Martin Bonin started his PhD project

Last month, Martin Bonin started his PhD project in our group, extending studies he had performed when working for his Master thesis. Then, Martin had worked on two fungal chitin deacetylases, one from Cryptococcus neoformans, a human pathogen, and one from Pestalotiopsis spec., a plant endophyte. Chitin deacetylases are powerful tools for the generation of defined and novel chitosan polymers and oligomers. As different chitin deacetylases tend to differ in their regio-selectivities, they yield different products which we can analyse in molecular detail using our newly developed enzymatic - mass spectrometric fingerprinting techniques, then testing their bioactivities for a deeper understanding of chitosans’ structure-function relationships. Using site directed mutagenesis, we are able to modify this regio-selectivity of the enzymes, allowing us to produce even more tailor-made chitosans. One of the main successes of Martin’s MSc thesis was the design of a site-saturation mutagenesis library of one of these enzymes which was then produced by the company GeneArt/Life Technologies in Regensburg using a method they have recently developed during our joint European research project Nano3Bio. Martin then perfected a screening method initially developed by our Nano3Bio partner team around Prof. Toni Planas in Spain, eventually performing the screening with their help during a short stay in Barcelona. This screening yielded a range of highly interesting muteins which not only promise additional, well-defined and novel chitosans, but which will also allow deeper insight into the mode of action of chitin deacetylases in general. We are, thus, looking forward to an exciting doctoral project - welcome back Martin, and thanks for supporting us!