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Abstract
Hydroxynitrile lyases (HNLs) are sought-after, stereo-selective biocatalysts used in the agrochemical, pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries to produce cyanohydrin enantiomers. There are several approaches for the discovery of HNLs, most of which are methodologically demanding and not suitable for high-throughput. Bioprospecting studies to date have also been constrained/limited to commercialised plants or botanical gardens, leaving a vast majority of plant species untested for HNL activity or cyanogenesis. To increase the rate of discovery of HCN liberating plants, we devised a Feigl-Anger microfuge tube that is portable and capable of high throughput detection of naturally cyanogenic plants. A workflow suitable for detecting plant candidates containing extractable, novel HNLs was subsequently applied. In this study, we screened over 600 plants for cyanogenic activity as well as the ability to degrade racemic mandelonitrile. We detected 33 plants able to degrade racemic mandelonitrile, of which, 25 were identified to the species level. Six of these plants were found to be naturally cyanogenic. Protein extracts from 5 of the naturally cyanogenic plants retained the ability to degrade racemic mandelonitrile pointing to five yet undescribed enzymes in the species Achyranthes aspera, Davallia trichomonoides, Morus mesozygia, Polypodium aureum “Mandaianum”, and Thelypteris confluens. In contrast, although Acalypha glabrata was found to be naturally cyanogenic, the protein extract did not break down racemic mandelonitrile. Here, we used racemic mandelonitrile as substrate and detected enzymes with mandelonitrile lyase activity, however, any cyanohydrin could be used as part of the approach taken here to detect novel HNLs specific to the substrate utilised
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 234-240 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Biocatalysis and Biotransformation |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 3 May 2020 |
Keywords
- Cyanogenesis
- Feigl-Anger microfuge tube
- hydroxynitrile lyases
- unguided bioprospecting
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Biotechnology
- Catalysis
Fields of Expertise
- Human- & Biotechnology
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Dive into the research topics of 'High-throughput in-field bioprospecting for cyanogenic plants and hydroxynitrile lyases'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
- 2 Talk at workshop, seminar or course
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Plant hydroxynitrile lyase diversity and application for industrial biotechnology
Margit Winkler (Speaker) & Karl Rumbold (Speaker)
12 Dec 2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk at workshop, seminar or course › Science to science
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Plant hydroxynitrile lyase diversity and application for industrial biotechnology
Margit Winkler (Contributor) & Karl Rumbold (Contributor)
6 Apr 2017Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk at workshop, seminar or course › Science to science