CBMA

Centro de Biologia Molecular e Ambiental

Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology

Tony Collins
Tony Collins
...
00351253601522
Assistant Professor/Researcher
Cell Factories and Nanotechnologies
Protein based polymers, enzyme adaptation
Universidade do Minho - Campus de Gualtar, Departamento de Biologia - 4710-057, Braga - P

Current Research & Key Publications

My domain of specialisation may be said to be in white (industrial) biotechnology and in the study and development of proteins for use in this. The principal focus is on protein based polymers (PBPs) and cold-adapted enzymes, their fundamentals and application in industry.

I have a strong background in the study of proteins, their physiochemical and biophysical characterisation, in protein structure determination and in protein engineering. I have mainly focused on glycoside hydrolases (in particular xylanases) and oxidoreductases with both fundamental and applied aspects being covered. Recently attention has been turned towards protein based polymers (silk-elastin based) and approaches for the large scale production and purification of these.

In addition, I have experience in the successful development of enzymes for use in the food industry and am currently involved in the development of PBPs for use in the automobile industry.

Research Areas

1) ECOplast: Research in new biomass-based composites from renewable resources with improved properties for vehicle parts moulding. Development of industrial scale production and purification procedures for protein based polymers.

Keywords: protein based polymer/molecular biology/recombinant protein production/batch and fed-batch production in E. coli/pilot and industrial scale recombinant protein production/laboratory and industrial scale protein purification.

 2) Extremophilic Enzymes: adaptation to temperature and biotechnological applications of extremophiles.

Keywords: protein science/enzymology/enzyme kinetics/protein structure (X-ray and NMR) and function/protein dynamics/protein engineering (site directed and random mutagenesis)/biophysics/application of enzymes in industry/food industry.

1) ECOPLAST: ECOplast is a European Union funded FP7-NMP-2009-SME Collaborative Project running from 2010-2014 and involving 13 partners from five different countries. The main objective of this project is to develop new biomass-based composites for use in the automotive industry by adapting existing base biopolymers and developing new biopolymers and new compounding procedures and materials.

At the Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology (Prof. M. Casal) I am involved in the development, production, purification and testing of a number of novel protein based polymers based on silk and elastin, with the aim of developing methods for the efficient industrial scale production and purification of these. This work involves the optimisation of the laboratory scale production (1-3 litre) of these novel polymers in E. coli as well as the scale up and optimisation of the pilot (75 litre, Univ. Minho, Portugal) and industrial scale (300 litre, IBET, Oeiras, Portugal) levels of production and purification. Both batch and fed-batch approaches are being investigated.

2) Cold-Adapted Enzymes: I have a strong background and experience in the study of enzymes produced by organisms inhabiting extreme environments and in particular in understanding the adaptation strategies used by cold-adapted enzymes to allow them to function efficiently at low temperatures. The principal focus of this work has been on glycoside hydrolases (and in particular xylanases) and oxidoreductases. The work has involved studies in comparative protein science: molecular biology, physicochemical studies, enzyme kinetics, protein structure (X-ray and NMR), function and dynamics and biophysical studies as well as the investigation of the application of cold adapted enzymes in the food industry. Indeed the researcher is now one of the leaders in the field with numerous invitations for highly cited papers and reviews (1308 citations on 30/03/12) in the fields of cold-adapted enzymes and xylanase. Furthermore, this work has resulted in a number of patents (worldwide) and the successful development of a cold-adapted xylanase for use in baking as well as its commercialisation by an industrial partner (Puratos N.V.).

 Collins T., Matzapetakis M. and Santos H. (2010) Backbone and side chain 1H,   15N and 13C assignments for a thiol-disulphide oxidoreductase from the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125. Biomol. NMR   Assign. 4(2): p. 151-4.
  
  Collins, T., D'Amico, S., Georlette, D., Marx, J.C., Huston, A.L. and Feller, G. (2006) A nondetergent sulfobetaine prevents protein aggregation in microcalorimetric studies. Anal. Biochem., 352, 299-301.
 
  De Vos, D., Collins, T., Nerinckx, W., Savvides, S.N., Claeyssens, M., Gerday, C., Feller, G. and Van Beeumen, J. (2006) Oligosaccharide binding in family 8 glycosidases: crystal structures of active-site mutants of the   beta-1,4-xylanase pXyl from Pseudoaltermonas haloplanktis TAH3a in complex   with substrate and product. Biochemistry, 45, 4797-4807.
Note: De Vos D. and Collins T. contributed equally to this work i.e. joint first   author.
 
  D\'Amico, S., Collins, T., Marx, J.C., Feller, G. and Gerday, C. (2006) Psychrophilic microorganisms: challenges for life. EMBO Rep., 7, 385-389.
Note: All authors contributed equally to this work
 
  Collins, T., Hoyoux, A., Dutron, A., Georis, J., Genot, B., Dauvrin, T., Arnaut, F., Gerday, C. and Feller, G. (2006) Use of glycoside hydrolase family 8 xylanases in baking. JCS, 43, 79-84.
 
  Collins, T., De Vos, D., Hoyoux, A., Savvides, S.N., Gerday, C., Van Beeumen, J. and Feller, G. (2005) Study of the active site residues of a glycoside hydrolase family 8 xylanase. J. Mol. Biol., 354, 425-435.
 
  Collins, T., Gerday, C. and Feller, G. (2005) Xylanases, xylanase families and extremophilic xylanases. FEMS Microbiol. Rev., 29, 3-23.
    
  Collins, T., Meuwis, M.A., Gerday, C. and Feller, G. (2003) Activity, stability and flexibility in glycosidases adapted to extreme thermal environments. J. Mol. Biol., 328, 419-428.
 
  Van Petegem, F., Collins, T., Meuwis, M.A., Gerday, C., Feller, G. and Van   Beeumen, J. (2003) The structure of a cold-adapted family 8 xylanase at 1.3 A  resolution. Structural adaptations to cold and investigation of the active site. J. Biol. Chem., 278, 7531-7539.
Note: Van Petegem, F. and Collins, T. contributed equally to this work i.e.   joint first authors.
 
  Van Petegem, F., Collins, T., Meuwis, M.A., Gerday, C., Feller, G. and Van   Beeumen, J. (2002) Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of a xylanase from the psychrophile Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis. Acta Crystallogr. D Biol. Crystallogr., 58, 1494-1496.
 
  Collins, T., Meuwis, M.A., Stals, I., Claeyssens, M., Feller, G. and Gerday, C. (2002) A novel family 8 xylanase: functional and physico-chemical characterization. J. Biol. Chem., 277, 35133-35139.
  

Book Chapters

Collins,   T., Roulling, F., Florence, P., Marx, J.C., Feller, G., Gerday, C. and   D’Amico, S. (2008) Fundamentals of cold-adapted enzymes. In Margesin, R., Schinner, F., Marx, J.C. and Gerday, C. (eds.), Psychrophiles: From Biodiversity to Biotechnology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg. Ch. 13,   pp. 211-227.
 
  Collins, T., D´Amico, S., Marx, J., Feller, G. and Gerday, C. (2007) Cold-Adapted Enzymes. In Gerday, C. and Glansdorff, N. (eds.), Physiology and biochemistry of extremophiles. ASM Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 165-179.
  
  Collins, T., Claverie, P., D´Amico, S., Georlette, D., Gratia, E., Hoyoux, A., Meuwis, M.A., Poncin, J., Sonan, G., Feller, G. and Gerday, C. (2002) Life in the cold: psychrophilic enzymes. In Pandalai, S.G. (ed.), Recent Research Developments in Proteins. Transworld Research Network, Trivandrum,   Vol. 1, pp. 13-26.

Patents
  Collins, T., and Feller, G. Family 8 enzymes with xylanolytic activity (2011). US2011/0039325 A1.
 
  Georis, J., Dauvrin, T., Hoyoux, A., Collins, T. and Feller, G. (2005) Novel xylanases and their use. World Intellectual Property Organization, PCT, WO 2005/087916 A2.
  
 Dutron A, Georis J, Genot B, Dauvrin T, Collins T, Hoyoux A, Feller G: Use of family 8 enzymes with xylanolytic activity in baking. In World Intellectual Property Organization, WO 2004/023879; 2011.

 


  

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