Description
Chirality – the „handedness“ of life – and its influence on living organisms has given rise to and fueled the field of asymmetric synthesis. At the intersection of biology and chemistry, the search for biological agents capable of assisting in the resolution of racemic compounds and their formation from pro-chiral starting materials has led to the characterization of several robust catalysts including enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs). Due to their high thermostability and solvent tolerance, ADHs from thermophilic bacteria belonging to genus Thermoanaerobacter have received particular attention since the 1980s. However, as most members of the genus remain unexplored and many have not been whole genome sequenced, a culture-based approach was undertaken to elucidate these missing ADH activities. This lecture will provide a brief overview of genus Thermoanaerobacter, its metabolic pathways, and chemistries underlying the usefulness of alcohol dehydrogenases.| Period | 6 Oct 2023 |
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| Held at | Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences |
| Degree of Recognition | Local |