ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF EXTREMOZYMES FROM ALKALINE LAKES IN NEBRASKA

这个子项目是利用资源的许多研究子项目之一。 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。对子项目的主要支持 子项目的首席调查员可能是由其他来源提供的， 包括美国国立卫生研究院的其他来源。为子项目列出的总成本可能 表示该子项目使用的中心基础设施的估计数量， 不是由NCRR赠款提供给次级项目或次级项目工作人员的直接资金。 近年来，极端环境引起了人们的极大兴趣，因为人们发现，这些“不适合居住”的环境被不同的微生物群落殖民。这些微生物已被证明提供有价值的极端酶，即适应于在极端环境条件下催化反应的酶。一种广为人知的极端酶是来自嗜热水热菌的Taq聚合酶。这项研究集中在内布拉斯加州西部很少被研究的高盐度、碱性湖泊。我们将分离和鉴定能够产生多种生物技术应用的极端酵素的潜在微生物。我们将寻找在高pH条件下具有活性的酯酶、木聚糖酶、纤维素酶、蛋白酶和脂肪酶。我们将分离能够产生这些酶的微生物，鉴定酶的活性，纯化酶，并鉴定酶基因序列并将其克隆到大肠杆菌中。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Extreme environments have been of considerable interest in recent years due to the discovery that these "uninhabitable" environments are colonized by a diverse community of microorganisms. These microorganisms have been shown to provide valuable extremozymes, enzymes adapted to catalyze reactions under extreme environmental conditions. One well-known extremozyme is Taq polymerase from the hyperthermophile Thermus aquaticus. This research focuses on the little studied, hypersaline, alkaline lakes in western Nebraska. We will isolate and identify potential microorganisms capable of producing extremozymes of interest for numerous biotechnology applications. We will look for esterases, xylanases, cellulases, proteases, and lipases that are active at high pH's. Microorganisms capable of producing these enzymes will be isolated, the enzyme activity characterized, the enzyme purified, and the enzyme gene sequences identified and cloned into Escherichia coli.