Dr. Stefan Becker

I am working on the application of evolutionary principles to solve the problem of glycans being structurally highly diverse and notoriously difficult to analyze or quantify in natural samples. Microbes evolved to overcome the diversity of glycan’s in nature because they have adapted enzymes many of which are highly substrate specific. First, the highly specific enzymes are identified and cloned from bacterial genomes or metagenomes so that they can be used in the next step to cleave a glycan selectively in algae or marine organic matter. The enzymes work similar to how restriction enzymes cleave DNA, and the breakdown products can more easily be identified and quantified to establish an inventory of glycans in the ocean for a better understanding of their role in the marine carbon cycle. Aside from this primary application in environmental science, the enzymes also have an obvious biotechnological potential because they convert glycans into fermentable sugars for biofuels or other applications. The published enzymes are being shared with the scientific community through the Addgene plasmid repository.