STTR Phase I: DNA Assembly for Directed Expression of Industrial Enzymes Using a Novel Hyperthermophilic Genome

This Small Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project aims to exploit a newly sequenced genome of a hyperthermophilic microorganism for the production of thermal stable enzymes that are useful for molecular engineering and industrial application. The targeted DNA coding regions can be prepared for recombinant protein expression without extended manipulations in restriction digest and ligation reactions. Small-scale production of targeted gene products can be quickly evaluated for solubility and stability to determine potential scale-up production. The procedure is most attractive for future studies to implement point mutations, create chimeric enzymes and perform domain shuffling for optimizing enzyme functionality. The impact of the proposal is of significant commercial value as well as having social impact in production new biocatalytic protein that may be more robust and thermal stable for industrial processes, including detergents, textile, food processing, medical applications and energy. Moreover, novel enzymes that are more active and effective for drug intermediates would be immensely useful for biotransformation in the pharmaceutical industry and consequently affect world health in general.