Glycoenzymes for Bioindustries

自然界中含有丰富的糖酶，但只有少量的酶活性用于工业过程，主要是用于大批量生产的碳水化合物降解酶，如用于烘焙/洗涤剂/生物燃料的淀粉酶/木聚糖酶/纤维素酶/氧化酶。在生物制剂等高价值制造应用中的例子甚至更少：一个例子是治疗性脑酶的生产，其中使用α-烟酰胺酶来脱糖，暴露出末端的人残基，改善其靶向性。一个主要障碍是获得适当的酶，这可能会限制在工艺开发的早期阶段的使用，从而减少涉及糖酶的成功工艺的数量。本项目旨在通过汇集一些创新的高通量生物催化剂发现方法来克服目前糖酶可获得性的局限性。我们汇集了20种不同的糖酶活性，包括各种糖基转移酶、多糖修饰酶、糖苷酶和糖氧化酶，这些都将构成研究的基础。通过一轮又一轮的生物催化剂发现、表征和开发，我们的目标是将不同糖酶类别的面板推向市场，终端用户可以随时进行筛选。

There are a wealth of glycoenzymes in nature but only a small number of enzymatic activities are used in industrial processes, primarily carbohydrate degrading enzymes used in high volume manufacturing such as amylases/xylanases/cellulases/oxidases used in baking/detergents/biofuels. Even fewer examples exist in high value manufacturing applications such as biologics: one example is the production of the therapeutic Cerezyme where alpha-neauramindase is used to deglycosylate exposing terminal Man residues improving its targeting. A major hurdle is the availability of appropriate enzymes which can limit utilisation in the early stage of process development thus reducing the number of successful processes involving glycoenzymes. The present project aims to overcome the current limitations of glycoenzyme availability by bringing together a number of innovative high-throughput approaches to biocatalyst discovery. We have assembled a list of 20 different glycoenzyme activities including various glycosyltransferases, polysaccharide-modifying enzymes, glycosidases and sugar oxidases that will form the basis of the research. Through iterative rounds of biocatalyst discovery, characterisation and development we aim to bring to market panels of different glycoenzyme classes that are readily available for screening by end users.