From the complex bacterial extract to the active molecule

Bacterial extracts contain a complex mixture of tens of thousands of different small molecules. Identifying the chemical entity responsible for an observed biological activity within this mixture therefore requires a rigorous dereplication process based on complementary approaches. DEINOVE’s workflow integrates biological activity-guided fractionation with high-resolution analytical methods, advanced genetics and computational data analysis to gradually narrow down, identify and characterize biologically active compounds.

Technologies at work

Activity testing

Design, develop and perform customized biological assays for early, bioactivity-guided dereplication.

Advanced analytics

Starting from bacterial extracts, separate and detect an active metabolite. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry, determine the exact mass of the compound and deduce the corresponding chemical formula. Its chemical structure is then determined using high-resolution NMR spectrometry.

Synthetic biology

Perform gene deletions to identify the genes and metabolic pathway responsible for the production of a compound of interest.

Data science

Bacterial genome analysis to predict the genes that are responsible for the biosynthesis of a given metabolite and guide gene inactivation studies. Analyze the very large datasets produced by high-resolution analytical methods to characterize bacterial extracts and identify the chemical compound of interest.