SCAN: Udp-glucose dehydrogenases from S. elodea and B. cenocepacia - one function different outcomes

SCAN

Title: Udp-glucose dehydrogenases from S. elodea and B. cenocepacia - one function different outcomes: industrial biosynthesis of gellan vs. cystic fibrosis

Speaker: Joana Raquel Rocha, Structural Biology Lab.

Abstract:

" Bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPS) have gained an increased interest in the past years, as important biotechnological products used for different applications, ranging from gelling agents in food industry to 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering or drug excipients in medicine. On the other hand, some bacterial EPS may also be of prejudice to us, as in the case EPS producing pathogenic bacteria, which form biofilms and adhere to biological surfaces such as the human lungs, persisting, colonizing and causing severe infections. Understanding the multi step pathways and the enzymes involved, is of great importance, specially if the genetic manipulation and the design of drugs, both activators or inhibitors, is the main goal.
UDP-Glucose Dehydrogenase (UGD; EC 1.1.1.22) is an enzyme that catalyses the NAD-dependent two-fold oxidation of UDP glucose (UDP-Glc) to UDP-Glucuronic acid (UDP-GlcA). UGD belongs to a small family of nucleotide-sugar modifying enzymes and it is present in all kingdoms of life, ranging from animals to bacteria, where UDP-GlcA plays different but critical roles. In bacteria, UDP-GlcA is used exclusively in the production of exopolysaccharides.
In this study we solved and characterised the three-dimensional structure of the UDP-Glucose Dehydrogenases from Sphingomonas elodea (UgdG) used worldwide in the industrial biosynthesis of the biothickner and gelling agent gellan, and from Burkholderia cenocepacia (BceC), a human pathogen that is able to adhere and persist in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, causing severe respiratory infections and in some drastic cases death."

Short CV:
1998-2003: Degree in Biotechonological engineering in Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias
Jan2004-Jun2004: Trainee at the Molecular biology department at Biotecnol.
Out2004-Dez2005: Research student (fellowship) at the Macromolecular Crystallography Group at ITQB
Jan2006-Present: PhD student at the Macromolecular Crystallography Group at
ITQB