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry)

In each cell about two meters of DNA must fit into a cell nucleus that has a diameter of only a few thousandths of a millimeter. There the DNA is organized in individual chromosomes in the form of very long filaments. If they are not equally and accurately distributed to the daughter cells during cell division, this can result in cancer or genetic defects such as trisomy 21. Therefore, to ensure safe transport of DNA during cell division the long and coiled DNA fibers must be tightly packed.

Scientists have only a sketchy understanding of this step. The SMC-kleisin protein complexes play a key role in this process. They consist of two arms (SMC) and a bridge (kleisin). The arms wrap around the DNA like a ring and thus can connect duplicated chromosomes or two distant parts of the same chromosome with each other.

Learning from bacteria
Simple organisms like bacteria also use this method of DNA packaging. The scientists, in collaboration with colleagues from South Korea, have now elucidated the structure of a precursor of human SMC-kleisin complexes of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The researchers showed that the bacterial SMC-kleisin complex has two arms made of identical SMC proteins that form a ring. The arms differ in their function only through the different ends of the kleisin protein with which they are connected.

In humans the DNA packaging machinery is similarly organized. “We suspect that this asymmetric structure plays an important role in the opening and closing of the ring around the DNA,” explains Frank Bürmann, PhD student in the research group ‘Chromosome Organization and Dynamics’ of Stephan Gruber. In addition, the scientists discovered how the ends of the kleisin can distinguish between correct and wrong binding sites on one pair of arms.

The cohesion of chromosomes is of critical importance for reproduction as well. In human eggs this cohesion must be maintained for decades to ensure error-free meiosis of the egg cell. Failure of cohesion is a likely cause for decreased fertility due to age or the occurrence of genetic defects such as trisomy 21. “The elucidation of the structure of SMC-kleisin protein complexes is an important milestone in understanding the intricate organization of chromosomes,” says group leader Stephan Gruber
source : http://www.biochem.mpg.de/en/news/pressroom/083_Gruber_Kleisin.html 

New Look at Cell Membrane Reveals Surprising Organization

Researchers found that a class of molecules called sphingolipds congregate in large patches in the cell membrane. Red and yellow colors indicate local elevations in the sphingolipid abundance.

Using a completely new approach to imaging cell membranes, a study by researchers from the University of Illinois, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Institutes of Health revealed some surprising relationships among molecules within cell membranes.
Led by Mary Kraft, a U. of I. professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, the team published its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Cells are enveloped in semi-permeable membranes that act as a barrier between the inside and outside of the cell. The membrane is mainly composed of a class of molecules called lipids, studded with proteins that help regulate how the cell responds to its environment.
“Lipids have multiple functions serving as both membrane structure and signaling molecules, so they regulate other functions inside the cell,” Kraft said. “Therefore, understanding how they’re organized is important. You need to know where they are to figure out how they’re doing these regulatory functions.”
One widely held belief among cell biologists is that lipids in the membrane assemble into patches, called domains, that differ in composition. However, research into how lipids are organized in the membrane, and how that organization affects cell function, has been hampered by the lack of direct observation. Although the cell membrane is heavily studied, the imaging techniques used infer the locations of certain molecules based on assumed associations with other molecules.
In the new study, Kraft’s team used an advanced, molecule-specific imaging method that allowed the researchers to look at the membrane itself and map a particular type of lipid on mouse cell membranes. The researchers fed lipids labeled with rare stable isotopes to the cells and then imaged the distribution of the isotopes with high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry.
Called sphingolipids (SFING-go-lih-pids), these molecules are thought to associate with cholesterol to form small domains about 200 nanometers across. The direct imaging method revealed that sphingolipids do indeed form domains, but not in the way the researchers expected.
The domains were much bigger than suggested by prior experiments. The 200-nanometer domains clustered together to form much larger, micrometer-sized patches of sphingolipids in the membrane.
“We were amazed when we saw the first images of the patches of sphingolipids across the cell surface,” said Peter Weber, who directed the team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “We weren’t sure if our imaging mass spectrometry method would be sensitive enough to detect the labeled lipids, let alone what we would see.”
Furthermore, when the researchers looked at cells that were low on cholesterol — thought to play a key role in lipid aggregation — they were surprised to find that the lipids still formed domains. On the other hand, disruption to the cell’s structural scaffold seemed to dissolve the lipid clusters.
“We found that the presence of domains was somewhat affected by cholesterol but was more affected by the cytoskeleton — the protein network underneath the membrane,” Kraft said. “The central issue is that the data are suggesting that the mechanism that’s responsible for these domains is much more complicated than initially expected.”
In addition, the new study found that sphingolipids domains were incompletely associated with a marker protein that researchers have long assumed dwelled where sphingolipids congregated. This means that data collected with imaging techniques that target this protein are not as accurate in representing sphingolipid distribution as previously thought.
“Our data are showing that if you want to know where sphingolipids are, look at the lipid, don’t infer where it is based on other molecules, and now there’s a way to directly image them,” said Kraft, who also is affiliated with the department of chemistry at the U. of I.
Next, the researchers plan to use the direct-imaging method in conjunction with other more conventional methods, such as fluorescence, to further determine the organization of different kinds of molecules in the membrane, their interactions and how they affect the cell’s function. They plan to begin by targeting cholesterol.
“Cholesterol abundance is important,” Kraft said. “You change that, you tremendously change cell function. How is it organized? Is it also in domains? That’s related to the question, what’s the mechanism responsible for these structures and what are they doing?”
source: http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0128cell_membrane_MaryKraft.html

After B.Tech

 

 The study of Biotechnology is a blend of subjects related Biology and subjects like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering. A simple definition of Biotechnology can be using the properties of living organisms to produce desired products. It is a research-oriented field. So, most of the work is carried out at research institutes and laboratories.

Biotechnology finds application to a number of fields. Some of them are:

· Medical and Health Care

· Agriculture and Animal Husbandry

· Industrial Research and Development

· Food Processing

· Bio-Processing

· Chemical Engineering

· Drug Designing and Manufacture

· Environment Conservation

After completing B.Tech in Biotechnology, you can either take up a job or study further.

Job opportunities

There are many good job opportunities available after completing B.Tech Biotechnology. After multimedia industry, Biotechnology is ranked second as the growing sector with a tremendous employment potential.

After completing your B.Tech, you can seek employment in leading Indian or multi-national companies. You can apply for jobs in a range of industries dealing with pharmaceutical, chemical, bioprocessing and agriculture products. You are also eligible for opportunities in government research and development organisations.

Some companies that hire biotechnologists are Hindustan Lever, Thapar Group, Indo American Hybrid Seeds, Bincon India Limited, Bivcol, IDPL, Indian Vaccines Corporation, Hindustan Antibiotics, Sun Pharma, Cadila etc.

Some job roles you can assume are Research Scientist, Research Associate, Marketing personnel, Business Development Officer, Sales Representative, Biotech Engineer, and Lab Technician.

On the whole, it is a good career option for bright young people like you.

Higher education

A post-graduate degree will improve your job prospects further.

It will help you gain in-depth knowledge of the subject and provide the confidence required to face the job market. After completing B.Tech in Biotechnology, you can pursue M.Tech (Biotechnology), M.Tech (Bio-Informatics) or MBA (Biotechnology).

M.Tech (Biotechnology) involves study of Biotechnology in great detail.

M.Tech (Bio-Informatics) is the study of application of computer technology to the management of biological information.

Bioinformatics plays a vital role especially in drug discovery and development; computers are used to gather, store, analyse and integrate biological and genetic information

MBA (Biotechnology) provides broad introduction to Biotechnology and focuses on imparting management skills, required in chemical, pharmaceutical or allied industries.

Some of the universities offering these courses are listed below:

SRM University, Chennai offers M.Tech (Bioinformatics) and M.Tech (Biotechnology), both are two-year courses. The eligibility criterion is B.E/ B.Tech in Biotechnology/ Food and Process Engineering. Admission is based on the performance in entrance test conducted by the university.

For further details, please log on to http://www.srmuniv.ac.in

Vellore Institute of Technology University offers M.Tech (Biotechnology), M.Tech (Bio-Informatics). The eligibility criteria for these courses are B.E./B.Tech in Chemical/ Leather Technology/ Biotechnology/ Industrial Biotechnology/ Bio-chemical Engineering/ Bio-Medical Engineering/ Bio-Informatics. Admission for the Post Graduate Programmes is based on the performance in VIT Master’s Entrance Examination (VITMEE) conducted by VIT. For further details, please log on to http://www.vit.ac.in/

Amity Institute of Biotechnology offers MBA Biotechnology Management. The eligibility criterion is graduation in Biological Sciences/ Computer Sciences or equivalent qualification with minimum 55 per cent marks.

The admission is based on the performance in the entrance test (Amity Common Admission Test or CAT or MAT or GMAT) followed by group discussion and personal interview. For further details, please log on to http://www.amity.edu/

The Department of Management Science of the University of Pune also offers MBA Biotechnology Management.

Admission for this course is based on the scores attained in AIMS Test conducted by Association of Indian Management Schools.

 

 

Courses available in post graduate level are:

 

• M.Sc Biotechnology

• M.Sc( Agriculture) Biotechnology

• M.Vsc( Animal) Biotechnology

• M.Tech. Biotechnology, M.Sc./M.Vsc Veterinary Technology

• M.Sc( Marine) Biotechnology

• Medical Biotechnology

• M.Tech in Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology

• Pharmacology

 

Depending upon the aptitude and necessity, more advanced courses such Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Research in Biotechnology can also be pursued.

Commitment as a student and job commitment

 Biotechnology is essentially related to scientific research. Hence a good academic background in science holds a high degree of importance. With numerous students opting for this stream the level of competition has definitely risen up making it essential to put in hard work, perseverance, imagination, creativity and originality along with quality studying and working hours.

You should have thorough knowledge of all subjects and consistent every-day studying would help you achieve this. More than anything else, your basic knowledge of computer, effective oral and written communication and math problem solving ability would help you stand in good stead for future success in this stream.

Range of specializations

 Biotechnology offers an extensive range of disciplines that you can take up for specialization according to your interest and ability. Given below is a comprehensive look at the various options served to you by this stream:

• Molecular Biology

• Microbiology

• Biochemistry

• Biophysics

• Botany

• Zoology

• Pharmacology

• Physiology

• Horticulture

• Tissue Culture

• Agricultural Engineering

• Animal Sciences

• Diary Technology

• Fisheries

• Medical, Life Sciences

• Genetics

Introduction

Scope of biotechnology-BIOSCOPE

 

The applications of this branch of science are vast and simply mind-boggling. On one hand, it caters to the industrial sector such as food and beverages industry, textiles industry, biological products, medicines and pharmaceuticals while on the other hand this branch of science caters to the requirements of agriculture, animal husbandry, nutrition and environmental conservation. The list is a long and an envious one.

What’s more, the branch of science we are talking about is in itself not confined or bound as a single discipline. Rather it is an interdisciplinary branch of science that is rapidly gaining significance and opportunities for youngsters who want to explore the new frontiers of science are immense. The name of the discipline is Biotechnology.

Although, the name may suggest that this branch of science is steeped in biology but this is not the case. Apart from biology, this branch of science also assimilates diverse subjects like physics, chemistry and mathematics. Furthermore, engineering applications are also an integral constituent of biotechnology.

The concepts derived from this dissimilar mix of sciences are applied to biological matter, generally living cells, for developing new and improved biological and industrial products. Most of the work done by professionals engaged in biotechnology is concerned with research and development work in various laboratories.

Students are showing tremendous interest in biotechnology. The primary reason behind this interest emerges from the fact that the technical and procedural application of biotechnology touches a vast array of disciplines. This in turn opens a lot many job portals for students who are seeking a stable career in their life. Biotechnology, along with its many sub-fields, finds use in so many applications that many new fields have and are being derived from within it.

Step-by-Step

In opting for a specialised profession such as biotechnology, you must plan your career right from your school days. In this context, the combination of subjects of study at the 10+2 level must primarily include Biology, Chemistry, Physics and even Mathematics. Once you have finished schooling you can opt for a suitable undergraduate program (BSc, BE, BTech) in Biotechnology from various academic institutions spread across the country. The duration of a BSc program in biotechnology is three years whereas it is four years for BE and BTech courses.

The eligibility criterion for getting into an undergraduate program varies from one institution to another. In some colleges the eligibility criteria includes a 10+2 with 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. In some other institutions, the 10+2 pass percentage required is 55%. Whereas some colleges consider physics, chemistry and biology combination of subjects as a basic entry level qualification and others take into account the physics, chemistry and mathematics combination. Once this eligibility criterion is met, you can get admission in to BSc programs.

However, for many undergraduate courses in biotechnology you need to sit for common engineering entrance exams such as:
•  The Joint Entrance Examination for IITs (IITJEE): for admission to various IITs
•  All-India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE): for admission to various National Institutes of Technology or regional engineering colleges

Other than these common entrance examinations, engineering institutions offering undergraduate programs conduct their own entrance examinations. The result of these entrances will allow you get admission to an undergraduate course in biotechnology in reputed engineering colleges.

Once you have earned a graduate degree in this field you can go for the master’s level (MSc, ME, MTech). For a Masters in Biotechnology, you should either have a graduate degree in biotechnology or in any subject that is related to biological sciences. A graduate degree in subjects such as biochemistry, biology, botany, chemistry, microbiology, pharmacy, veterinary sciences or zoology is acceptable for an entry into a post-graduate program in biotechnology.

Apart from undergraduate programs, many colleges and universities offer five and five-and-a-half year integrate programs (BTech/MTech) for students. It should be kept in mind that a post-graduate qualification in biotechnology is a must to enter the profitable and ever-expanding field of biotechnical applications.

As it is a blend of numerous disciplines, you have to do a specialisation in a number of fields. Some of the common areas of research include fields like: Agriculture and Agricultural Development, Animal Husbandry, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Botany, Dairy Technology, Environmental Protection, Fishery Development, Genetics, Horticulture, Medicine, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Nutrition, Pharmacology, Tissue Culture and Zoology.

After post-graduation, you can apply for a doctoral program and from then on if need be, immerse yourself in post-doctoral research.  Here, it is important to point out that a majority of students prefer to do their PhD and post-doctoral research from foreign universities.

Start Early

To follow biotechnology as a preferred profession, you must have a sound grounding in science from the early school days. You must have keen interest in various branches of science not just for study sake or for obtaining good grades. Rather, you must have a keen perception to understand scientific applications and even keep pace with the latest news from the scientific world.

Once you are through with 10+2, you must either opt for an undergraduate course in biotechnology or any subject that is directly or indirectly related to biological sciences. Remember a masters degree is a must to make a successful career in the domain of biotechnology.

Is it the Right Career for Me?

Important traits for getting into this domain are a high degree of intelligence and a general aptitude for science and scientific applications.

Since biotechnology is redefining the boundaries of science, to become a part of such an innovative field you must posses an inherent attitude of originality and imagination. Other skills that will sail you through a successful and a fulfilling career in this path-breaking area are perseverance, immense patience, analytical proficiency, ability to work for long hours, team spirit and communication skills.

What would it Cost Me?

A typical course in biotechnology can annually cost you anywhere between Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,00,000 or above depending on the college you study.

Usually, government and regional colleges that select students through tough entrance exams charge less as compared to programs offered by private owned colleges.

Funding/Scholarship

Various academic institutions and universities offer scholarships to deserving students who perform extraordinarily in the entrance test and post-entrance  interviews. However, easy loans are available from banks for students to pursue their academics. The money borrowed may be returned after a student gets a job.

For instance, State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, State Bank of Mysore and Bank of Baroda are some popular banks that offer attractive loans to students. These loans include library fees, book purchases, travel expenses and often allow students to purchase computers, accessories and scientific instruments required to complete their work.

Job Prospects

Biotechnology assimilates in itself a number of disciplines. Further, there is a great demand for biotechnical experts in countless industries and sectors. The following are applications where biotechnological techniques are used extensively:
• Agriculture
• Animal Husbandry
• Environment Conservation
• Genetic Engineering
• Health Care
• Medicine
• Industrial Research and Development

Career opportunities for students in biotechnology abound. Those specialising in different sub-disciplines of this field can easily find jobs in both private and government sector undertakings. If you have acquired a post-graduate degree in biotechnology then you can easily find a suitable position in a number of industries.

Major recruiters include industries engaged in processing and developing agricultural and biological products, bio-processing industries, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. There are ample opportunities in industries producing healthcare products, textile industry, cosmetics and organisations engaged in different types of industrial research and development.

These days a growing number of qualified biotechnical professionals are engaged by different industries for environment protection activities and for the safe disposal of hazardous materials.

Pay Packet

Like any other job profile, the pay packet largely depends on your academic qualification, your area of specialisation and the institution from where you have earned your degree. Fresh graduates in this field can generally bag a monthly salary in the range of Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000.

It has been observed that candidates with a Masters degree in Biotechnology get a better starting salary as compared with students who just have a graduate degree in this field. With an increase in the level of experience, there is abundant scope for getting fatter pay cheques in this exciting and inspiring profession.

Demand and Supply

A number of factors determine the demand of professionals from this interdisciplinary field. India primarily being an agrarian economy, requires professionals who can improve agrarian practices and optimise agricultural output. The growing population of the country requires improved life sciences related products and medicines. This in turn fuels the demand for an increased research and development of vaccines, medicines, tissue culture methods and so on.

There is a steady demand for these professionals in numerous organisations engaged in different types of industrial research and development. On the supply side, technical colleges are trying their best to meet the growing demand for qualified professionals.

One major problem faced on the demand side is that a vast majority of students who are engaged in cutting edge research often tend to leave India to complete their research projects. Moreover, once these students complete their research work they tend to stay and work abroad.

Market Watch

Biotechnology has been making steady progress in last decade and a half. More than half of the earnings from this industry currently come from exports and the trend is expected to remain the same in the coming years.

Although, students doing research work in this field have a tendency to work in foreign countries, yet there is huge potential for students who wish to stay and work in India. According to a recent survey, India is stated to become an international focal point for development of biotechnology.

The areas where biotechnology has grown in India includes Agricultural Biotechnology, Animal Husbandry, Bioinformatics, Bio fertilizers and Dairy development. Growth has also been seen in the area of Bio-resource Development, Plant Biology, Marine Biotechnology, Microbiology, Genetic research.

The changes in the patent regime along with the initiatives taken by the government are expected to bear fruit. All this will lead to a rapid growth and expansion of biotechnological industries in the country.

International Focus

At the international level, India has started making its presence felt in the domain of biotechnology. However, there is tremendous scope for graduate and post-graduate students from this field especially in the United States and in European countries.

A large number of post-graduate students and research scholars tend to move out of India to complete their higher studies. Furthermore, these students prefer to seek employment in the country where they complete their studies or research projects.

Positives/Negatives

+ves:
• This is an upcoming and constantly growing science and has worldwide scope especially in terms of research.

• The scope for research is very wide and efficient work gets fast acclamation within multinationals.

• If you succeed in clearing the tests and interviews, it is assumed you are the right fit for the profession.

-ves:

• The number of seats for biotechnology courses is very limited across colleges in comparison with subjects such as physics, chemistry or biology.

• The testing and interviewing processes usually are difficult and one has to be technically expert.

• The number of companies employing biotechnology students is less when compared with number of companies hiring IT professionals or finance professionals.

• You will have to put in a lot of hard work which can be frustrating at times.

• This is not a profession for people who want to make fast buck but for people who are looking for a long and a well charted career.

Different roles, different names

Biotechnology, as the name suggests is the technology of biology and the scope of both put together. On the one hand, it has concepts from biology explored in depth. On the other hand, this subject explores the impact and the influence of technology on the subject matter. The subject is quite similar to Bioinformatics, which explores biological information in depth using analytical and scientific tools.

Top Companies

Some companies to work with:
1. Biocon
2. Serum Institute of India
3. Panacea Biotech
4. Mahyco Monsanto Biotech
5. Rasi Seeds
6. Novo Nordisk
7. Aventis
8. Indian Immunologicals
9. Venkateshwara Hatcheries
10. Ranbaxy
11. Dr. Reddy’s Labs
12. Piramal Healthcare.
Overall, these are some of the major names in Indian biotechnological industry which extensively use biotechnological processes and techniques to develop and innovate products and processes.

Tips for Getting Hired

1. Apply to at least five to ten top companies to have options for selecting the best job offer out of the ones received.

2. Carry proof of your technical expertise and assure as much as possible that you will be an asset to the company that hires you.

3. Demand a reasonable salary as in the beginning, your focus must be to learn how the industry works, overall.

4. Explore all the possible learning and development opportunities that the companies you have applied to, will provide you. This will help you in choosing the best out of all the offers received.

The cell that isn’t:New technique captures division of membrane-less cells

This may look like yet another video of a dividing cell, but there’s a catch. You are looking at chromosomes (red) being pulled apart by the mitotic spindle (green), but it’s not a cell, because there’s no cell membrane. Like a child sucking an egg out of its shell, Ivo Telley from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, removed these cellular ‘innards’ from a fruit fly embryo, at a stage when it is essentially a sac full of membrane-less ‘cells’ that divide and divide without building physical barriers to separate themselves from each other.
“It’s the first time we can study ongoing cell division without the cell membrane, and that means we can physically manipulate things,” says Telley, “so we can uncover the physical forces involved, and see what are the constraints.”
The new technique is described in detail today in Nature Protocols, and has already led Telley and colleagues to a surprising discovery. They found that, although successive divisions fill the embryo with more and more material, leaving less and less space for each spindle, and spindles become smaller as the embryo develops, simply squeezing the ‘cell’ into tighter quarters doesn’t make it produce a smaller spindle.
Combined with the genetic manipulation approaches commonly used in fruit fly studies, the scientists believe their new technique will help to unravel this and other mysteries of how a cell becomes two.

In a nutshell:

• New technique allows scientists to study cell division without cell membrane
• Advantages: can physically constrain and manipulate; can access nuclei normally buried deep in opaque embryo; combinable with wide-ranging fruit fly genetics techniques
• Revealed that, surprisingly, confined space not enough to restrict spindle size
   

 source:http://www.embl.de/aboutus/communication_outreach/media_relations/2013/130117_Heidelberg/index.html

Protein Folding via Charge Zippers

Membrane proteins are the “molecular machines” in biological cell envelopes. They control diverse processes, such as the transport of molecules across the lipid membrane, signal transduction, and photosynthesis. Their shape, i.e. folding of the molecules, plays a decisive role in the formation of, e.g., pores in the cell membrane. In the Cell magazine, researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Cagliari are now reporting a novel charge zipper principle used by proteins to form functional units (DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.12.017)

Like the teeth of a zipper, the charged amino acids (red, blue) form connections between protein segments. In this way, they can form pores in the cell membrane. (Figure: KIT)

“It is fascinating to see the elegant basic principles that are used by nature to construct molecular assemblies,” explains Anne Ulrich, Director of the KIT Institute for Biological Interfaces. “A charge zipper between the charged side chains is an entirely unexpected mechanism used by membrane proteins to neutralize their charges such that they can be immersed into hydrophobic cell membranes.”
In the study published now, Ulrich and her team investigate the so-called Twin-arginine translocase (Tat) that is used in the cell membrane of bacteria as an export machinery for folded proteins. Several TatA subunits assemble as a pore that can adapt its diameter to the size of the cargo to be transported. “But how can such a pore be built up from TatA proteins? How can they reversibly form a huge hole in the membrane for a variety of molecules to pass through, but without causing leakage of the cell?”, Ulrich formulates the questions studied.
To answer these questions, the researchers studied the molecular structure of TatA protein from the bacterium B. subtilis, which consists of a chain of 70 amino acids. The analysis showed that it folds into a rather rigid, rod-shaped helix that is followed by a flexible, extended stretch. Many amino acids in the helix and the adjacent stretch carry positive or negative charges. Surprisingly, the sequence of charges on the helix is complementary to those in the adjacent stretch of the protein. When the protein is folded up at the connection point like a pocket knife, positive and negative charges will always meet and attract each other. Hence, the protein links up both of its segments, similar to the interlocking teeth of a zipper.
“The clou is that this binding principle also works with the neighboring proteins,” Ulrich says. Instead of folding up alone, every TatA protein also forms charge zippers with both of its neighbors. Computer simulations showed that this leads to stable and, at the same time, flexible connections between the adjacent molecules. In this way, any number of proteins can be linked together to form an uncharged ring, which thus lines the TatA pore in the hydrophobic membrane. This novel charge zipper principle does not only seem to play a role in protein transport, but also in the attack of certain antimicrobial peptides on bacteria, or in their formation of biofilms as a response to stress.

source :http://www.kit.edu/visit/pi_2013_12526.php

IMP Scientists shed light on the “dark matter” of DNA

In each cell, thousands of regulatory regions control which genes are active at any time. Scientists at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna have developed a method that reliably detects these regions and measures their activity. The new technology is published online by Science this week.

Fluorescence image of ovarian tissue of the fruit fly.  DNA is stained in blue, the activity of enhancers is represented by the green colour. Copyright: IMP

Genome sequences store the information about an organism’s development in the DNA’s four-letter alphabet. Genes carry the instruction for proteins, which are the building blocks of our bodies. However, genes make up only a minority of the entire genome sequence – roughly two percent in humans. The remainder was once dismissed as “junk”, mostly because its function remained elusive. “Dark matter” might be more appropriate, but gradually light is being shed on this part of the genome, too.

Far from being useless, the non-coding part of DNA contains so-called regulatory regions or enhancers that determine when and where each gene is expressed. This regulation ensures that each gene is only active in appropriate cell-types and tissues, e.g. haemoglobin in red blood cell precursors, digestive enzymes in the stomach, or ion channels in neurons. If gene regulation fails, cells express the wrong genes and acquire inappropriate functions such as the ability to divide and proliferate, leading to diseases such as cancer.

Despite the importance of gene regulatory regions, scientists have been limited in their ability to study them on a genome-wide scale. Their identification relied on indirect means, which were error prone and required tedious experiments for validating and quantifying enhancer activities..

Alexander Stark and his team at the IMP in Vienna now closed this gap with the development of a new technology called STARR-seq (self-transcribing active regulatory region sequencing), published online by Science this week. STARR-seq allows the direct identification of DNA sequences that function as enhancers and simultaneously measures their activity quantitatively in entire genomes. 

Applying their technology to Drosophila cells, the IMP-scientists surprisingly find that the strongest enhancers reside in both regulatory genes that determine the respective cell-types as well as in broadly active “housekeeping” genes that are required for basic cell survival in most or all cells. In addition, they find several enhancers for each active gene, which might provide redundancy to ensure robustness of gene regulation. 

The new method combines advanced sequencing technology and highly specialized know-how in bio-computing. It is a powerful tool which, according to Alexander Stark, will prove immensely valuable in the future. “STARR-seq is like a magic microscope that lets us zoom in on the regulatory regions of DNA. It will be crucial to study gene regulation and how it is encoded in the genome – both during normal development and when it goes wrong in disease.”

source: http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=127648&CultureCode=en

Molecular twist helps regulate the cellular message to make histone proteins

 Histone proteins are the proteins that package DNA into chromosomes.  Every time the cell replicates its DNA it must make large amounts of newly made histones to organize DNA within the nucleus.

An imbalance in the production of DNA and histones is usually lethal for the cell, which is why the levels of the messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding the histone proteins must be tightly controlled to ensure the proper amounts of histones (not too many and not too few) are made.

In a collaborative effort published online in the January 18, 2013 issue of the journal Science, researchers at the University of North Carolina and Columbia University show for the first time how two key proteins in messenger RNA communicate via a molecular twist to help maintain the balance of histones to DNA.

“This is one of the safeguards that our cells have evolved and it is part of the normal progression through cell division – all growing cells have to use this all of the time,” said study co-author William F. Marzluff, PhD, Kenan Distinguished Professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UNC’s School of Medicine.

The structure of Histone mRNA stem-loop (center) with exonuclease (left) and SLBP (right). Arrow (top center) points to the twist.  Credit: Marzluff lab, UNC School of Medicine

Every time a cell divides, Marzluff adds, it has to replicate both DNA and histone proteins and then package them together into chromosomes. “That way, each of the two cells resulting from division has one complete set of genes.”

In humans, the 23 chromosomes that house roughly 35,000 genes are made up of both DNA and histone proteins. The DNA for a histone protein is first transcribed into RNA, which then acts as a guide for building a histone protein. Because the RNA relays a message – in this case a blueprint for a histone protein, it is referred to as messenger RNA, or mRNA.

Histone mRNAs differ from all other mRNAs and end in a stem-loop [or hairpin] sequence that is required for proper regulation of histone mRNAs.  In this study, the Columbia team of Liang Tong, PhD, Professor of biological sciences and the corresponding author on this project, and graduate student Dazhi Tan used crystallography to reveal the structure of two important proteins near the end of the histone mRNA stem-loop. This molecular complex is required for regulating the levels of the histone mRNA.

One of these proteins, stem-loop binding protein (SLBP) is required for translation of histone mRNA into protein, and the other is an exonuclease, which is required to destroy the mRNA. Both were initially identified at UNC by Marzluff and colleague Zbigniew Dominski, PhD, Professor of biochemistry and biophysics, also a study co-author.

“We knew there was some interaction between SLBP and the exonuclease, so we asked Liang to explain how they bind and communicate,” Dominski said. “And the surprising thing was that the proteins do it not by binding to each other but by changing the RNA structure at the site.”

“From the science point of view, that was the most dramatic thing,” Marzluff said. “The way these proteins help each other is either one can twist the RNA so the other can recognize it easier, and they don’t have to touch each other to do that.”

This protein complex is a critical regulator of histone synthesis, and is an important component of cell growth, he adds.  “Interfering with it could provide a new method for interfering with cancer cell growth.”

source: http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2013/january/moleculartwist