The tungsten enzyme turns out to be a new hydrogenase!

It is my pleasure to share with you our (JLBEC and Marburg University) discovery in its fullness. We recently published our paper in ACS Catalysis reporting that W-containing Aldehyde Oxidoreductase (AOR) from mesophilic bacterium A. aromaticum exhibits activity of hydrogenase. This enables H2-dependent reduction of carboxylic acids to valuables compounds (e.g. vanillin) or sustainable recycling of NADH. The specific activity of H2-dependent NAD+ reduction exceeds any previously observed reactivities of Mo- or W-enzyme with hydrogen.

We already submitted a European Patent Application to secure the IP rights to this exciting discovery. We are open to any company or research team eager to further develop this system for biotechnological application.