2020-09-24 |
Terpenes and terpenoids are one of the focus topics in the Industrial Biotechnology working group. Two recently published publications illustrate the high level of expertise in this area of natural products, which is important for industrial applications, and show completely new possibilities.
The work "Analyzing and Engineering the Product Selectivity of a 2-Methylenebornane Synthase" published in ACS Synthetic Biology demonstrates how a large number of unusual terpenes and terpenoids can be produced with the help of enzyme variants produced by means of protein engineering. In addition to the gained knowledge about the product composition-relevant amino acids of the investigated C11 terpene synthase, the approach enables access to possible new types of aroma, pharmaceutical or other bioactive substances.
The work "Investigation of monoterpenoid resistance mechanisms in Pseudomonas putida and their consequences for biotransformations" published in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology aimed to identify the mechanisms responsible for the high monoterpenoid tolerance of certain Pseudomonas putida strains. They were characterized in detail and surprisingly it was found that the elimination of a factor that actually provides high tolerance can significantly improve the efficiency of a biotechnological terpenoid conversion process.
Photo credits: © DECHEMA-Forschungsinstitut (DFI)
