US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Biodiversity of Aerobic and Anaerobic Alkalithermophiles & Their Industrial Enzymes, Form Alkaline Lakes (Wadi el Natron) & Hot Springs

描述：该奖项是为了支持格鲁吉亚雅典乔治亚大学微生物系的Juergen Wiegel博士和埃及亚历山大穆巴拉克市科学研究与技术应用生物技术研究所的Osama Sobieh博士的联合研究项目。这个项目有两个主要目标：首先，阐明来自埃及Wadi el Natron和温泉的多方面（高温、碱性pH值和（部分）高盐）极端微生物的生物多样性，并对新细菌进行表征；其次，在实验规模上从这些极端微生物中生产工业酶，即筛选所需的工业重要酶；优化生产产量和目标基因在中温宿主中的表达，以帮助纯化嗜热/稳定蛋白。其中一些恶劣的环境只得到了肤浅的研究，到目前为止，从这些环境中只分离出很少的微生物。位于开罗和亚历山大之间的瓦迪埃尔纳特龙的纳特龙湖和靠近红海的温泉尤其如此，它们都被认为含有独特的微生物。直到最近，一种新的极端微生物，厌氧嗜碱热微生物，才由一名pi建立起来，对这些细菌知之甚少。范围：许多生物技术和工业应用（例如，洗衣洗涤剂）需要酶，酶在高碱性环境中的高温下是稳定的。这项研究将从国外的自然来源中识别出能够在这些极端环境下产生酶的生物。该合作项目将促进美国和埃及科学家在生物多样性和工业酶领域的科学和教育交流，并将支持一名美国研究生参与这一国际合作努力。

0211100WiegelDescription: This award is for support of a joint research project by Dr. Juergen Wiegel, Department of Microbiology, the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia and Dr. Osama Sobieh, Biotechnology Institute, Mubarak City for Scientific Research and Technological Application, Alexandria, Egypt. This project has two main goals: first, elucidation of the biodiversity of the multifaceted (elevated temperatures, alkaline pH, and (partly) high salt at the same time) extremophiles from Wadi el Natron and hot springs in Egypt and the characterization of the novel bacteria and second, production of industrial enzymes from these extremophiles at the bench scale, i.e., screening for the desired industrially important enzymes, optimization of production yields and expression of the target genes in a mesophilic host to aid in the purification of the thermophilic/stable proteins. Several of these harsh environments have been only superficially studied and only very few microorganisms have been isolated from them so far. This is especially true for the Natron Lakes of Wadi el Natron between Cairo and Alexandria and hot springs close to the Red Sea, both expected to harbor unique microorganisms. Only recently a novel group of extremophiles, the anaerobic alkalithermophiles, has been established by one of the PIs and not much is known about these bacteria Scope: Many biotechnological and industrial applications (e.g., laundry detergents) require enzymes, which are stable at elevated temperatures in a highly alkaline milieu. This research will identify organisms from a natural source in a foreign country that can produce enzymes at these extreme environments. This collaborative project will foster scientific and educational exchanges between US and Egypt scientists in the area of biodiversity and industrial enzymes, and will support the participation of a U.S. graduate student in this international cooperative effort.