Project

EpiSwitch: Characterization and engineering of the specificity determinants of carbohydrate epimerases to achieve a specificity switch.

Acronym
EpiSwitch
Code
G0F3417N
Duration
01 January 2017 → 31 December 2019
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Promotor
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Biochemistry and metabolism
    • Systems biology
  • Medical and health sciences
    • Medical biochemistry and metabolism
    • Medical biochemistry and metabolism
    • Medical biochemistry and metabolism
  • Engineering and technology
    • Catalysis and reacting systems engineering
    • Chemical product design and formulation
    • General chemical and biochemical engineering
    • Process engineering
    • Separation and membrane technologies
    • Transport phenomena
    • Other (bio)chemical engineering
    • Biomaterials engineering
    • Biological system engineering
    • Biomaterials engineering
    • Biomechanical engineering
    • Other (bio)medical engineering
    • Environmental engineering and biotechnology
    • Industrial biotechnology
    • Other biotechnology, bio-engineering and biosystem engineering
Keywords
enzyme engineering rare sugars carbohydrate epimerases
 
Project description

Carbohydrate epimerases (CEP) are very interesting enzymes, inverting the configuration of a sugar’s hydroxyl group through a single reaction without prior activation. Our recent CEP classification system revealed a remarkably broad diversity of substrates and products is handled by CEP1 family members. In this project, we aim to identify the specificity determinants of these enzymes by means of mutational analysis.