Structural studies on cyanide degrading nitrilases

Cyanide is widely used in industries due to its high affinity for metals. This characteristic is at the same time responsible for the potent toxicity of this compound. Thus, industries have to reduce the cyanide concentration from wastewater before its final disposal. Methods to achieve this goal exists but they can be improved by increasing our knowledge in the action of enzymes involved in the process. We are studying cyanide hydratases and dihydratases mainly at the structural level with the aim of understanding its basic features for functioning and to propose methods to improve their characteristics. We have solved the structure of two of them, and now we are improving the resolution of our maps, characterizing other homologs and proposing changes to improve them.

Specifically, we will prepare grids of the different versions of CynD at different pHs. Then, we will screen the grids and collect datasets of the best preparations. At the same time, we will process the previously collected datasets and the newly collected datasets with assistance of expertise of the Jose Maria Carazo team, using more sophisticated software and methodologies characterize conformational heterogeneity and dynamics in cryoEM datasets. In this way, we will gain experience in these state-of-the-art methods.

Present by: Santiago Justo Arévalo (Instituto de Química- UPS)

For more information and to request assistance, please contact Oscar Saiz at oscar.saiz@cnb.csic.es