Gene cluster identification and microbial biosynthesis of iminosugars (IMINOGENE) (IMINOGENE)

The “IMINOGENE” project focuses on the sustainable and microbial production of specialty carbohydrates useful in human and animal welfare as well as in the agro-industry. These specialty carbohydrates are currently often discovered in plants and are little investigated with regard to their microbial natural sources. Therefore, in the IMINOGENE project, the microbial biosynthesis blueprints are unraveled with advanced bioinformatics tools and screening . Once those blueprints have been uncovered, microbial production strains are created through synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. New target compounds are furthermore identified in this project by screening a compound library to unlock their application potential. As currently these specialty carbohydrates are produced inefficiently through complex chemical synthesis or extraction, this project aims to reinvigorate the interest in these compounds by providing a sustainable and scalable alternative through microbial fermentation.