Team:UC Davis/Protein Engineering

Enzyme Picture!!!

Our research on the chemical composition of olive oil revealed that rancid olive oil contains a different composition of medium saturated, long saturated, and unsaturated aldehydes as compared to fresh olive oil. To differentiate between medium saturated, long saturated, and unsaturated aldehydes in our electrochemical biosensor, we needed enzymes which would selectively use these compounds as substrates and produce a product which may be easily measured using both spectrophotometric (for enzyme characterization and engineering) and electrochemical techniques. We found that the aldehyde dehydrogenase family of enzymes would serve as the perfect catalyst for the needs of our sensor. We used two approaches to identify enzymes with the desired specificities we would use in our biosensor: bioprospecting and rational design.

Click on “Protein Design” to learn more about our enzymes