Marine Metagenome as A Resource for Novel Enzymes

Amani D Alma’Abadi,Takashi Gojobori,Katsuhiko Mineta

doi:10.1016/j.gpb.2015.10.001

Amani D Alma’Abadi, Takashi Gojobori + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gpb.2015.10.001

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Abstract

More than 99% of identified prokaryotes, including many from the marine environment, cannot be cultured in the laboratory. This lack of capability restricts our knowledge of microbial genetics and community ecology. Metagenomics, the culture-independent cloning of environmental DNAs that are isolated directly from an environmental sample, has already provided a wealth of information about the uncultured microbial world. It has also facilitated the discovery of novel biocatalysts by allowing researchers to probe directly into a huge diversity of enzymes within natural microbial communities. Recent advances in these studies have led to a great interest in recruiting microbial enzymes for the development of environmentally-friendly industry. Although the metagenomics approach has many limitations, it is expected to provide not only scientific insights but also economic benefits, especially in industry. This review highlights the importance of metagenomics in mining microbial lipases, as an example, by using high-throughput techniques. In addition, we discuss challenges in the metagenomics as an important part of bioinformatics analysis in big data.

Highlights

Recent developments in catalysis have led to a renewed interest in the use of enzymes for the environmentally-friendly industry
As an example of the extreme environmental conditions that are expected to enhance the activities of microbial lipases, we focus on the Red Sea and the microorganisms living there in the present review
While metagenomics may help improve our understanding of microbial physiology, genetics, and community ecology [42,43,44], it can be an advanced and powerful tool for finding out a novel enzyme that is useful for biotechnology application and industrialization

Summary

Introduction

Recent developments in catalysis have led to a renewed interest in the use of enzymes for the environmentally-friendly industry. In particular of the biotechnological applications, metagenome libraries could be screened based on either protein function or nucleotide sequences. In sequence-based screening, which involves metagenomic DNA sequencing using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, microbial enzymes and bioactive compounds can be explored from niches of interest [10].

Results

Conclusion