Browsing by Author "Jiang, Di"

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    Renewable fatty acid ester production in Clostridium
    Feng, Jun; Zhang, Jie; Ma, Yuechao; Feng, Yiming; Wang, Shangjun; Guo, Na; Wang, Haijiao; Wang, Pixiang; Jimenez-Bonilla, Pablo; Gu, Yanyan; Zhou, Junping; Zhang, Zhong-Tian; Cao, Mingfeng; Jiang, Di; Wang, Shuning; Liu, Xian-Wei; Shao, Zengyi; Borovok, Ilya; Huang, Haibo; Wang, Yi (2021-07-16)
    Bioproduction of renewable chemicals is considered as an urgent solution for fossil energy crisis. However, despite tremendous efforts, it is still challenging to generate microbial strains that can produce target biochemical to high levels. Here, we report an example of biosynthesis of high-value and easy-recoverable derivatives built upon natural microbial pathways, leading to improvement in bioproduction efficiency. By leveraging pathways in solventogenic clostridia for co-producing acyl-CoAs, acids and alcohols as precursors, through rational screening for host strains and enzymes, systematic metabolic engineering-including elimination of putative prophages, we develop strains that can produce 20.3g/L butyl acetate and 1.6g/L butyl butyrate. Techno-economic analysis results suggest the economic competitiveness of our developed bioprocess. Our principles of selecting the most appropriate host for specific bioproduction and engineering microbial chassis to produce high-value and easy-separable end products may be applicable to other bioprocesses. Esters can be used as fuels and specialty chemicals for food flavoring, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Here, the authors systematically engineer clostridia, including discovery and deletion of prophages to increase strain stability, for the production of butyl acetate and butyl butyrate from corn stover at low cost.
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    Trehalose-Mediated Autophagy Impairs the Anti-Viral Function of Human Primary Airway Epithelial Cells
    Wu, Qun; Jiang, Di; Huang, Chunjian; van Dyk, Linda F.; Li, Liwu; Chu, Hong Wei (PLOS, 2015-04-16)
    Human rhinovirus (HRV) is the most common cause of acute exacerbations of chronic lung diseases including asthma. Impaired anti-viral IFN-λ1 production and increased HRV replication in human asthmatic airway epithelial cells may be one of the underlying mechanisms leading to asthma exacerbations. Increased autophagy has been shown in asthmatic airway epithelium, but the role of autophagy in anti-HRV response remains uncertain. Trehalose, a natural glucose disaccharide, has been recognized as an effective autophagy inducer in mammalian cells. In the current study, we used trehalose to induce autophagy in normal human primary airway epithelial cells in order to determine if autophagy directly regulates the anti-viral response against HRV. We found that trehalose-induced autophagy significantly impaired IFN-λ1 expression and increased HRV-16 load. Inhibition of autophagy via knockdown of autophagy-related gene 5 (ATG5) effectively rescued the impaired IFN-λ1 expression by trehalose and subsequently reduced HRV-16 load. Mechanistically, ATG5 protein interacted with retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) and IFN-β promoter stimulator 1 (IPS-1), two critical molecules involved in the expression of anti-viral interferons. Our results suggest that induction of autophagy in human primary airway epithelial cells inhibits the anti-viral IFN-λ1 expression and facilitates HRV infection. Intervention of excessive autophagy in chronic lung diseases may provide a novel approach to attenuate viral infections and associated disease exacerbations.