Designing and characterizing peptide inhibitors for bacterial tyrosinase using yeast surface display

Tyrosinase is an enzyme involved in the production of melanin, the polymeric molecule that gives us the color of our skin, hair, and eyes. The inhibition of tyrosinase’s activity is a great interest in treating diseases and conditions associated with hyperpigmentation. Tyrosinase also exists in fruits and vegetables, where it is involved in unwanted enzymatic browning. In this project, we wish to find new peptide inhibitors for bacterial tyrosinase using a yeast surface display system. The approach of exploring peptides as inhibitors arises from structural peptide motifs found in tyrosinases from different organisms that seem to occupy the enzyme’s active site, thus perhaps inhibiting its activity. The yeast surface display system allows fast screening of randomized peptide sequences, which will subsequently be characterized using advanced sequencing techniques and bioinformatic tools. That will allow us to understand better the relationship between the inhibitor’s sequence to their inhibition mechanism. Hopefully, those insights will advance our understanding of designing inhibiting peptides against tyrosinases.

Faculty Supervisor:

Nobuhiko Tokuriki

Student:

Partner:

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: