Objective
The usage of Nature’s catalysts for industrial applications is promising to be one of the central pillars of sustainable European chemistry, due to the reduced environmental impact of ‘green’ biocatalytic processes compared to current hazardous chemical procedures. However, at present a large fraction of chemical transformations cannot be substituted with biotechnological production lines, because suitable biocatalysts satisfying the criteria are not known. Our incomplete understanding of enzyme mechanisms makes it difficult to generate catalysts de novo with protein design techniques. An alternative route is the identification of biocatalysts from the natural collections of evolved proteins that fit into the catalytic task to some extent (a phenomenon known as catalytic promiscuity) and improve their catalytic performance for the desired reaction by directed protein evolution techniques. In order to reach this strategic goal, we aim to employ a new high throughput technology (in vitro compartmentalization in microfluidic water-in-oil emulsion droplets) in the search for new biocatalysts. By this assay technology, previously inaccessibly large enzyme libraries will be screened. After isolation of the target enzymes from microbial metagenomes, the latest protein evolutionary theories in relation to catalytic promiscuity will be investigated on a large set of natural enzyme variants, in order to elucidate how new activities are evolved in nature. The resulting aspects of evolution of new enzyme functions could provide an intellectual framework to rationalise evolutionary developments and to utilize these principles for evolution in the test tube for relevant applications.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis biocatalysis
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.