Project description
Novel enzymes to fight undesirable bacteria in winemaking
The EU is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of wine, contributing half of the world's production. Winemaking requires bacteria, but some are undesirable. Sulphites are commonly used to control them, although alternative, chemical-free approaches are preferable. Endolysins are hydrolytic enzymes used by viruses that infect bacteria (phages) to degrade the host’s peptidoglycan layer. They have shown potential in medical and veterinary applications but have hardly been explored in the food and beverage industry. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ENDOWINE project aims to characterise endolysins in phages infecting wine via in silico investigations, select candidates and investigate their activity in wine fermentation experiments.
Objective
Grapes are the largest fruit crop worldwide and in 2023, 15.9 billion litres of wine was produced in the European Union alone. Many challenges exist in the process of converting grapes into wine, including those associated with the resident wine microbiota. This microbiota consists of several micro-organisms, including Oenococcus oeni and a variety of other lactic acid bacteria. Some members, such as O. oeni, contribute mainly positively to the final product. However, there are certain species that are responsible for organoleptic defects. Therefore, protection measures are in place to target spoiling bacteria, of which the use of sulphites is one of the most common tactics. As reduction of chemical preservatives is a relevant theme in recent years, the search for alternatives is ongoing. Microbial-based alternatives are increasingly attractive and meet the demands for chemical-free food products. One such promising alternative involves the use of endolysins, which are phage-encoded hydrolytic enzymes used by phages to degrade the peptidoglycan layer of the host bacterium at the end of their lytic replication cycle.
ENDOWINE will strive to exploit phage-derived endolysins as antimicrobials in wine. With rapid activity and high specificity among the many reasons, endolysins are particularly promising. Very few experiments using endolysins in food products have been performed, but their potential has already been demonstrated in the medical and veterinary setting. Furthermore, egg white lysozyme is already applied by the wine industry.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, we will first determine the diversity of endolysins in phages infecting wine LAB through in silico analysis. Candidate endolysins will be chosen, cloned, overexpressed and purified in Escherichia coli, after which their enzymatic activities and their antimicrobial spectra will be determined. Finally, their impact on wine will be examined in small and large scale fermentation experiments.
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 biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture fruit growing
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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33000 Bordeaux
France
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