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Genetic code expansion for biocatalysis and enzyme engineering doctoral network

Description du projet

Applications biotechnologiques novatrices des acides aminés non canoniques

L’expansion du code génétique pour incorporer des acides aminés non canoniques (AANC) dans les protéines fournit à la biotechnologie de nouveaux outils. Les applications des AANC pourraient inclure l’étude de la structure et de la dynamique des protéines, l’imagerie et la spectroscopie des protéines, les chélateurs de métaux et les réactifs de la «chimie clic». Financé par le programme Actions Marie Skłodowska-Curie, le projet BiocatCodeExpander vise à réunir des experts de différents domaines pour organiser un réseau de formation au développement des méthodologies AANC de manière collaborative. Le réseau formera dix chercheurs doctorants dans les domaines de la biocatalyse, de la biologie synthétique, de la chimie des peptides et de la biologie computationnelle. Les recherches menées dans le cadre du projet permettront de développer de nouveaux outils et de nouvelles applications pour la conception de processus biotechnologiques destinés à la production écologiquement responsable de produits chimiques et pharmaceutiques.

Objectif

The expansion of the genetic code for the incorporation of non-canonical amino acids (NCAA) in proteins provides biotechnologists with an amazing kit of novel tools. NCAA can be used in multiple applications such as investigation of the structure and dynamics of proteins, as handles for protein imaging and spectroscopy, metal chelators or as click chemistry reagents. Yet, only a few cases exist where NCAA are used in enzyme engineering to explore, improve or install new enzymatic activities. Further development has been restricted by the limited efficiency and flexibility of tools for their incorporation. This is mainly caused by the field developing separately and not being driven by desired target catalytic activities and needs of protein engineers. Therefore, this DN proposal aims to bridge this gap and bring experts from different fields together to ensure the development of the methodologies in a collaborative manner. With a threefold- training structure Learn–Teach–Create, the DN trains 10 PhDs at the boundaries of biocatalysis, synthetic biology, peptide chemistry and computational biology and brings together a team of academic and industrial partners to increase the European research capacity.
The efficiency and flexibility in NCAA incorporation are decisive for successful catalytic application; use of NCAA for selective protein conjugation facilitates application in site-selective immobilization; combination of protein folding analyses in high-throughput-screens with automatization fosters the application of NCAA in directed evolution to engineer reactivity and stability of enzymes; going a step further, NCAA can provide functional groups for designed biocatalysts for new-to-nature reactions. The proposed research affords new tools and applications, and the newly designed catalysts are envisioned to be important biotechnological processes for a greener, more environmentally friendly production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Coordinateur

STICHTING VU
Contribution nette de l'UE
€ 548 740,80
Adresse
DE BOELELAAN 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
Pays-Bas

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Région
West-Nederland Noord-Holland Groot-Amsterdam
Type d’activité
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Liens
Coût total
Aucune donnée

Participants (7)

Partenaires (10)