Yeast enzymes bioengineering to generate bioactive compounds

Streptomyces and yeasts produce a high number of molecules with biotechnological value. We study the expression molecular mechanism of proteins implicated in some of this biosynthetic process, and try to obtain new molecules with possible industrial applicability. During the last years, we have been studying the biosynthetic cluster of the nucleoside antibiotic A201A (ata) from Streptomyces capreolus, and some yeast proteins with glycosyltransferase activity able to produce prebiotic oligosaccharides. All the yeast analysed proteins are hydrolases that show transferase activity, included within family 32, 31, 1 and 2 of the glycosylhydrolases. To know the structure-function-specificity relationships of these proteins are one of our objectives. We are carrying out structural studies of these proteins, residue substitutions, and applying directed molecular evolution techniques in order to increase/modify their transglycosylase activity, and to improve their biotechnological utility.