PEROXIDIV5 - Phylogentic and Functional Diversity of Fungal Heme-Peroxidases (PeroxiDiv)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Hofrichter
• Subject Area: Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology ; Biological and Biomimetic Chemistry ; Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 284292800

Secretory fungal heme-peroxidases and heme-peroxygenases are found in three distinct protein (super)families. This large genetic pool represents a unique source of functional and catalytic diversity, which has already started to be exploited in industry but needs to be further explored to foster its broader application. PeroxiDiv associates three partners with competences in environmental genomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry/enzymology and biotechnology to reveal, by an original approach of targeted sequence capture, the diversity of peroxidase-encoding genes expressed by fungal communities in distinct environments (grassland and forest soils, wood). This approach will allow the isolation of a large number of so-far unknown peroxidases with possibly novel biochemical properties, with focus on the heme-thiolate peroxidase (super)family including unspecific peroxygenases (UPO, EC 1.11.2.1) and the dye-decolorizing peroxidase (super)family (DyP, EC 1.11.1.19). Their analysis in silico (phylogeny, 3D modeling) will lead to the identification of new variants that will be (over)expressed and characterized with respect to their catalytic performance (substrate spectra, reaction products, stability, kinetic data, etc.). Thus, this comprehensive approach will lastly provide an enzymatic toolbox of heme-biocatalysts for industry relevant chemical reactions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Roland Marmeisse; Professor Dr. Pierre Peyret