| Project Detail |
Harnessing natures other path to peptide synthesis to generate new therapeutics
Normally, protein synthesis is accomplished with the help of ribosomes that stitch amino acids together to form the peptides that make a protein with the help of mRNA. Bacteria, fungi, and some marine microorganisms also have nonribosomal peptides, so called because their synthesis does not rely on ribosomes but rather on nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). NRPSs are large, modular enzyme complexes whose manipulation and control could result in the production of novel new-to-nature peptides with important practical applications. SYNPEP has developed ways to do just that using low-cost bacterial cultures with excellent yields. They are now planning to expand their production capability and repertoire while exploiting screens for bioactivity with the goal of revolutionising peptide synthesis for new therapeutics. |
