Understanding proteins and enzymes in order to deliver optimal products

Basic knowledge of the function and stability of proteins and enzymes is the key to developing new enzyme applications and improving existing applications.

Novozymes has experts with specialist knowledge and long-term experience of all the major enzyme classes used in industry today: proteases, amylases, lipases, cellulases, hemicellulases, pectinases, phospholipases, phytases, peroxidases, oxidases and laccases.

We use the latest technologies in protein purification to purify completely new proteins for further analysis. This can be done on any scale necessary and we can automate purification in order to purify large numbers of similar proteins when we need to identify the best of several candidates.

Using technologies such as mass spectrometry and protein sequencing we can quickly and accurately determine the primary structure, i.e. the amino acid sequence of the proteins of interest, allowing us to identify the corresponding gene in the microorganism which is the source of the protein.

To study the function and stability of enzymes Novozymes continues to develop a variety of unique and often proprietary assays for the particular enzymes, usually involving synthesis of a substrate which can be easily measured and quantified, e.g. by light absorption or fluorescence. As well as providing information on the pH and temperature activity of the enzyme, these assays also allow us to study in detail how well the enzyme recognizes and binds the substrate and how quickly it catalyzes the reaction specific to the enzyme.

By measuring the thermodynamic properties of proteins we gain knowledge of their stability. This is important in terms of where and how the enzyme is used and facilitates the design of the formulation in which the enzyme is to be stored when it becomes a product.