Contacts
Structure: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari e Biotecnologie
Contact Person: Laura Popolo (Associate Professor, Molecular Biology)
Structure: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari e Biotecnologie
Contact Person: Laura Popolo (Associate Professor, Molecular Biology)
1. Characterization of the role of enzymes involved in yeast and fungal cell wall biogenesis through the use of yeast genetics and phenotypic analysis of mutants.
2. Structural and functional characterization of trans-glycosidases involved in cell wall assembly by exploiting expression/secretion systems in Pichia pastoris.
The recombinant proteins are purified from culture medium and subjected to functional and structural characterization.
The acquired knowledge will be used for the setting up activity assays of selected enzymes in a format suitable for HTS or for undertaking structure-based drug design.
Figure 1. Example of a step of screening of P. pastoris recombinant clones before induction of protein expression in flasks
The enzyme family that is currently under study constitutes a new promising target for antifungal drugs directed against the cell wall of human or plant fungal pathogens.
The experience that has been gathered can be applied also to the characterization of other transglycosidases from fungi of potential biomedical interest.