Chemicals
Development of a biocatalytic process to methionine
Arkema wanted to develop a process combining a chemical step, a fermentation step and a biocatalytic process for the production of L-methionine, an important amino acid used for animal nutrition.
The enzymatic process enabled to reach 100% selectivity, and was upscaled by Arkema. Arkema’s plant in Malaysia, with a reactor of 400m3, has the potential to produce 160 000 metric tons per year of L-methionine.
Source: InfoChimie, « Proteus joue la carte de la Biocatalyse », october 2018. https://www.info-chimie.fr/proteus-joue-la-carte-de-la-biocatalyse,95063
Screening of a diversity of enzymes from exclusive sequences collection
Approach: enlarging the initial selection with more diversity
Exemple
- Client enzymes as starting point for directed evolution
- Proteus genome collection screening for desired activity
- More than 200 sequences identified
- High sequence diversity compared to the 8 client enzymes
- Enzymes selection
- Enzymes evaluation
Results: a more efficient starting enzyme with a higher potential for IP generation
Example
- Enzymes identified with similar or higher activity than best enzyme initially selected
- Enzymes identified with low identity with already patented sequences
- Enzyme from Proteus collection chosen as starting point for directed evolution