Biotechnology structure

J. F. Kennedy, G. O. Philips, and P. A. Williams (eds.). Wood and Cellulosics Industrial Utilization, Biotechnology, Structure and Properties, Ellis Horwood, Chichester (1987). 

Institute of Biotechnology, Structural Biology and Biophysics Program, NMR Laboratory, P.O. Box 65, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Tel +358-9-19158940 Fax +358-9-19159541 E-mail Perttu.Permi helsinki.fi... 

West, H. and Banks, W.B. (1987). Preparation of butyl carbamates of wood. In Wood and Cellu-losics. Industrial Utilisation, Biotechnology, Structure and Properties, Kennedy, J.F., PhUUps, G.O. and Williams, P.A. (Eds.). EUis Norwood, Chichester, UK, pp. 135-142. 

A. Sarko, Cellulose— how much do we know about its structure in J. F. Kennedy (Ed.), Wood and Cellulosic Industrial Utilization Biotechnology, Structures and Properties, Elis Horwood, Chiehester, UK, 1987, pp. 55-70. 

M. Yalpani, Progress in Biotechnology 3, Industrial Polysaccharides, Genetic Engineering Structure Property Relations and Applications, Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1987. 

Figure 7.11 Restriction map of Xanthomonas campestris xanthan gene cluster. Adapted from R W Vanderslice at at. Genetic engineering of polysaccharide structure In Xanthomonas campestris. In Biomedical and Biotechnological Advances In Industrial Polysaccharides, 1989, Gordon and Breach N Y.

Despite the remarkable progress made, however, the trend shown in the table reveals a fact that cannot be interpreted favorably, at least to this author. In the third quarter of the 20th century, the structures of five different kinds of new luciferins have been determined, whereas, in the last quarter, only three structures, of which two are nearly identical, have been determined. None has been determined in the last decade of the century and thereafter, thus clearly indicating a declining trend, in contradiction to the steady advances in analytical techniques. The greatest cause for the decline seems to be the shift of research interest from chemistry and biochemistry into genetic biotechnology in the past 20 years. 

A major force behind this evolntion will be the explosion of new products and materials that will enter the market dnring the next two decades. Whether from the biotechnology industry, the electronics industry, or the high-performance materials indnstry, these products will be critically dependent on structure and design at the molecular level for their usefulness. They will require manufacturing processes that can precisely control their chemical composition and stracture. These demands will create new opportunities for chemical engineers, both in product design and in process irmovation. 

A notable property of liposomes, which has not been appreciated enough, is the presence of water inside liposomes. This makes them an excellent delivery system for biotechnologically engineered proteins with tertiary and quanternary structures which are sensitive to irreversible damage induced by dehydration, as often occurs with alternative, particulate carrier systems. 

As a result of the micellar environment, enzymes and proteins acquire novel conformational and/or dynamic properties, which has led to an interesting research perspective from both the biophysical and the biotechnological points of view [173-175], From the comparison of some properties of catalase and horseradish peroxidase solubilized in wa-ter/AOT/n-heptane microemulsions with those in an aqueous solution of AOT it was ascertained that the secondary structure of catalase significantly changes in the presence of an aqueous micellar solution of AOT, whereas in AOT/n-heptane reverse micelles it does not change. On the other hand, AOT has no effect on horseradish peroxidase in aqueous solution, whereas slight changes in the secondary structure of horseradish peroxidase in AOT/n-heptane reverse micelles occur [176],... 

A biomolecular system of glycoproteins derived from bacterial cell envelopes that spontaneously aggregates to form crystalline arrays in the mesoscopic range is reviewed in Chapter 9. The structure and features of these S-layers that can be applied in biotechnology, membrane biomimetics, sensors, and vaccine development are discussed. 

Airlift loop reactor (ALR), basically a specially structured bubble column, has been widely used in chemical industry, biotechnology and environmental protection, due to its high efficiency in mixing, mass transfer, heat transfer etc [1]. In these processes, multiple reactions are commonly involved, in addition to their complicated aspects of mixing, mass transfer, and heat transfer. The interaction of all these obviously affects selectivity of the desired products [2]. It is, therefore, essential to develop efficient computational flow models to reveal more about such a complicated process and to facilitate design and scale up tasks of the reactor. However, in the past decades, most involved studies were usually carried out in air-water system and the assumed reactor constructions were oversimplified which kept itself far away from the real industrial conditions [3] [4]. 

---