HOTZYME
Systematic screening for novel hydrolases from hot environments
| Coordinatore | KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Organization address
postcode: 1017 contact info |
| Nazionalità Coordinatore | Denmark [DK] |
| Totale costo | 7˙740˙992 € |
| EC contributo | 5˙518˙544 € |
| Programma | FP7-KBBE
Specific Programme "Cooperation": Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology |
| Code Call | FP7-KBBE-2010-4 |
| Funding Scheme | CP-IP |
| Anno di inizio | 2011 |
| Periodo (anno-mese-giorno) | 2011-04-01 - 2015-03-31 |
Partecipanti
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET | DK | coordinator | 1˙207˙873.00 |
| 2 |
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Organization address
address: Northcote House, The Queen's Drive contact info |
UK (EXETER) | participant | 465˙516.00 |
| 3 |
MICRODISH BV
Organization address
address: HAZENAKKER 18 contact info |
NL (HOUTEN) | participant | 464˙160.00 |
| 4 |
EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR RESEARCH & FINANCING LTD
Organization address
address: HAMARVA STREET 15 contact info |
IL (BINYAMINA) | participant | 452˙000.00 |
| 5 |
NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS - NTUA
Organization address
address: HEROON POLYTECHNIOU 9 ZOGRAPHOU CAMPUS contact info |
EL (ATHINA) | participant | 403˙800.00 |
| 6 |
STIFTELSEN NORGES GEOTEKNISKEINSTITUTT
Organization address
address: Sognsveien 72 contact info |
NO (OSLO) | participant | 400˙943.00 |
| 7 |
NOVOZYMES A/S
Organization address
address: Krogshoejvej 36 contact info |
DK (BAGSVAERD) | participant | 396˙032.00 |
| 8 |
WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Organization address
address: DROEVENDAALSESTEEG 4 contact info |
NL (WAGENINGEN) | participant | 366˙220.00 |
| 9 |
S.N. WINOGRADSKY INSTITUTE OF MICROBIOLOGY OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Organization address
address: PROSPEKT 60 LETIYA OKTYABRYA 7/2 contact info |
RU (MOSKVA) | participant | 350˙000.00 |
| 10 |
Montana State University Bozeman
Organization address
address: Montana Hall 309 contact info |
US (Bozeman) | participant | 304˙000.00 |
| 11 |
CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE
Organization address
address: Piazzale Aldo Moro 7 contact info |
IT (ROMA) | participant | 300˙000.00 |
| 12 |
SIGMA-ALDRICH PRODUCTION GMBH
Organization address
address: INDUSTRIESTRASSE 25 contact info |
CH (BUCHS) | participant | 210˙000.00 |
| 13 |
UNIVERSITAET DUISBURG-ESSEN
Organization address
address: UNIVERSITAETSSTRASSE 2 contact info |
DE (ESSEN) | participant | 198˙000.00 |
Mappa
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Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)
'There is a strong need for new thermostable hydrolases with appropriate performance and/or novel functionalities that could provide huge savings in time, money and energy for industrial processes. The HotZyme project aims to identify such enzymes from hot terrestial environments, using metagenomic screening methods. New bioinfomatic tools will be developed to facilitate function prediction of genes from metagenomes that show low or no sequence homology to enzymes of known function. A range of high-throughput screening technologies will be employed to identify novel hydrolases. The consortium is composed of 13 partners from 10 European countries plus one partner from USA. The strong expertise in Microbiology, Moleculary Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Geochemistry, Nanotechnology and Bioinformatics from our partners will be integrated in the project to ensure the fulfilment of the proposed tasks. Importantly, the five industrial partners, including three SMEs, will seek to commercialize the project results, thus ensuring a European wide impact, post project.'
Introduzione (Teaser)
New biotechnological advances are prompting the need to harness enzymes with novel functions for catalytic reactions. In particular, there is an increased demand for thermostable enzymes for use in bioethanol production, and pulp and starch processing.
Descrizione progetto (Article)
Catalysis plays an important role in many industrial processes, speeding the rate of a chemical reaction by lowering the energy required for the reaction to take place. Enzymes are a promising 'green' alternative to synthetic chemicals, yet very few are produced industrially. Finding or generating enzymes stable at the very high temperatures required of many industrial processes would have broad-reaching benefits. The search for heat-resistant enzymes provided the impetus for the EU-funded project 'Systematic screening for novel hydrolases from hot environments' (http://hotzyme.com/ (HOTZYME)).
Project scientists are using used state-of-the-art metagenomics screening methods. Predicting protein function as opposed to sequence screening allows functional screening of the collective genomes of microbes in their natural environments. The gene pool of interest comes from microbes living in hot terrestrial environments and the search is on for hydrolases. These enzymes catalyse hydrolysis, the splitting of a molecule through the addition of hydrogen and hydroxyl groups.
Researchers reported new findings regarding the promising enzymatic degradation activity of some isolates recovered from hot environments. These include isolation of a Thermus strain capable of degrading xylan at high temperatures and a thermoanaerobacter that shows resistance to epoxide. Two additional metagenomes were obtained from environmental sampling.
Other project achievements include the development of protein classifiers and a tracking system for samples, strains and libraries. Scientists developed different screening methods for rapid screening of lactonase and hydrolase enzymes. These enzymes were cloned and characterised for their substrate specificity and functional activity. In addition, eight expression libraries have been constructed and subjected to functional screening for novel hydrolases.
The expected final results include patenting of novel cellulases, xylases, xanthan gum degrading enzymes, and organisms with interesting polymer degradation characteristics.
HOTZYME findings should bridge the knowledge gap regarding the existence of more efficient enzymes at high temperatures than those produced by fungi to carry out cellulose hydrolysis. Important applications include bioethanol production from biomass conversion, offering significant environmental benefits compared to fossil fuels in terms of greenhouse gases.