TOW #23 Bioprocess development for niotinic acid hydroxamate synthesis by alcytransferase activity of Bacillus smithii strain IITR6b2 (Agarwal, Gupta, and Choudhury)

     

A harmless cousin of anthrax (pictured here) is used in the biotechnology industry.

     Published in the Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology, this article is very professional and almost overwhelmingly technical. Conducted by three researchers in the Indian Institute of Technology's Department of Biotechnology, this experiment attempted a new method for synthesizing nicotinic acid hydroxamate (NAH), a chemical that serves a wide variety of purposes as a "bioligand, urease inhibitor, anityrosinase," etc. This study comes as a part of the biotechnological revolution, utilizing living organisms to produce and regulate chemicals necessary for medicine and research. This particular article's purpose is to prove that the method the three researchers developed and implemented is better than previous ones, and to explain, in meticulous detail, how they carried out the experiment and its results.
     The most obvious rhetorical device is the abundant scientific jargon. The three authors assume that their audience is educated and well-versed in scientific literature, particularly concerning biotechnology. They spend very little time giving background information on their subject of study, and offer no explanation of the processes the bacteria use to synthesize NAH. Knowledge of the chemicals involved and how they interact is assumed. This serves as a very efficient mode of transporting knowledge. The jargon does not serve to muddle the meaning of the experiment, in fact, it does just the opposite. All of the information is presented and packaged into two pages. If a reader does not understand a word or process, it is not the purpose of the article to explain it.
     The organization of the essay aids somewhat in guiding readers. There is a very clear format to technical writing, beginning with the abstract, an introduction that shows the meaning and purpose of the experiment, followed by the procedures carried out, results obtained, and analysis/conclusion. Each topic sentence serves to give an overview to guide the understanding of the technical paragraph. These reliefs are very brief, however. For example, they write "Development of a single-step biotransformation process for NAH synthesis will provide a simple, convenient, and environmentally friendly economic route. In the recent past, acyltransferase activity of amidases has been utilized for hydroxamic acids and acid hydrazides syntheses."
     From what I could understand, the article was actually concise. It spends no time in flowery or attractive prose; the authors want to succinctly deliver their knowledge using as little paper as possible. The amount of detail is phenomenal, and effectively accomplishes their purpose.