BIOINSPIRED DESIGN AND DIRECTED EVOLUTION OF IRON CONTAINING ENZYMES FOR GREENSYNTHETIC PROCESSES AND BIOREMEDIATION
Impact/Purpose:
Enzymes are nature’s catalysts, performing highly-efficient and highly-specific chemical transformations – these typically result in very low levels of polluting byproducts and thus could potentially be used for bioremediation, conversion of chemical energy, and production of medicinal agents in an environmentally-friendly manner. We propose using a detailed mechanistic understanding of intermediates employed by biological systems as a basis for synthetic design or directed evolution, to achieve green synthetic processes and bioremediative agents. Our challenge is to create catalysts (natural or synthetic) that match the efficiency of nature and are economically-viable, while contributing a minimal amount of pollution to the environment. Three iron containing enzyme systems, methane monooxygenase (MMO), benzoate 1,2-dihydrodiol oxygenase (BZDOS) and the halogenase CytC3, catalyze environmentally- or commercially-important processes and will be used as templates for bioinspired design and/or directed evolution.
Description:
SU833912
Title: Bioinspired Design and Directed Evolution of Iron Containing Enzymes for Green
Synthetic Processes and BioremediationEdward I. Solomon, Shaun D. Wong, Lei Liu, Caleb B. Bell, IIICynthia Nolt-Helms
Project Period: August 15, 2008 - August 14, 2009
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: 5th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet
Research Categories: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development, P3 Challenge Area - Energy, P3 Challenge Area - Materials & Chemistry, P3 Challenge Area - Water
Description
Objective:Enzymes are nature’s catalysts, performing highly-efficient and highly-specific chemical transformations – these typically result in very low levels of polluting byproducts and thus could potentially be used for bioremediation, conversion of chemical energy, and production of medicinal agents in an environmentally-friendly manner. We propose using a detailed mechanistic understanding of intermediates employed by biological systems as a basis for synthetic design or directed evolution, to achieve green synthetic processes and bioremediative agents. Our challenge is to create catalysts (natural or synthetic) that match the efficiency of nature and are economically-viable, while contributing a minimal amount of pollution to the environment. Three iron containing enzyme systems, methane monooxygenase (MMO), benzoate 1,2-dihydrodiol oxygenase (BZDOS) and the halogenase CytC3, catalyze environmentally- or commercially-important processes and will be used as templates for bioinspired design and/or directed evolution.
Approach: The reaction mechanisms of these enzymes are unknown because geometric descriptions of their key intermediates are not currently available. We propose using nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy to obtain this information. These data will be coupled to electronic characterizations of these enzyme intermediates to provide a detailed description of the reaction mechanism. With knowledge of their reaction mechanisms, we will proceed to design biomimetic inorganic model complexes, and/or engineer the natural enzymes for industrial use in Phase II of this Grant. Our target enzyme systems have applications for removal of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere (MMO), alternative energy sources (MMO), bioremediation (BZDOS), and environmentally friendly chemical syntheses (BZDOS and CytC3).
Supplemental Keywords: Materials and chemicals, green chemistry, biotechnology, alternative energy, environmentally-benign,
Record Details:
Record Type:PROJECT(
ABSTRACT
)
Start Date:08/15/2008
Completion Date:08/14/2009
Record ID:
201096
Keywords:
MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS, GREEN CHEMISTRY, BIOTECHNOLOGY, ALTERNATIVE ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTALLY-BENIGN,
Related Organizations:
Role
:OWNER
Organization Name
:STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Citation
:Stanford
State
:CA
Zip Code
:94305
Project Information:
Approach
:The reaction mechanisms of these enzymes are unknown because geometric descriptions of their key intermediates are not currently available. We propose using nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy to obtain this information. These data will be coupled to electronic characterizations of these enzyme intermediates to provide a detailed description of the reaction mechanism. With knowledge of their reaction mechanisms, we will proceed to design biomimetic inorganic model complexes, and/or engineer the natural enzymes for industrial use in Phase II of this Grant. Our target enzyme systems have applications for removal of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere (MMO), alternative energy sources (MMO), bioremediation (BZDOS), and environmentally friendly chemical syntheses (BZDOS and CytC3).
Cost
:$10,000.00
Research Component
:Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development
Approach
:The reaction mechanisms of these enzymes are unknown because geometric descriptions of their key intermediates are not currently available. We propose using nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy to obtain this information. These data will be coupled to electronic characterizations of these enzyme intermediates to provide a detailed description of the reaction mechanism. With knowledge of their reaction mechanisms, we will proceed to design biomimetic inorganic model complexes, and/or engineer the natural enzymes for industrial use in Phase II of this Grant. Our target enzyme systems have applications for removal of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere (MMO), alternative energy sources (MMO), bioremediation (BZDOS), and environmentally friendly chemical syntheses (BZDOS and CytC3).
Cost
:$10,000.00
Research Component
:P3 Challenge Area - Water
Approach
:The reaction mechanisms of these enzymes are unknown because geometric descriptions of their key intermediates are not currently available. We propose using nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy to obtain this information. These data will be coupled to electronic characterizations of these enzyme intermediates to provide a detailed description of the reaction mechanism. With knowledge of their reaction mechanisms, we will proceed to design biomimetic inorganic model complexes, and/or engineer the natural enzymes for industrial use in Phase II of this Grant. Our target enzyme systems have applications for removal of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere (MMO), alternative energy sources (MMO), bioremediation (BZDOS), and environmentally friendly chemical syntheses (BZDOS and CytC3).
Cost
:$10,000.00
Research Component
:P3 Challenge Area - Materials ject type
:EPA Grant
:
The reaction mechanisms of these enzymes are unknown because geometric descriptions of their key intermediates are not currently available. We propose using nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy to obtain this information. These data will be coupled to electronic characterizations of these enzyme intermediates to provide a detailed description of the reaction mechanism. With knowledge of their reaction mechanisms, we will proceed to design biomimetic inorganic model complexes, and/or engineer the natural enzymes for industrial use in Phase II of this Grant. Our target enzyme systems have applications for removal of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere (MMO), alternative energy sources (MMO), bioremediation (BZDOS), and environmentally friendly chemical syntheses (BZDOS and CytC3).
Cost
:$10,000.00
Research Component
:P3 Challenge Area - Energy
Project IDs:
ID Code
:SU833912
Project type
:EPA Grant