Biocatalytic systems for the production of vitamin B6 from industrially relevant lignocellulosic waste

• Grant number: 24/08161-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Enzymology
• Principal Investigator: Leticia Maria Zanphorlin
• Grantee: Vitor Akio Oya
• Host Institution: Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is vital for all organisms, acting as a coenzyme in various metabolic reactions. While plants and microorganisms produce it naturally, animals and humans need to obtain it from dietary sources. Vitamin B6 deficiency can affect several human physiological systems. The demand for vitamin B has increased, but it is currently synthesized chemically, using expensive and ecologically harmful products. Alternatively, recent studies focus on biological platforms for commercially competitive production. There are two different metabolic pathways associated with the de novo biosynthesis of pyridoxine: the deoxylyluose-5-phosphate (DXP)-dependent pathway and the independent pathway. Therefore, based on these natural pathways, our research group developed an unprecedented enzymatic route composed of 6 enzymes, based on previous projects. This system operates cell-free, which helps to overcome metabolic bottlenecks that occur in platforms that use microorganisms to produce vitamin B6. To date, we have been able to obtain approximately 0.9 mM vitamin B6 after 24 hours from xylose. In this sense, this master's project aims to (i) optimize and improve the production of vitamin B6, introducing enzymatic systems to recycle ATP, a necessary co-factor for the cascade to operate; (ii) produce vitamin B6 directly from an industrially relevant source of xylose, such as the hydrolyzate of lignocellulosic materials. Three ATP recycling systems will be evaluated, and the enzymatic cascade developed for the production of vitamin B6 will also be studied in sugarcane hydrolyzate. Thus, at the end of the project, we will make available a Brazilian (bio)technology that takes advantage of xylose, currently little converted into bioproducts, to produce a value-added molecule.