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The santorini volcanic complex as a valuable source of enzymes for bioenergy

Energies, ISSN: 1996-1073, Vol: 14, Issue: 5
2021
  • 3
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 14
    Captures
  • 1
    Mentions
  • 121
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    3
    • Citation Indexes
      3
  • Captures
    14
  • Mentions
    1
    • Blog Mentions
      1
      • Blog
        1
  • Social Media
    121
    • Shares, Likes & Comments
      121
      • Facebook
        121

Article Description

Marine microbial communities are an untapped reservoir of genetic and metabolic diversity and a valuable source for the discovery of new natural products of biotechnological interest. The newly discovered hydrothermal vent field of Santorini volcanic complex located in the Aegean Sea is gaining increasing interest for potential biotechnological exploitation. The conditions in these environments, i.e., high temperatures, low pH values and high concentration of heavy metals, often resemble harsh industrial settings. Thus, these environments may serve as pools of enzymes of enhanced catalytic properties that may provide benefits to biotechnology. Here, we screened 11 metagenomic libraries previously constructed from microbial mat samples covering the seafloor and the polymetallic chimneys of Kolumbo volcano as well as mat samples from Santorini caldera, to mine, in silico, genes associated with bioenergy applications. We particularly focused on genes encoding biomass hydrolysis enzymes such as cellulases, hemicellulases and lignin-degrading enzymes. A total of 10,417 genes were found for three specific groups of enzymes—i.e., the endoglucanases, the three different beta-glucosidases BGL, bglX and bglB, and the alpha-galactosidases melA, and rafA. Overall, we concluded that the Santorini–Kolumbo volcanic ecosystems constitute a significant resource of novel genes with potential applications in bioenergy that deserve further investigation.

Bibliographic Details

Paraskevi N. Polymenakou; Haris Zafeiropoulos; Manolis Mandalakis; Thekla I. Anastasiou; Georgios Kotoulas; Antonios Magoulas; Paraskevi Nomikou; Stephanos Kilias; Nikos C. Kyrpides

MDPI AG

Energy; Mathematics; Engineering

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