Functionalization of enzymes from Marine Bioprospecting

ArcticZymes (AZ) develop, produce and sell enzymes for use in molecular DNA technology applications and diagnostics. All enzymes originates from marine organisms in the Arctic oceans and have unique features shown to be useful in DNA technology applications. AZ have so far mainly sold stand-alone enzymes in bulk to large distributors or biotech companies which have incorporated our enzymes into kits. By the functionalization of the enzymes into kits, our customers have added extra value to the products which the end-users are willing to pay for. Through our Marine Bioprospecting collaboration with the University of Tromsø we also have access to an increasing list of enzymes with commercial potential. The increased activity and customer contact through existing products and new product development has given us unique competence and know-how, especially in contamination issues in sensitive DNA technologies such as qPCR and sequencing. AZ now sees the opportunity to take a larger share of the value chain by starting developing new kits by our self, based on our unique marine enzymes combined with the growing know-how in house. Entering the end-user marked with kit products will demand a lot more research and testing of the products compared to stand-alone enzymes. This IPN project is enabling us to increase our effort to do additional research and assessment on the current problem of contaminating DNA in existing enzymes and reagents, and use and develop our unique enzymes to solve such problems in define formulations and compositions. With basis in the existing and new marine enzymes and gained know-how, we are developing functionalized kits, and by this taking a step up in the value chain to increase our sales revenue and number of customers. We have during the project period developed two end-user friendly kits that are sold by us or through our distributors; One PCR decontamination kit and a purification kit for purification of PCR products before sequencing. The PCR decontamination kit is based on our HL-dsDNase and removes contaminating bacterial DNA from master-mixes and Taq polymerases. The presence of baterial DNA in PCR master mixes decreases the sensivity af baterial DNA tests. We have already launched one version of an enzymatic PCR purification kit used for cleaning up PCR products before sequencing based on our internally developed Shrimp Alkaline Phosphatase (SAP) and a generic E.coli Exonuclease I. The Kit is called A'SAP. During the last periode we have expressed, purified and characterized a new heat-labile Exonuclease. This Exonuclease, transferred from our Bioprospecting partners at the University of Tromsø, has novel features making it possible to improve the enzymatic PCR purification process and also developing new IP around the product.WE hope to launch this product in 2016. In addition we are now working together with our commercial partners to develop a technology combining a Hot-start Reverse Trascription (RT) polymerase with our HL-dsDNase in a one-tube solution. The Hot-start RT and our Heat-labile DNase seem to be a perfect match making it possible to do sequential reactions in the same tube at different temperatures without opening the tube. We are working together with the larger Life technologies company in developing these solutions.

ArcticZymes (AZ) develop, produce and sell enzymes for use in molecular DNA technology applications and diagnostics. All enzymes originates from marine organisms in the Arctic oceans and have unique features shown to be useful in DNA technology applicatio ns. AZ has so far mainly sold stand-alone enzymes in bulk to large distributors or biotech companies which have incorporated our enzymes into kits. By the functionalization of the enzymes into kits, our customers have added extra value to the products whi ch the end-users are willing to pay for. Following the establishment of AZ as an own subsidiary in 2009 the company went from 5 to 14 employees in two years, both increasing the internal R&D activity (by the InnoZymes project), and increasing our customer contact base. Through our Marine Bioprospecting collaboration with the University of Tromsø we also have access to an increasing list of enzymes with commercial potential. The increased activity and customer contact through existing products and new pro duct development has given us unique competence and know-how, especially in contamination issues in sensitive DNA technologies such as qPCR and sequencing. AZ now sees the opportunity to take a larger share of the value chain by starting developing new ki ts by our self, based on our unique marine enzymes combined with the growing know-how in house. Entering the end-user marked with kit products will demand a lot more research and testing of the products compared to stand-alone enzymes. This IPN project w ill enable us to increase our effort to do additional research and assessment on the current problem of contaminating DNA in existing enzymes and reagents, and use and develop our unique enzymes to solve such problems in defined formulations and compositi ons. With basis in the existing and new marine enzymes and gained know-how, we will develop functionalized kits, and by this take a step up in the value chain to increase our sales revenue and number of customers.