The inaugural issue of Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology coincides with the celebration of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Profs. Youyou Tu, William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura for the discovery of artemisinin and avermectin, respectively. The efficacy of both artemisinin and avermectin as parasitic disease treatments won the recognition of the whole wor...

In a previous report, a plasmid, pIG1, which contained the loading domain from the Streptomyces avermitilis polyketide synthase (PKS), promoters from Streptomyces coelicolor and the DEBS1-TE truncated PKS from Saccharopolyspora erythraea, was integrated into the S. erythraea chromosome, effectively replacing the natural erythromycin loading domain with the avermectin loading domain. In this pap...

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded with one half jointly to Dr. William C. Campbell and Professor Satoshi Ōmura for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites and the other half to Professor Youyou Tu for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria. Parasitic diseases have long plagued humankind and constit...

The solution conformation of the disaccharide of avermectin B1a was examined by combining NMR data with theoretical conformational energy calculations. Carbon and proton resonances were assigned unambiguously using high-field, high-resolution 2D NMR correlation spectroscopy. 3JHH coupling constants were determined at 600 MHz. The minimum-energy conformation was attained through an extended hard...

6,8a-deoxy derivatives of avermectins produced by a mutant strain of Streptomyces avermitilis K20571} derived by mutation from strain K2038 producing avermectins B l a and B2a selectively2). The parent strain K2038 carries two types of mutations, C-5 0-methylation (aveD) and the selective incorporation of branched-chain fatty acid into the avermectin molecule (X). The mutant strain K2057 has an...

The psyllid Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) is one of the most important pests of citrus worldwide because it efficiently vectors three bacteria in the genus Candidatus Liberibacter that cause the devastating citrus greening disease (huanglongbing). Current management practices for this insect pest rely on multiple sprays of foliar insecticides and one or two applications of so...