해양환경으로부터 효소 개발

Abstract

The ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface. Diverse microorganisms have been found from various marine environments and represent a vast untapped resource with potential benefits in different areas such as medicine, aquaculture and fisheries, industry, research tools and environmental applications. At Marine Biotechnology Research Center in KORDI (www.megrc.re.kr), we have been collecting samples from a variety of marine environments such as cold seep, hydrothermal vent, deep sea, tidal flat area and so on to span various physical, chemical and biological environment. The collected samples were treated to isolate microorganisms, followed by partial sequencing of 16S rRNA gene and screening of various enzyme activities. To speed up the process of developing useful and novel enzymes from marine microorganisms, genomic approach has been applied. Briefly, whole genome sequence of microorganisms with desirable activities was being determined by pyro-sequencing or shotgun sequencing method, followed by bioinformatic analysis, cloning and characterization studies. At the same time, marine microorganims whose genome sequences were being determined by Moore Foundation or other genome projects were collected on the basis of bilateral collaboration and also followed by bioinformatic analysis, cloning and characterization of the candidate ORFs. We are currently focusing on developing enzymes with extreme biophysical properties or enantioselectivity. We found that the genomic approach is promising to provide opportunities to find novel enzymes with desirable activities at a short period time.