Bioprospektering
Since 2003, Department of Biotechnology at SINTEF Materials and Chemistry has been involved in several projects on bioprospecting. The aim of the bioprospecting projects has been to isolate microorganisms that produce valuable products from bottom sediments or the surface micro layer of the sea. This work has been done in close cooperation with Department of Biotechnology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
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The main focus of the bioprospekting activities at Department of Biotechnology has been to isolate microorganisms producing carotenoids, novel antimicrobials and poly-unsaturated fatty acids. Microorganisms have been isolated from samples collected from various sampling sites in the Trondheim fjord. In order to also access the genetic information in the uncultivable fraction of the microorganisms in the sea and oil reservoirs, libraries of total DNA are constructed.
The isolates are screened for their ability to produce one or more of our compounds of interest with the aid of robotic high throughput screening. Isolates showing interesting activities are further characterized using advanced analytical equipment such as LCMS TOF, LCMS QTOF or LCMS Trap, in order to identify the active compounds. For compounds that process particular interesting properties, fermentation processes for production of larger quantities of the bioactive components are established. The compounds are purified by preparative LC for structural elucidation, NMR-studies and further bioactivity testing. |
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Several microbial strains have been isolated that are producing interesting carotenoids or demonstrate antimicrobial activities which may be caused by novel antimicrobial compounds. A few of these isolates are producing bioactive compounds that have a selectively high biological activity against microorganisms with high resistance to the antibiotics that are commonly used for treatment. In addition, compounds with selective activity against cancer cell lines are indentified. These compounds may therefore be interesting candidates for future therapeutic use as novel anticancer, antifungal or antibacterial antibiotics. Our work is now focused on further characterization of these isolates and the compounds they produce.
