Publications by authors named "Mario De Simone"
Article Synopsis
- Protein engineering is important for improving enzymes in industrial biocatalysis, specifically focusing on a bacterial dioxygenase called NOV1 that converts isoeugenol into vanillin, a widely-used flavoring agent.
- The study utilized a tool called Zymspot to identify beneficial distant mutations and created 41 enzyme variants, leading to two promising versions that showed a nearly 10-fold increase in activity and up to 40-fold improved stability compared to the wild-type enzyme.
- The optimized enzyme variant 1D2 demonstrated effective bioconversion, producing significantly more vanillin than the wild-type, highlighting the potential of distal protein engineering for enhancing enzyme properties and its relevance for biotechnological applications.
The influence of porosity on the mechanical behaviour of composite laminates represents a complex problem that involves many variables. Therefore, the evaluation of the type and volume content of porosity in a composite specimen is important for quality control and for predicting material behaviour during service. A suitable way to evaluate the porosity content in composites is by using nonlinear ultrasonics because of their sensitivity to small cracks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiocatalysis is a key tool in both green chemistry and biorefinery fields. NOV1 is a dioxygenase that catalyzes the one-step, coenzyme-free oxidation of isoeugenol into vanillin and holds enormous biotechnological potential for the complete valorization of lignin as a sustainable starting material for biobased chemicals, polymers, and materials. This study integrates computational, kinetic, structural, and biophysical approaches to characterize a new NOV1 variant featuring improved activity and stability compared to those of the wild type.
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