Glycoside Production (2021-2023)
funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for economics, regional development and energy
We are conducting research in several funded projects. You can find more information about Glycoside Production below. If you are interested in more details and discussions about our projects, do not hesitate to contact us.
For more information please contact Dominik Grimm.
Project Description
Project Information:
Saccharides and glycosides are a diverse group of naturally occurring substances with a wide range of applications and a multi-billion € market. Health-promoting functions have been identified for some specific oligosaccharides. For example, human breast milk contains oligosaccharides (human milk oligosaccharides, HMO), which support the immune system and brain development of the breast-fed child and are therefore advantageously used in infant formula. Due to their probiotic and immunostimulant effects, they are also applied as dietary supplements.
The big challenge for this product class is an economic synthesis of these compounds.
Especially due to the high complexity of sugar chemistry and the necessity of protection groups to prevent the formation of side products, stereospecific, biological production systems are superior to those in the chemical industry. Two biological manufacturing processes that take advantage of the high selectivity and specificity of enzymes are possible. The oligosaccharides can be produced in vivo, i.e. fermentatively with the help of microorganisms, or in vitrousing isolated enzymes.
In this project, a novel enzyme platform for glycosyltransferases (GTs) will be established with the support of innovative in silico methods, such as molecular dynamics analysis and machine learning for structure and function prediction, as well as biofoundry based automated DNA assembly and combinatorial domain assembly, together with high throughput screening. By specifically modifying natural enzymes, GTs with new properties will be created and tested for industrial use. To ensure an economic production of glycosides, suitable in vitro methods for the activation of the applied monosaccharides will be developed as another aspect of the project. Further, in vivo production strains will be metabolically engineered. Finally, the established procedures will be compared with each other.
The production of two target structures will be used in the study as a proof of concept for the different principles. The created enzyme-platform shall then be the basis for the synthesis of diverse sugar structures, which are currently not economically accessible neither from nature nor via chemical synthesis.
Project title: Glycoside Production (LSB-2011-0007)
Project Partners
Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences & TUM Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability
Professorship for Bioinformatics
Project Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Dominik Grimm
Project Advisors: Florian Haselbeck, Sofia Martello
Technische Universität München
Chair of Chemistry of Biogenic Resources
Project Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Volker Sieber
Technische Universität München
Chair of Theoretical Biophysics (T38) – Biomolecular Dynamics
Project Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Martin Zacharias
CASCAT GmbH
Thermo Fisher Scientific GENEART GmbH
Wacker Chemie AG
Funding: The project is supported by funds of the Bavarian State Ministry for Economics, Regional Development and Energy
Publications
Computational identification of protein complexes from network interactions: Present state, challenges, and the way forward.
S Omranian, Z Nikoloski, DG Grimm
Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, Vol. 20, 2022
(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2022.05.049)
