Projects AG W. Streit

Modern Biotechnology requires very active and robust enzymes for a wide range of applications. The desired enzymes often have to function under very extreme conditions (i.e. high temperature, extreme pH, high solvent or salt concentrations, etc..). These biocatalysts are encoded by the DNAs of cultivated and non-cultivated microbes. Today the majority of all microbes on earth are still not cultivated. Only 1% of the available microbes can be cultivated. However, to unleash the vast potential of the cultivated and non-cultivated microbes we use metagenomics and other technologies. One of the main projects in the lab focuses on the isolation of genes encoding for novel biocatalysts or bioactive compounds with unusual properties that function under extreme conditions. We are very much interested in the isolation of enzymes such as lipases, and decarboxylases. Furthermore we are interested in enzymes that are involved in cellulose degradation for the production of bioenergy and other enzymes linked to sugar modifications. For this purpose we develop novel screening protocols. All the identified enzymes are usually characterized in detail on a molecular and biochemical level.

Within our third project we are focusing on a comparative genome analyses of selected Gram-negative bacteria with relevance to biotechnology and microbial ecology. One of the microbes studied is the broad host range and nitrogen fixing symbiont Rhizobium sp. NGR234. Within this project the complete genome sequence has been published. A close relative, the strain the S. fredii USDA257, is also beeing sequenced by our lab. Furthermore we have established the genome sequence of Burkholderia glumae PG1 together with the IMET. Lastly, we are sequencing a novel Janthinobacterium species that was recently isolated. All these genome sequences are established as part of national/international collaborations together with the Göttingen Genome laboratory.