Development of biocatalyst from bacterial enzymes involved in the C-H bond activation

Direct functionalization of C-H bond is rapidly becoming an indispensible tool in chemical synthesis. However, due to the ubiquity of C-H bonds, achieving site-selective functionalization remains a difficult task. In contrast, Nature has evolved a multitude of enzymes capable of performing this task with extraordinary selectivity. Therefore, this research project will aim to, 1) discover novel enzymes that catalyse cross-link formation on selected peptides via C-H activitation, 2) determine enzyme's molecular basis and 3) catalytic residues. This will be achieved by the interdisciplinary research areas such as microbiology, synthetic biology, protein modeling and crystallography. At the end of this project, it is expected that such novel enzymes will be discovered, functional characterized and activity engineered. This finding will expand the biocatalytic toolbox for C-H activation and potentially develop a biocatalyst for industrial application, thus advance the research field concerned.