|
Whitaker International Fellow, 2007-08
Home Institution: Stanford University
Host Country, Institution: United Kingdom, University College London
Project Title: Evolution and Engineering of Transketolase
Project Abstract:
Transketolase (TK) is a key enzyme in metabolic regulation, a key determinant in the proliferation rate of cancerous cells, and is also a valuable biocatalyst for the synthesis of complex sugars used as pharmaceutical intermediates. The full length TK protein is currently used in a small-scale biocatalytic process for xylulose-5-phosphate synthesis and the application to larger-scale processes on new reactions is currently limited by poor activity and the dissociation of the dimeric enzyme under biocatalytic process conditions. This project aims to test the hypothesis that TK biocatalysts with high activity and improved stability can be obtained from the C-terminal truncation mutant of TK that is not susceptible to deactivation by dimer dissociation.
|
