Team:LMU-Munich/Pathway

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The pathway project

In this project we want to make a heterologous transformation of a bacterial microcompartment (= BMC), which contains enzymes to synthesize azobenzene derivatives.

It is only possible to synthesize these organic compounds, when protecting the cell from the cytotoxic intermediates. This protection is provided by the proteinacious microcompartment (also called metabolosome or BMC).

Azobenzene derivatives are not only used as dyes but also as molecular switches for the field of chemical biology and optogenetics (genetically engineered organisms, which can be altered through optical stimulation).

BMCs are found in a variety of prokaryotic organisms and is naturally involved in substrate channeling for example as in a carboxysome.