Metagenomes for Improving Biocatalysis: Screening of Gene-specific Amplicons

Gene‐specific amplicons from metagenomes as an alternative to directed evolution for enzyme screening: a case study using phenylacetaldehyde reductases

Screening gene-specific amplicons from metagenomes (S-GAM) is a highly promising technique for the isolation of genes encoding enzymes for biochemical and industrial applications. From metagenomes, we isolated phenylacetaldehyde reductase (par) genes, which code for an enzyme that catalyzes the production of various Prelog's chiral alcohols. Nearly full-length par genes were amplified by PCR fr...

Archaeal Enzymes and Applications in Industrial Biocatalysts

Archaeal enzymes are playing an important role in industrial biotechnology. Many representatives of organisms living in "extreme" conditions, the so-called Extremophiles, belong to the archaeal kingdom of life. This paper will review studies carried by the Exeter group and others regarding archaeal enzymes that have important applications in commercial biocatalysis. Some of these biocatalysts a...

Biodiversity for biocatalysis: a review of the α/β-hydrolase fold superfamily of esterases-lipases discovered in metagenomes

Biocatalyst development by directed evolution.

Biocatalysis has emerged as a great addition to traditional chemical processes for production of bulk chemicals and pharmaceuticals. To overcome the limitations of naturally occurring enzymes, directed evolution has become the most important tool for improving critical traits of biocatalysts such as thermostability, activity, selectivity, and tolerance towards organic solvents for industrial ap...

Validation of a genus-specific gene; TPS, used as internal control in quantitative Real Time PCR of transgenic cotton

Identification of genes with invariant levels of gene expression is a prerequisite for validating transcriptomic changes accompanying development. Ideally expression of these genes should be independent of the morphogenetic process or environmental condition.We report here the validation of internal control gene i.e.TPS (trehalose 6-phosphate-synthase) in cotton (Gossypium spp), using TaqMan sy...