About the Research

Almost a half of the reactions of life are catalysed by metals. This means that a large proportion of bioindustries depend directly or indirectly on the catalytic activities of metals in proteins. Academic members work with biomanufacturing and bioenergy sectors to enhance metalloenzyme activities to generate new products and to increase the profitability and sustainability of existing products. Members also work to valorise metal-contaminated wastes and especially to develop ways to biorecover at-risk metals in valuable forms to progress towards a more sustainable circular economy.

Johnson Matthey has also partnered on the following five funded projects, four of which have reached completion:

The E3B BBSRC NIBB website hosts a ‘metalation calculator’ which allows users to simulate what metals will bind to a protein inside a living cell (Figure 1). This is of use for industrial biotechnological fermentations driven by metalloenzymes especially in engineered organisms. The metals that bind to proteins in cells depend on relative metal availabilities in combination with the binding properties of the enzyme (1–3). In engineered organisms these properties can become mismatched leading to mis-metalation or under-metalation. The calculator allows metalation to be simulated and then optimised either by targeted metal supplementation of the growth medium or by further engineering the organism or metalloenzyme. New versions of the calculator are being developed for strains that are commonly used in industrial biotechnology under defined culture conditions.