High through-put generation of thermostable enzymes in thermophile cells

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K06925
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biofunction/Bioprocess
• Research Institution: Tottori University
• Principal Investigator: SUZUKI Hirokazu 鳥取大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (80462696)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 好熱菌 / ジオバチラス / 耐熱化酵素 / 変異ライブラリ / スクリーニング / 進化工学 / 酵素利用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Organisms produce diverse enzymes for metabolism. Enzymes serve as excellent catalysts that exhibit substrate and steric specificities and can be used in various industrial fields. However, enzymes are generally instable even under temperate conditions where organisms survive, and therefore, numerous enzymes cannot be industrially utilized despite having beneficial catalytic activities. In this study, we developed new platforms to generate thermostable (stable) enzyme variants from instable enzymes. The outcomes include not only efficient approaches to generate random mutant libraries that use thermophilic cells as host but also those to screen thermostable enzyme variants in the libraries.

Free Research Field

酵素工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究成果は，耐熱化酵素群の大規模かつ高速な創出（ハイスループット化）を可能にする。将来的には，耐熱化酵素の創出を半自動化させることも可能かもしれない。耐熱化酵素のハイスループット創出は，有用酵素の耐熱化（安定化）ひいては産業界における実用化を飛躍的に促進させる。従来不可能であった有用酵素の実用化は，新たな有用物質（医薬品や化成品）の生産や新産業創成など様々な波及効果をもたらす。よって本成果は，地域活性化を含む幅広い社会貢献につながるものである。