For the good of Beer : Thermostability of 1,3-1,4 alpha beta glucanase in barley
Barley is used to make malt in beer.
When barley is turned into malt it does so at a very high temperature. The enzymes that produce the malt will break down at the high temperatures and then no more malt will be produced.
If the enzyme for the malt was able to maintain its structure without breaking down at a higher temperature, then you would be able to make more bottles of beer per kilo of barley. Meaning the yield from the barley crop would be of higher value.
This project used the known structure of 1,3-1,4 alpha beta glucanase to determine where the amino acid sequence of the protien could be altered to make the active site more therostable.
Through PCR mutagenesis and recombinant DNA manipulation we changed a few key animo acids and then were able to produce recombinant protien in a yeast host.
The protien was then purified and tested for its thermostability
Unfortunately the project didnt yield any results
But it was lovely to work out at the Waite Campus of the University of Adelaide for a year and then part time while retraining into Multimedia
