The filamentous microbe, Streptomyces lividans, is used to design cell factories for enzyme production and to study the role of redox-metal homeostasis in morphology.

More information about Erik Vijgenboom

Streptomyces lividans as cell factory for the expression and secretion of carbohydrate active enzymes (FilaZyme).

Design of Streptomyces lividans cell factories and expression cassettes for the efficient and high yield secretion of (heterologous) enzymes active in the decomposition of polysaccharides in biomass.

Production and characterization of LPMOs and chimeric enzymes in Streptomyces lividans

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are enzymes with the promise to play a major role in the initial decomposition of biomass. LPMOs active on substrates other than those currently listed in the CAZy database, are expressed and characterized. Furthermore, starch active LPMOs are designed for better performance using a combination of synthetic site evaluation libraries (SEL) and in vivo screening for LPMO variants that are more active on starch as substrate.

In another approach chimeric carbohydrate degrading enzymes are designed with the aim to create enzymes that perform better in complete breakdown of biomass.

Copper homeostasis and morphology in Streptomyces lividans

Morphological development of Streptomyces lividans is strongly dependent on the redox active metal copper. In these studies, the proteins active in Cu-homeostasis (trafficking, storage and Cu-chaperone delivery to enzymes) are investigated in relation to the morphology of Streptomyces on solid and liquid media. This research programme is carried out in collaboration with Dr J.A.R. Worrall, University of Essex, UK.

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