Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2021

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster V40

Bringing chiral catalysts in from the cold: exploiting the alcohol dehydrogenases of glacial river isolates

Höfundar / Authors: Eva Maria Ingvadottir (1), Oddur Vilhelmsson (1), Sean Michael Scully (1)

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. University of Akureyri, Department of Natural Resource Sciences

Kynnir / Presenter: Eva Maria Ingvadottir

Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs)from arctic environments can be utilized to prepare valuable chiral building blocks with various industrial applications. Of particular interest are secondary ADHs (SADHs) that selectively oxidize secondary alcohols providing a green route towards the production of enantiomerically pure alcohols from racemic mixtures. In this work, eighty pseudomonads were isolated from two glacial rivers in Northern Iceland and were screened for their ability to oxidize a wide range of alcoholic substrates. Forty strains with robust ADH activity were identified. Of particular interest was the psychrotolerant Pseudomonas strain JF29-01 that possesses preference for secondary alcohols, and Pseudomonas strain G34, which preferentially oxidizes (R)- over (S)-1,2-propanediol. The status of the current work on selected strains, specifically their utility in the oxidative resolutions of rac-secondary alcohols will be presented.