From Genes to Molecules: Mining Bacterial Genomes for New Enzyme Reactions

这项提议的目的是利用细菌基因组序列数据来识别可用于开发工业生物催化剂的新酶。细菌构成了地球上最大和最多样的生命形式之一。由于其相对脆弱的结构和有限的流动性，细菌依靠酶催化的新颖化学反应来合成用于防御的分子，以及从环境中获得稀缺的营养。因此，利用这种酶的催化能力将使我们能够以环境友好的方式降解污染物或合成有价值的分子。这项提案的一半将专注于我们实验室发现的一种新的酶途径，称为PhnY-PhnZ，它可以降解包括除草剂和化学战剂在内的一类分子--磷酸盐。我们将研究PhnY和PhnZ酶的内部工作原理和结构，以便我们可以对它们进行改造，将环境关注的磷酸盐降解为无害的磷酸盐。我们首先将重点放在工程PhnY-PhnZ途径以降解农达

The aim of this proposal is to use bacterial genome sequence data to identify new enzymes that can be used for the development of industrial biocatalysts. Bacteria comprise one of the largest and diverse forms of life on earth. Because of their relatively fragile structures and limited mobility, bacteria rely on novel chemical reactions, catalyzed by enzymes, to synthesize molecules for defence as well as obtain scarce nutrients from the environment. Therefore, harnessing the catalytic power of such enzymes will allow us to degrade pollutants or synthesize valuable molecules in an environmentally friendly manner. One half of this proposal will focus on a new enzyme pathway discovered by our lab, called PhnY-PhnZ, that degrades phosphonates, a class of molecule that include herbicides and chemical warfare agents. We will study the inner workings and structures of the enzymes PhnY and PhnZ so that we can engineer them to degrade phosphonates of environmental concern into harmless phosphate. We will first focus on engineering the PhnY-PhnZ pathway to degrade RoundUp