The Applications Laboratory constructs and/or selects microorganisms endowed with new metabolic capabilities for application objectives using the techniques of metabolic engineering and in vivo evolution:

• Enhancement of the biocatalysts of interest for synthetic organic chemistry.
• Acclimatization of non-natural compounds as essential metabolites and modification of the chemical repertory of the microorganisms for confined artificial biodiversity.
• Implementation and enhancement of metabolic pathways for use of 1-carbon carbon resources (formate, CO₂).

In general, the implementation of the projects exploits the principle of genetic selection.

Projects ongoing

• Selection and enhancement of natural formatotrophic microorganisms. Volker Döring, Laurence Cattolico
• Implementation of formatotrophy in Escherichia coli. Madeleine Bouzon, Volker Döring
• Deviations of the chemical composition of molecules carrying genetic information. Madeleine Bouzon, Volker Döring
• Evolution of enzymatic catalysts by in vivo directed evolution:  iron-dependent a-ketoglutarate dioxygenases. Tiffany Souterre, doctoral student

Principal achievements

• Replacement of the thymine base by the 5-chlorouracil analogue in the DNA of Escherichia coli​
• Design and installation, by directed evolution, of an alternative pathway for the biosynthesis of C1 compounds in Escherichia coli:  the HOB cycle.