This paper comprehensively reviews whey, a by-product of cheese production, as a raw material for various biotechnological applications. It addresses its unique composition, the environmental impact of its inadequate disposal, and the opportunities it offers to develop high-value products in line with circular economy and sustainability principles. Using the PRISMA methodology, a systematic search was conducted in various databases (Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar) with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies from the last five years were considered, focusing on food applications, the production of bioproducts (such as lactic acid, biopolymers, bioethanol, biomass, and enzymes), and the use of whey as a culture medium for the expression of recombinant proteins. It is concluded that the use of whey in biotechnological applications mitigates the environmental impact associated with its disposal and represents an economic and sustainable alternative for the industrial production of bioproducts. The integration of pretreatment technologies, experimental designs, and improvements in producing strains brings these processes closer to competitive conditions in the industry, opening new perspectives for innovation in the fermentation sector.

Heavy metals are among the toxic substances longest recognized by man. Today, due to the myriad sources of exposure, such as contaminated water, food, or air, they have become a major public health problem. This work presents the effects manifested in the infrared spectrum behavior caused by the presence of Cd²⁺, Cr⁶⁺, and Pb²⁺ at different concentrations in three different matrices: water, casein, and milk; observing that the spectral modifications in the regions of different vibrational modes of nucleophilic groups such as -OH, COO- and NH₂ depending on the nature of the metal and its concentration. These findings were correlated in-silico using optimized models in Gabedit software and structural optimization was performed with MOPAC 2016 showing stable structures between the metals and Gln, Hys, Glu, and Phe of casein. By applying chemometrics (Principal Component Analysis), it was possible to observe a good correlation between the experimental data and to discriminate between the type of metal, the matrix that contains it, and the concentration could be represented through linear models that showed adjustments with a value of r² ≥ 0.95.

IJFE (International Journal of Food Engineering)

Effect of ultraviolet-C light and mild thermal treatment on the storage life of orange juice | Paola Hernández-Carranza, Arely Peralta-Pérez, Raúl Avila-Sosa, Irving Israel Ruiz-López, Alfredo C. Benitez-Rojas, Carlos Enrique Ochoa-Velasco | Agricultural Journals

The initial adoption of penicillin as an antibiotic marked the start of exploring other compounds essential for pharmaceuticals, yet resistance to penicillins and their side effects has compromised their efficacy. The N-terminal nucleophile (Ntn) amide-hydrolases S45 family plays a key role in catalyzing amide bond hydrolysis in various compounds, including antibiotics like penicillin and cephalosporin. This study comprehensively analyzes the structural and functional traits of the bacterial N-terminal nucleophile (Ntn) amide-hydrolases S45 family, covering penicillin G acylases, cephalosporin acylases, and D-succinylase. Utilizing structural bioinformatics tools and sequence analysis, the investigation delineates structurally conserved regions (SCRs) and substrate binding site variations among these enzymes. Notably, sixteen SCRs crucial for substrate interaction are identified solely through sequence analysis, emphasizing the significance of sequence data in characterizing functionally relevant regions. These findings introduce a novel approach for identifying targets to enhance the biocatalytic properties of N-terminal nucleophile (Ntn) amide-hydrolases, while facilitating the development of more accurate three-dimensional models, particularly for enzymes lacking structural data. Overall, this research advances our understanding of structure–function relationships in bacterial N-terminal nucleophile (Ntn) amide-hydrolases, providing insights into strategies for optimizing their enzymatic capabilities.

Gene editing, spearheaded by the CRISPR/Cas9 system, has revolutionized biotechnology by enabling precise modifications, with applications impacting agriculture, biomedicine, and industrial biotechnology. Our review proposal analyzes the evolution from ZFN and TALEN nucleases to advanced base editors and prime editing, which increase precision without requiring double-strand breaks. In the agri-food sector, improvements in yield, nutritional quality, and climate resilience stand out, including the de novo domestication of wild species. Furthermore, its potential to optimize industrial bioprocesses and drug development within the global bioeconomy is explored. However, commercial success depends on overcoming bottlenecks and harmonizing regulatory frameworks that vary across product- and process-based approaches. The convergence of gene editing and computational analysis (Artificial Intelligence) promises to usher in a new era of biotechnological innovation.