A functionally diverse enzyme superfamily is a collection of enzymes that share a common ancestor and fold, as well as active site architectures and a partial reaction or other chemical capability. Putting enzymes into their superfamily context has proved to be a powerful way to understand their sequence-structure-function relationships. Metagenomic profiling of enzyme superfamilies can aid in addressing questions related to the enzyme function prediction challenge. The proposal aims to develop and validate tools for two superfamilies involved in biodegradation of insecticides, heavy metals and explosives. These are DOE-relevant contaminants for which bioremediation solutions are in great need. Identification of specific active site motifs of other superfamilies that are even partially characterized by users will highlight new chemistries that can be potentially useful for bioremediation.
Proposer: Patsy Babbitt, UC San Francisco
Proposal: Environmental Profiling of Enzyme Superfamilies for Function Prediction