• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권9호
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• pp.972-981
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• 2009

In this paper, a fed-batch cultivation process in recombinant Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) bacteria, for the production of human soluble catechol-O-methyltransferase (hSCOMT), is presented. For the first time, a straightforward model is applied in a recombinant hSCOMT expression system and distinguishes an initial cell growth phase from a protein production phase upon induction. Specifically, the kinetic model predicts biomass, substrate, and product concentrations in the culture over time and was identified from a series of fed-batch experiments designed by testing several feed profiles. The main advantage of this model is that its parameters can be identified more reliably from distinct fed-batch strategies, such as glycerol pulses and exponential followed by constant substrate additions. Interestingly, with the limited amount of data available, the proposed model accomplishes satisfactorily the experimental results obtained for the three state variables, and no exhaustive process knowledge is required. The comparison of the measurement data obtained in a validation experiment with the model predictions showed the great extrapolation capability of the model presented, which could provide new complementary information for the COMT production system.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.7.1-7.13
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• 2021

Levodopa (L-DOPA) therapy is normally practised to treat motor pattern associated with Parkinson disease (PD). Additionally, several inhibitory drugs such as Entacapone and Opicapone are also cosupplemented to protect peripheral inactivation of exogenous L-DOPA (~80%) that occurs due to metabolic activity of the enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). Although, both Entacapone and Opicapone have U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval but regular use of these drugs is associated with high risk of side effects. Thus, authors have focused on in silico discovery of phytochemicals and evaluation of their effectiveness against human soluble COMT using virtual screening, molecular docking, drug-like property prediction, generation of pharmacophoric property, and molecular dynamics simulation. Overall, study proposed, nine phytochemicals (withaphysalin D, withaphysalin N, withaferin A, withacnistin, withaphysalin C, withaphysalin O, withanolide B, withasomnine, and withaphysalin F) of plant Withania somnifera have strong binding efficiency against human COMT in comparison to both of the drugs i.e., Opicapone and Entacapone, thus may be used as putative bioenhancer in L-DOPA therapy. The present study needs further experimental validation to be used as an adjuvant in PD treatment.