Team:Aix-Marseille/DEPS
EPS Depolymerase
Contents
To fight the problem that is Xylella fastidiosa we firstly started searching for natural solutions against this bacterium and surely, we found bacteriophages. Many phages have a devious way to infect the bacterium; by cleaving the sugar bond in the biofilm they found more easily their target.
As the symptoms observed in plants are the result of water stress resulting from occlusion of xylem vessels by bacterial biofilm and/or accumulation of extracellular polysaccharides we wanted to found a way to free the xylem vessels. The goal of this design isn’t to threat X. fastidiosa or to prevent the infection, but to use a enzyme called EPS-depolymerase.
This enzyme has the capacity to hydrolyse polysaccharidic bond of the EPS composing the biofilm, thus it can free the xylem vessels.
EPS Depolymerase design
As we wanted to limit the number of GMOs in our product we wanted a production of the enzyme in E. coli and an efficient purification system.
