Bioproduction of value-added compounds

Biofuels

Processes that synthesize biofuels from renewable carbon sources are important for an increasingly decarbonised future. We engineer novel whole-cell biocatalysts using methods from protein, metabolic and genomic engineering and combine them with high-throughput screening technologies. Our current focus is on second generation molecules, i.e. fuels other than fatty acid methyl esters or ethanol.

Enzymes and processes for sugar production

Previously, our research focused on the efficient production of rare sugars. For this we optimized enzymes by means of directed evolution and high-throughput screening and developed optimized intensified production processes using simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatography.

References

A. Bosshart, S. Panke and Ma. Bechtold: Systematic Optimization of Interface Interactions Increases the Thermostability of a Multimeric Enzyme, Angewandte Chemie, 2013, external page DOI.

A. Bosshart, N. Wagner, L. Lei, S. Panke and M. Bechtold: Highly efficient production of rare sugars D-psicose and L-tagatose by two engineered D-tagatose epimerases, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2015, external page DOI.

N. Wagner, A. Bosshart, J. Failmezger, M. Bechtold and S. Panke: A Separation-Integrated Cascade Reaction to Overcome Thermodynamic Limitations in Rare-Sugar Synthesis, Angewandte Chemie, 2015, external page DOI.

N. Wagner, E. Håkansson, S. Wahler, S. Panke and M. Bechtold: Multi-objective optimization for the economic production of D-psicose using simulated moving bed chromatography, Journal of Chromatography A, 2015, external page DOI.

Vitamins

Vitamins are organic substances that if not taken up as part of the diet lead to severe or even life-threatening diseases, and include for example important enzyme cofactors. Therefore, industrial vitamin production is important for various applications from pharmaceutical to food and feed applications. Of the thirteen vitamins currently known, few are produced by biological synthesis. We recently developed methods for the optimization of vitamin B2 (riboflavin)-producing microbes using metabolicand genomic engineering and high-throughput screening. In contrast, for vitamin B7 (biotin) no biosynthetic process is currently available, and we work on novel routes using metabolic engineering, directed evolution and high-throughput screening techniques.

References

A. Meyer, R. Pellaux, S. Potot, K. Becker, H.-P. Hohmann, S. Panke and M. Held: Optimization of a whole-cell biocatalyst by employing genetically encoded product sensors inside nanolitre reactors, Nature Chemistry, 2015, external page DOI.