Excelzyme: A Swiss University-Industry Collaboration for Accelerated Biocatalyst Development.

Excelzyme, an enzyme engineering platform located at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, is dedicated to accelerating the development of tailored biocatalysts for large-scale industrial applications. Leveraging automation and advanced computational techniques, including machine learning, efficient biocatalysts can be generated in short timeframes. Toward this goal, Excelzyme systematically selects suitable protein scaffolds as the foundation for constructing complex enzyme libraries, thereby enhancing sequence and structural biocatalyst diversity.

Hairy root transformation of Brassica rapa with bacterial halogenase genes and regeneration to adult plants to modify production of indolic compounds.

During the last years halogenated compounds have drawn a lot of attention. Metabolites with one or more halogen atoms are often more active than their non-halogenated derivatives like indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 4-Cl-IAA. Within this work, bacterial flavin-dependent tryptophan halogenase genes were inserted into Brassica rapa ssp.

An Unusual Flavin-Dependent Halogenase from the Metagenome of the Marine Sponge Theonella swinhoei WA.

Uncultured bacteria from sponges have been demonstrated to be responsible for the generation of many potent, bioactive natural products including halogenated metabolites.1 The identification of gene clusters from the metagenomes of such bacterial communities enables the discovery of enzymes that mediate new and useful chemistries and allows insight to be gained into the biogenesis of potentially pharmacologically important natural products. Here we report a new pathway to the keramamides (krm); the first functional evidence for the existence of a distinct producer in the Theonella swinhoei WA chemotype is revealed, and a key enzyme on the pathway, a unique flavin-dependent halogenase with a broad substrate specificity, with potential as a useful new biocatalytic tool, is described.

Characterization of the Aminotransferase ThdN from Thienodolin Biosynthesis in Streptomyces albogriseolus.

In Streptomyces albogriseolus the indolethiophen alkaloid thienodolin is derived from tryptophan. The first step in thienodolin biosynthesis is the regioselective chlorination of tryptophan in the 6-position of the indole ring. The second step is catalyzed by the aminotransferase ThdN.

Application and Modification of Flavin-Dependent Halogenases.

The application of flavin-dependent halogenases is hampered by their lack of stability under reaction conditions. However, first attempts to improve halogenase stability by error-prone PCR have resulted in mutants with higher temperature stability. To facilitate the screening for mutants with higher activity, a high-throughput assay was developed.