Special Abstracts / Journal of Biotechnology 150S (2010) S1–S576 S549

ing �-carotene (provitamin A). Unscheduled transcript-metabolitecorrelations emerge from this analysis and shed light on novelco-regulatory dynamics in ripening berries. A strong influence ofcarotenoid accumulation on fruit ripening kinetics was observed,probably mediated by the hormones ABA and ethylene. Bioinfor-matic mapping and GO enrichment analysis allowed identificationof gene classes specifically regulated in “Golden” fruits. Networksof biological interactions and correlations have been employed tovisualize and predict the consequences of metabolic engineeringapproaches on plant metabolism. Large-scale co-regulation analy-sis proved to be a valuable approach for a rational design of newbiofortified crops through identification of co-regulation nodeswith high correlative power (hubs), as potential targets in futurebreeding programs.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.911

[S.19]

Development of a transferable sucrose utilization cassette forindustrial relevant E. coli

Michele Bruschi ∗, Simon Boyes, Claudia E. Vickers, Lars Niel

AIBN - UQ, AustraliaKeywords: Sucrose; Chromosomal encoding; Genome scale model;Biosurfactants

Interest in fermentable sugars as a carbon source is risingas demand for renewable resources increases and techniques tosynthesize complex compounds via biological routes improve.Lifecycle analysis has demonstrated that sucrose from sugarcaneis the preferred simple sugar feedstock for production of bio-commodities. Moreover, waste biomass from sugarcane (bagasse)can be used to power the bioprocess, significantly reducing runningcosts. E. coli is the platform of choice for many industrial appli-cations; however, the majority of current industrial E. coli strainscannot utilize sucrose. To address this problem, non-sucrose usingE. coli strains were engineered to grow on sucrose. Both plasmid-borne expression and chromosomal integration of a de-repressedsucrose utilizing cassette were investigated; engineered strainswere characterized by growth rate. Batch fermentations usingdefined minimal medium showed that plasmid-containing strainshad ∼90% growth rate on sucrose compared to wild type (WT)on glucose, whereas chromosomally-integrated strains reached agrowth rate of more than 95% of the WT on glucose and resultedin enhanced phenotypic stability. This shows that sucrose can bemetabolized as readily as glucose.

Sucrose potential as a viable industrial feedstock will be inves-tigated pursuing high volumetric productivity in fed-batch culturefor production of a novel class of biosurfactants. Transcriptomicsexperiments aim to elucidate genetic differences underlying thedifferences in growth (i.e.: natural sucrose competent strains vs.engineered), genome scale model and flux balance analysis willprovide additional genetic targets for improvement of E. coli indus-trially relevant strains towards cost effective large scale productionof relatively short peptides.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.912

[S.20]

Microfluidics meets Systems Biology:Microfluidic Devices forMetabolic Analysis

M. Wurm, J. Müller, A.-P. Zeng ∗

Hamburg University of Technology, GermanyKeywords: Metabolomics; Microfluidics; Rapid sampling; Systemsbiology

The study of cellular metabolism gives a profound insight intothe dynamical response behavior of cells and is essential to explaindifferent cellular phenotypes. Such knowledge would be helpfulfor the improvement of bioprocesses and biomedical applications.Key for the successful measurement of the highly complex in vivometabolite dynamics is the ability to take discrete snapshots of themetabolite levels at specified conditions and at defined time inter-vals. In this respect, the rapid sample processing and quenching ofany metabolic activity is required. Major obstacles en route towardsa real picture of the metabolism especially in mammalian cells arethe fragility of the cells, the subcellular compartmentation and thecomplex mixture of intra- and extracellular components with itsimplications for metabolomic analysis. These boundaries have notbeen sufficiently accounted for in the past and technological solu-tions are not available yet. Therefore, the approach of designingnovel sampling systems in a hybrid approach comprising macro-and microtechnology is discussed. The potential of microfluidic sys-tems with respect to high temporal and spatial resolution, rapidheat- and mass-transfer and well established manufacturing tech-niques is presented and we demonstrate how such systems canbe engineered according to the required process conditions andthe biological/biochemical question to be answered. We underline,how existing technologies can be combined to overcome currentlimitations in both fields (macro and micro) and how microfluidicsystems can be implemented to deal with the heterogeneity of pro-cessed biological samples during rapid sample preparation whileanalysis of the sample is conducted with widely available macro-analytical tools (e.g. HPLC-, GC- or LC-MS techniques). Finally, wesummarize how representative in vivo metabolite concentrationsshould become accessible with unprecedented quality and repro-ducibility, especially for mammalian cells.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.913

[RT.1]

Round Table

E-learning master in Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology: a uniquebiosafety training network

G. Tzotzos 1, M. Bosse 1, S. Burssens 2, B. Mezzetti 3,∗

1 Technology Unit UNIDO. UNIDO, PTC/PEM, Wagramerstrasse 5, P.O.Box 400, A-1400, Vienna, Austria2 Institute Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries, Gent Univer-sity, Belgium3 Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e delle Produzioni Vege-tali.Marche Polytechnic University, ItalyKeywords: GMO; Risk and benefits; Food safety; Environmentalsafety

Biotechnology is transforming industry. It is an integral part ofthe knowledge-based economy and the main driver for the creationof new types of enterprises and the revitalization of old industries.