Provided is a mutant hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) polypeptide, an encoding gene thereof and a use thereof. The mutant HPPD polypeptide retains the activity of catalyzing the conversion of hydroxyphenylpyruvate acid into homogentisic acid or homogentisate, and the sensitivity to HPPD inhibitor herbicides is lower than that of original unmutated HPPD. On position 372 corresponding to the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, the mutant HPPD polypeptide comprises the following mutations: F372A, F372G, F372V, F372P, F372S, F372T, F372C, F372M, F372Q, F372D or F372 deletion. The described mutant can provide plants with high tolerance to HPPD inhibitor herbicides, and can be used to cultivate plants that are tolerant to HPPD inhibitor herbicides.

Described herein are engineered organelles comprising multi-component proteins from different species incorporated into a membrane structure with interior and exterior aspects. In one embodiment the artificial organelle incorporates one or more protein complexes that absorb optical energy and catalyze electron transfer in biochemical reactions that can be used to reduce NAD.sup.+ to NADH or analogues thereof.

The invention provides compositions and methods for suppressing autoimmune components of neurodegenerative diseases and thereby providing therapeutic effects to patients suffering from such diseases, Compositions and methods include immunosuppressive moieties such as regulatory T cells (Tregs) and proteins expressed by Tregs coupled to a chimeric antigen receptor or protein that specifically binds one or more glial cell markers. Therapeutically effective doses of said compounds for treating neurodegenerative diseases including progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), multiple sclerosis, and prion diseases are disclosed.

The disclosure provides variants of nicotine oxidoreductase and methods to select such variants that are unexpectedly active in the catabolic destruction of nicotine by oxidation using oxygen as electron acceptor, and catabolically active fragments thereof. Also disclosed are compositions comprising the CycN cytochrome c protein and at least one of the variant nicotine oxidoreductase holoenzymes, the fragments thereof, or a naturally occurring nicotine oxidoreductase, as well as fusion proteins comprising catalytically active nicotine oxidoreductase fragments or holoenzymes and CycN cytochrome c fragments or holoenzymes. Additionally, variants of L-6-hydroxynicotine oxidase, or catalytically active fragments thereof, are provided. Further disclosed are polynucleotides encoding such proteins, vectors comprising such polynucleotides, and host cells comprising such polynucleotides or vectors. Also provided are methods of using any of the disclosed compositions or formulations to treat nicotine dependence or reduce the risk of relapse to nicotine dependence.

Compositions comprising an engineered or non-naturally occurring polypeptides comprising two or more domains selected from Sulfide quinone oxidoreductase, Thiosulfate Sulfurtransferase and persulfide dioxygenase, and a phosphate binding motif are provided along with methods of detoxifying bacterial endotoxins and H.sub.2S with such compositions.

The present disclosure relates, generally, to compositions and methods for producing, purifying, and using circular RNA.

Methods and compositions for the oxidation of short alkanes by engineered microorganisms expressing enzymes are described, along with methods of use.

A sensor implanted in tissues and including a sensing layer is fabricated by mixing the signal transduction enzyme with non-reactive components including buffer salts and fillers, and spin coating the enzyme onto a substrate. The signal transduction enzyme is crosslinked by introducing the coated substrate in a vacuum chamber. In the chamber, a crosslinker evaporates and is deposited onto the enzyme, therefore crosslinking the enzyme.

Disclosed are methods of determining activity of CDK4 and CDK6 variants upon exposure to CDK inhibitors, methods for determining activity of a Rb variant, methods for determining the activity of a p16 variant in a cell, and methods for determining the sensitivity of a CDK4 variant or a CDK6 variant to p16 in a cell. Stable cell lines for determining activity of CDK4 variants, CDK6 variants, Rb variants, and p16 variants are also disclosed.

Described herein are anti-microbial and UV-protective biological devices and extracts produced therefrom. The biological devices include microbial cells transformed with a DNA construct containing genes for producing proteins such as, for example, zinc-related protein/oxidase, silicatein, silaffin, and alcohol dehydrogenase. In some instances, the biological devices also include a gene for lipase. Methods for producing and using the devices are also described herein. Finally, compositions and methods for using the devices and extracts to kill microbial species or prevent microbial growth and to reduce or prevent UV-induced damage or exposure to materials, items, plants, and human and animal subjects are described herein. Also disclosed are biological devices producing polyactive carbohydrates and carbo sugars, as well as compositions and articles incorporating both extracts from these devices and the anti-microbial and UV-protective extracts.