Developing tools for heterologous expression of thermozymes
Pau Ximeno, student from Barcelona University will be working with us on his bachelor thesis for the Degree in Biotechnology. He will be involved in different tasks related to the development of molecular tools for the expression of thermophilic proteins in Thermus thermophilus.However he will also test the production, purification and activity of proteins in other alternative expression hosts.
Main content
Proteins from thermophilic microorganisms (thermozymes) are of interest in the industrial fields. Enzymes from thermophiles normally show increased stability and activity despite protein denaturants such as heat, detergents, organic solvents. As thermophiles have adapted their genomes to high temperatures, their heterologous expression in mesophiles is often problematic. Thermus thermophilus is a relevant host for overcoming these limitations and different vectors have already been described. We aim however to adapt this vectors to facilitate the sub cloning of candidate genes, speeding up the expression screening of protein candidates.