<
https://theconversation.com/bioprospecting-the-unknown-how-bacterial-enzymes-encoded-by-unknown-genes-might-help-clean-up-pollution-216080>
"Enzymes are biological nanomachines. They make almost all of life’s chemistry
happen, when and where required.
Because of their versatility and power, enzymes can be very useful for
biotechnology. Taken outside of living cells, they can be used to synthesise or
modify pharmaceuticals or to degrade potential pollutants.
Bacteria contain genes that encode an unfathomable range of enzymes. However,
scientists have barely scratched the surface of this potential because 99% of
bacteria cannot be grown in laboratory conditions, and hence are largely
unstudied.
My team has addressed this by treating the entirety of bacterial DNA in soil –
representing thousands of bacterial species – as “genetic software”.
In our new research we show how we can transfer this software to laboratory
bacterial strains and then screen for desirable new functions and isolate the
enzymes responsible."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
