Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Kideyş A. E., Tunçer M., Karahan A., Könen Adigüzel S., Doruk T., Adigüzel A. O.(Yürütücü)
TÜBİTAK Projesi, 3501 - Ulusal Genç Araştırmacı Kariyer Geliştirme Programı, 2020 - 2024
Nowadays, studies on the use of enzymes as an alternative to chemical catalysts, which have negative effects on the sustainability of environment, human health and production processes, in many industrial applications are increasing. One group of the enzymes with high potential for use in industrial applications is the cutinases perform hydrolysis of the ester bonds in the cutin, which is a natural polyester composed of epoxy and hydroxyl fatty acids. Since cutinases can also hydrolyze soluble esters, synthetic esters, and waxes, they have potential to accelerate degradation of plastics in marine environments. It is desired that the cutinase enzymes, to be used for this purpose, are stable for a long time in the presence of 10-30 °C (temperature ranges of sea water) and 1.5-3.5% salt (salinity range of sea water). Bacteria are the main sources that make it possible to use such enzymes for industrial purposes. These have become producers of different enzymes due to pressure factors such as mutations and adaptation to the environment. The researchers have succeeded isolation of many bacteria, which are industrial enzyme producer, with culture-dependent methods. However, this technique loses its applicability for bacteria that cannot survive in/or synthetic media. Metagenomic studies enable to access genetic information without culture-dependent methods. The genetic information of many microorganisms, cannot be cultured, can be obtained by metagenomic studies.
Today, plastics and microplastics are one of the most important materials which cause pollution in aquatic environments. Studies on the discovery and production of enzymes, that can degrade plastics, have gained importance recently. In the present project, it was aimed to discover the cutinases that stable for a long time in marine environments, for degradation of plastics and processing of plastic raw materials. For this purpose, microplastics obtained from our country will be used as a source. First, genetic material will be isolated from microplastics for construct fosmid libraries. Fosmid libraries will be screened and cutinase positive clones will be determined. The plasmid sub-libraries will be constructed from the fosmids exhibiting cutinase activity and the DNA sequence of the cutinase gene will be determined by genetic analysis. Sequenced genes will be cloned into an expression vector to provide high expression. After purification, the biochemical characterization of the enzymes and their effect on different substrates will be examined. Subsequently, plastic and pesticide degradation potential of enzymes will be assessed. Finally, the cyto- and geno-toxicity of the end products formed after degradation will be determined and environmental compatibility of the enzyme in such applications will be tested.