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Showing 1–23 of 23 results
Advanced filters: Author: Hal Alper Clear advanced filters

  • De novo fermentation and synthetic pathway construction for halogen-containing molecules remain relatively underexplored. Here, the authors report a mix-and-match co-culture platform to de novo generate a large array of halogenated tryptophan derivatives in E. coli from glucose.

    • Kevin B. Reed
    • Sierra M. Brooks
    • Hal S. Alper
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 15, P: 1-13

  • Engineered biology has long been touted as a sustainable avenue for producing the world’s energy, chemicals and food. However, substantial challenges in scalability, economic competitiveness and resource use have hindered its industrial translatability. This Comment discusses emerging strategies to increase the competitiveness of this technology by rethinking the microbial host, feedstock, product landscapes and applications.

    • Sung Gyung Lee
    • Hal S. Alper
    Comments & Opinion
    Nature Chemical Engineering
    Volume: 2, P: 459-462

  • Endogenous fungal gene promoters can be hundreds of base pairs long, limiting their use in synthetic biology and biotechnology. Here Redden and Alper screen a library of synthetic promoter elements to generate compact DNA sequences of ∼100 base pairs able to drive high levels of gene expression.

    • Heidi Redden
    • Hal S. Alper
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 6, P: 1-9

  • Plant-derived phenylpropanoids have diverse industrial applications ranging from flavours and fragrances to polymers and pharmaceuticals. Here the authors present a tripartite microbial coculture with mix-and-match flexibility and had improved stability within an engineered living material platform for de novo production of several plant-derived phenylpropanoids.

    • Sierra M. Brooks
    • Celeste Marsan
    • Hal S. Alper
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 14, P: 1-11

  • Model-based part design is a key step in synthetic biology. Here, the authors report a method for tuning nucleosome architecture in order to strengthen native promoters and facilitate synthetic promoter design in yeast.

    • Kathleen A. Curran
    • Nathan C. Crook
    • Hal S. Alper
    Research
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 5, P: 1-8

  • Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, such as the Alzheimer’s medication galantamine, are currently extracted from low-yielding daffodils. Here, authors pair biosensor-assisted screening with machine learning-guided protein design to rapidly engineer an improved Amaryllidaceae enzyme in a microbial host.

    • Simon d’Oelsnitz
    • Daniel J. Diaz
    • Andrew D. Ellington
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 15, P: 1-14

  • A combined screening and selection approach enables the evolution of the generalist transcription factor RamR into specific and sensitive biosensors for various alkaloids and in turn a streamlined pathway for tetrahydropapaverine biosynthesis.

    • Simon d’Oelsnitz
    • Wantae Kim
    • Andrew D. Ellington
    Research
    Nature Chemical Biology
    Volume: 18, P: 981-989

  • Untreated, postconsumer-PET from 51 different thermoformed products can all be almost completely degraded by FAST-PETase in 1 week and PET can be resynthesized from the recovered monomers, demonstrating recycling at the industrial scale.

    • Hongyuan Lu
    • Daniel J. Diaz
    • Hal S. Alper
    Research
    Nature
    Volume: 604, P: 662-667

  • The testing of engineered enzymes represents a bottleneck. Here the authors report a screening method combining microfluidics and mass spectrometry, to map the catalysis of a mutated enzyme, characterise the range of products generated and recover the sequences of variants with desired activities.

    • Linfeng Xu
    • Kai-Chun Chang
    • Adam R. Abate
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 12, P: 1-7

  • Directed evolution is a powerful technique for generating improved biological systems through repeated rounds of mutagenesis and selection. Here the authors engineer the yeast retrotransposon Ty1 to enable the creation of large mutant libraries in vivoand use this system to generate improved variants of single enzymes and multigene pathways.

    • Nathan Crook
    • Joseph Abatemarco
    • Hal S. Alper
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 7, P: 1-14

  • Bio-based production of oils and lipids could potentially provide a sustainable fuel alternative to petroleum. Here, the authors show that Yarrowia lipolytica’s metabolism can be rewired to saturate cells with upwards of 90% lipid content and significantly increase lipid production.

    • John Blazeck
    • Andrew Hill
    • Hal S. Alper
    Research
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 5, P: 1-10

  • Screening libraries of genetically engineered microbes for secreted products is limited by the available assay throughput. Here the authors combine aptamer-based fluorescent detection with droplet microfluidics to achieve high throughput screening of yeast strains engineered for enhanced tyrosine or streptavidin production.

    • Joseph Abatemarco
    • Maen F. Sarhan
    • Adam R. Abate
    ResearchOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 8, P: 1-9

  • Polyamines are a growing class of medically and agriculturally active biomolecules that have traditionally been difficult to source. Now, a bio-based platform for high-level production of diverse polyamines has been realized, showing the versatility of biocatalysis and the utility of conceptualizing metabolism as distinct modules.

    • Kevin B. Reed
    • Hal S. Alper
    News & Views
    Nature Catalysis
    Volume: 4, P: 449-450

  • The way we generate and treat plastic waste is a key consideration in the transition from a take-make-waste model to a truly circular economy. Here, authors discuss their views on how biotechnology could contribute to solving the plastic problem, and the barriers we need to overcome to make such approaches a reality.

    • Amelia R. Bergeson
    • Ashli J. Silvera
    • Hal S. Alper
    ReviewsOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 15, P: 1-9

  • Current developments in synthetic biology are not immediately applicable outside of the controlled laboratory environment. In this Perspective, the authors outline the advances and challenges the field faces in operating in resource limited and off-the-grid scenarios.

    • Sierra M. Brooks
    • Hal S. Alper
    ReviewsOpen Access
    Nature Communications
    Volume: 12, P: 1-16