Objective
Creating true molecular complexity in a modular, combinatorial fashion is one of the great visions in applied enzymology and chemistry. Nature achieves this feat by using modular biosynthetic enzymes. These microbial proteins generate many of the most important natural products of therapeutic value, including antiinfective, anticancer, and immunosuppressive agents. To construct such compounds, each enzyme module incorporates and often modifies one building block in an assembly line-like process. Among the known modular enzymes, the recently discovered trans-acyltransferase polyketide synthases (trans-AT PKSs) exhibit an unparalleled biosynthetic diversity and tendency to form extensively mosaic-like hybrid enzymes during evolution. As a consequence, many bioactive polyketides generated by these enzymes exhibit combinatorial-like hybrid structures. This phenomenon provides unprecedented opportunities to understand the evolution of metabolic complexity and to apply these principles to metabolic engineering through parts-based synthetic biology. SynPlex will use a novel hypothesis-driven, multi-faceted strategy to interrogate and utilize the distinct combinatorial properties and metabolic richness of trans-AT PKSs. This multidisciplinary project aims to (i) unravel principles of how mosaic PKSs and their metabolites are formed in Nature, (ii) characterize non-canonical PKS components, (iii) create a toolbox of PKS parts for synthetic biology based on these evolutionary and biochemical principles, and (iv) harness the combinatorial potential of trans-AT systems to access complex natural as well as non-natural products. This innovative concept that merges evolutionary biology, enzymology, synthetic biology, and chemistry will result in a broad understanding of these most complex of all known proteins. It has the potential to provide generic, robust synthetic biology platforms to engineer complex polyketides with a wide range of features in a predictable way.
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.
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology metabolic engineering
- natural sciences biological sciences synthetic biology
- natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
- 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.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
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.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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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.
(opens in new window) ERC-2016-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland
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.