Enzyme modification can protect people and environment
An international team of scientists led by Masaryk University in the Czech Republic has successfully developed a new method to improve the functional characteristics of enzymes. Beneficiaries of this latest innovation include actors in the medical, chemical and food industries. The procedure was presented in the Nature Chemical Biology journal. The modification of enzymes can effectively bolster the well-being of people and animals, and protect the environment. In her statement, a spokesperson for Masaryk University, which is based in Brno, said these enzymes can be used to safely dispose of man-made toxic chemical substances that could negatively affect our environment. Tereza Fojtová pointed out that these chemicals are weighing down on Nature considerably. The scientists at the University's Loschmidt Laboratories discovered how these toxins can be removed from the environment in an efficient manner, she added. 'Now we can use genetic modifications for changing qualities of the enzymes in a new way so that they can degrade harmful substances in the environment faster and more easily,' explained Professor Jiri Damborsky of the Institute of Experimental Biology at Masaryk University. Past research targeted the modification of the enzyme qualities on the site in its structure where the chemical reaction occurs. The difference in this latest study is that the new method focuses on changes in the so-called 'access tunnels'. By this method, the substance to be decomposed is able to access the active site via access tunnels, while excluding a solvent. As a result, decomposition proceeds at a significantly enhanced rate. The team established the validity of this procedure by constructing an enzyme decomposing highly toxic substance trichloropropane (TCP), a colourless, heavy liquid with a sweet but strong odour that evaporates quickly. TCP as a secondary product of chemical production enters mainly air, water, soil, sewage and the food chain. It can be found in the soil or underground water for more than 100 years. This toxic substance, say the researchers, also plays a role in the development of human cancer. This state-of-the-art procedure allowed the scientists to develop an enzyme that can decompose TCP 32-times faster than before. It should be noted that the method can also be applied in other areas. The procedure can be used, for instance, to improve the qualities of the enzymes used in biomedicine, as well as in the chemical and food industries. Researchers from the Pasteur Institute in France, the Univeristy of Vienna in Austria and the Weizmann Institute in Israel have already expressed an interested in this latest procedure. The Masaryk University researchers collaborated with colleagues from Palacky University Olomouc in the Czech Republic, the European Media Laboratory in Germany and Sendai University in Japan in this project. This project was funded partly by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Czech Science Foundation, and the Klaus Tschira Foundation in Germany.
Countries
Czechia, Germany