Researchers look to sea microbes for greener drugs

Researchers say they’ve found a new way to analyse large numbers of novel marine microbes, a technology that could help lead to greener, more efficient manufacturing of new drugs and agrochemicals.

Scientists at Heriot-Watt University and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), working in collaboration with the Edinburgh-based company Ingenza Ltd, plan to use biochemical techniques to identify potentially useful enzymes in microbes that live in the oceans.

“We are taking advantage of the natural diversity of marine organisms that has arisen through evolution in different environments and coupling that with high-tech screening systems,” said Robert Speight from Ingenza Ltd. “We are looking to find naturally occurring microbes that already have a built-in capacity to do the chemical reactions we want to perform in industry. There is every possibility of developing more efficient and sustainable manufacturing solutions — for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals in particular — as a result of this search.”

Microorganisms account for more than 95 per cent of ocean biomass, but relatively little is really known about them and their potential applications. The research team is searching for industrially relevant enzymes that could help reduce waste and increase productivity in the manufacture of drugs and agrochemicals. The enzymes they seek have the ability to convert compounds that would have previously been waste products in the manufacturing process, into the desired product, therefore increasing the efficiency of the process.

“Green and White biotechnologies are going to be an increasingly important part of the manufacturing landscape,” said Doug Kel, Chief Executive Professor of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, which is funding the research. “Looking to biological systems that have been finely tuned by evolution to solve problems, rather than starting from scratch every time, might seem an obvious thing to do. It does however, in many cases, require the bringing together of particular niche expertise. The value of this collaboration is in the coincidence of knowledge and expertise from academia with the uniquely important business of synthesising a product on a large scale.”

Kel added, “What the outcomes of this project will offer us is the chance to have a significant impact on the sustainability of pharmaceutical and biochemicals production as we move from oil-based to photosynthesis-derived chemistry.”