BIOTECHNOLOGY 59
Microscope image of Trichosporon oleaginosus
A NEW MOLECULAR TOOLKIT
for design of bioactive agents N
Synthetic biotechnology enables sustainable production of bioactive natural substances
ature provides humans with a wide variety of valuable bioactive
agents ranging from vitamins over vital fatty acids to cancer- inhibiting substances. Many of these substances are diffi cult to obtain directly from the environment or cannot be produced eff ectively by chemical total synthesis. Scientists at Germany’s
Technical University of Munich (TUM) are taking a new approach: using synthetic biotechnology methodologies they produce omega-3 fatty acids in a sustainable manner. Moreover, they have developed a biochemical strategy to synthesise natural and completely artifi cial medical agents by a templated enzyme design process.
Countless medical substances and nutrients are found in nature. However, these are often either diffi cult to obtain or their industrial extraction harms plant and animal populations in the habitats they are derived from. T e bark of the Pacifi c yew tree (Taxus brevifolia), for example, contains Taxol, an agent that is used in the treatment of breast, ovary and lung cancers. Unfortunately, this yew species is not widespread and it is protected.
Essential omega-3 fatty acids, a component of infant nutrition, for example, are currently produced predominantly from fi sh and crustaceans, placing a further pressure on the already strongly aff ected marine ecosystem.
www.scientistlive.com T e aim of the workgroup
led by professor T omas Brück at the TUM, is to obtain chemical substances in a sustainable manner on an industrial scale using methods of biochemistry, bioinformatics and biotechnology.
Taxadiene synthase, with the substrate geranylgeranyl diphosphate in the active bag of the enzyme. The green dots show the catalytically relevant Mg2 + ions, which are involved in the initial hydrolysis of the phosphate residue
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