Mother Nature Provides: Deciphering Microbial Biosynthetic Logic for the Discovery of Biocatalysts and Natural Products

　　报告题目：Mother Nature Provides: Deciphering Microbial Biosynthetic Logic for the Discovery of Biocatalysts and Natural Products

　　报告人：Geoff Horsman Assistant Professor

　　报告人单位：Wilfrid Laurier University

　　报告时间：2014年12月16日(星期二) 10：00-12：00

　　报告地点：微生物所A203会议室

　　主持人：陈义华研究员

　　报告人简历：Geoff Horsman was born and raised on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, and did his undergraduate work in Agricultural Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan. After an M.Sc. degree in protein engineering with Romas Kazlauskas at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, he completed a Ph.D. in mechanistic enzymology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver under the supervision of Lindsay Eltis. Dr. Horsman then studied natural product biosynthesis as an NSERC Postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ben Shen at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada.

　　报告摘要：We live in a truly microbial world, and the extent to which microorganisms dominate our planet and affect humanity is increasingly apparent. The enormous metabolic diversity of microorganisms represents a treasure trove of biosynthetic pathways and enzymes that may be exploited for improving human lives. Small molecules possessing a carbon-phosphorus (C-P) bond are an underexplored class of microbial natural products with important biological activity that are biosynthesized in pathways possessing several unique enzymes. Our current research focuses on identifying new pathways, enzymes, and ultimately new C-P compounds as potential therapeutics. In addition, several C-P compounds have been found attached to cell surface macromolecules that may be involved in bacterial survival in the host; we hypothesize that these biosynthetic and macromolecular tailoring enzymes could be excellent drug targets. Finally, some work on developing regio- and stereoselective biocatalysts will be discussed