| TECHNOLOGY |
Through wholesale extraction of environmental DNA, Co. discovers enzymes from organisms that CANNOT BE CULTURED IN THE LAB, which comprise about 99.9% of the microorganisms in many environments. And by taking samples from places as different as YELLOWSTONE National Park, ICELAND & KENYA, Co has global access to microbial DIVERSITY.
The DNA is chopped, gene fragments are put into vectors, & the vectors are inserted into EASY-TO-CULTURE microorganisms such as E. coli & engineered strains of Streptomyces & Bacillus that express the proteins encoded by the genes. Proteins with enzymatic activity are rapidly identified by various screens. Promising enzymes are further developed by DIRECT
ED EVOLUTION through single-site mutations or gene reassembly.
This approach to discovery has yielded > than 2 MILLION unique genomes comprising billions of genes in Co.’s environmental libraries. Co “maintains large gene LIBRARIES that represent significant biodiversity”In addition to discovery, evolution & screening, Co also ENGINEERS HOST
for efficient overexpression of enzymes. Efficient hosts bring down the cost of
enzymes
|