Autologous adipose stromal vascular fractions (SVFs) containing adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs) are currently being used in clinical settings for various orthopedic applications for human patients. Due to its potential capability of regenerating cartilage, bone, and tendons, autologous adipose SVFs are being tried in treating patients with osteoarthritis (OA), chondromalacia, meniscus tear, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, and tendon injuries. Here, we have reviewed available human clinical studies with regard to patient applications of autologous adipose SVF containing ASCs, specifically assessing effectiveness and safety in the field of orthopedic disorders. All studies reviewed in this article presents potential benefits of autologous adipose SVF in various orthopedic applications without any serious side effects.

Dogyeoung Kim, Sumin Kim, Yongdae Kwon, Yeseul Kim, Hyunjae Park, Kiwoong Kwak, Hyeonmin Lee, Jung Hun Lee, Kyung-Min Jang, Donghak Kim, Sang Hee Lee and Lin-Woo Kang. Biomolecules & Therapeutics -0001;0:. https://doi.org/10.4062/biomolther.2023.008

Plant-pathogen interactions at early stages of infection are important to the fate of interaction. Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) causes bacterial blight, which is a devastating disease in rice. Although in vivo and in vitro systems have been developed to study rice-Xoo interactions, both systems have limitations. The resistance mechanisms in rice can be better studied by the in vivo approach, whereas the in vitro systems are suitable for pathogenicity studies on Xoo. The current in vitro system uses minimal medium to activate the pathogenic signal (expression of pathogenicity-related genes) of Xoo, but lacks rice-derived factors needed for Xoo activation. This fact emphasizes the need of developing a new in vitro system that allow for an easy control of both pathogenic activation and for the experiment itself. We employed an in vitro system that can activate pathogenicity-related genes in Xoo using rice leaf extract (RLX) and combined the in vitro assay with RNA-Seq to analyze the time-resolved genome-wide gene expression of Xoo. RNA-Seq was performed with samples from seven different time points within 1 h post-RLX treatment and the expression of up- or downregulated genes in RNA-Seq was validated by qRT-PCR. Global analysis of gene expression and regulation revealed the most dramatic changes in functional categories of genes related to inorganic ion transport and metabolism, and cell motility. Expression of many pathogenicity-related genes was induced within 15 min upon contact with RLX. hrpG and hrpX expression reached the maximum level within 10 and 15 min, respectively. Chemotaxis and flagella biosynthesis-related genes and cyclic-di-GMP controlling genes were downregulated for 10 min and were then upregulated. Genes related to inorganic ion uptake were upregulated within 5 min. We introduced a non-linear regression fit to generate continuous time-resolved gene expression levels and tested the essentiality of the transcriptionally upregulated genes by a pathogenicity assay of lesion length using single-gene knock-out Xoo strains. The in vitro system combined with RNA-Seq generated a genome-wide time-resolved pathogenic gene expression profile within 1 h of initial rice-Xoo interactions, demonstrating the expression order and interaction dependency of pathogenic genes. This combined system can be used as a novel tool to study the initial interactions between rice and Xoo during bacterial blight progression.

A novel bacterial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) that converts retinal to retinoic acid was first identified in Bacillus cereus . The amino acid sequence of ALDH from B. cereus ( Bc ALDH) was more closely related to mammalian ALDHs than to bacterial ALDHs. This enzyme converted not only small aldehydes to carboxylic acids but also the large aldehyde all- trans -retinal to all- trans -retinoic acid with NAD(P) ⁺ . We newly found that Bc ALDH and human ALDH (ALDH1A1) could reduce all- trans -retinal to all- trans -retinol with NADPH. The catalytic residues in Bc ALDH were Glu266 and Cys300, and the cofactor-binding residues were Glu194 and Glu457. The E266A and C300A variants showed no oxidation activity. The E194S and E457V variants showed 15- and 7.5-fold higher catalytic efficiency ( k _cat / K _m ) for the reduction of all- trans -retinal than the wild-type enzyme, respectively. The wild-type, E194S variant, and E457V variant enzymes with NAD ⁺ converted 400 μM all- trans -retinal to 210 μM all- trans -retinoic acid at the same amount for 240 min, while with NADPH, they converted 400 μM all- trans -retinal to 20, 90, and 40 μM all- trans -retinol, respectively. These results indicate that Bc ALDH and its variants are efficient biocatalysts not only in the conversion of retinal to retinoic acid but also in its conversion to retinol with a cofactor switch and that retinol production can be increased by the variant enzymes. Therefore, Bc ALDH is a novel bacterial enzyme for the alternative production of retinoic acid and retinol. IMPORTANCE Although mammalian ALDHs have catalyzed the conversion of retinal to retinoic acid with NAD(P) ⁺ as a cofactor, a bacterial ALDH involved in the conversion is first characterized. The biotransformation of all- trans -retinal to all- trans -retinoic acid by Bc ALDH and human ALDH was altered to the biotransformation to all- trans -retinol by a cofactor switch using NADPH. Moreover, the production of all- trans -retinal to all- trans -retinol was changed by mutations at positions 194 and 457 in Bc ALDH. The alternative biotransformation of retinoids was first performed in the present study. These results will contribute to the biotechnological production of retinoids, including retinoic acid and retinol.