Head of the laboratory

Anatoly I. Zinchenko

Corresponding Member of NAS of Belarus,
Doctor of Biological Science, Professor,
Winner of State prize of the Republic of Belarus in 2004

Phone: +375 (17) 357-99-68
E-mail: zinch@mbio.bas-net.by

The laboratory was founded in 1989.

Main investigation trends:

- genetic engineering of microbial strains producing enzymes of nucleic acid metabolism, physical-chemical characterization of the enzymes and enzymatic production of a broad spectrum of natural and modified nucleosides and nucleotides;
- elaboration of technologies and manufacturing PCR reagents;
- designing sets of reagents for diagnostics of infectious diseases in humans and animals using real-time PCR technique;
- development of technologies for enzymatic synthesis of immune-stimulating nucleic acid compounds.

Results of researh activities:

- several dozens of hyperactive bacterial strains were engineered to produce recombinant enzymes, like nucleoside phosphorylases, proteinase K, dextran saccharase, nucleoside kinase, nucleoside mono- and nucleoside diphosphate kinase, diguanylate- and diadenylate cyclase, etc. The resulting biocatalysts were engaged in technologies of producing a wide series of compounds:

1. modified nucleosides serving as substrates for manufacturing drugs applied in treatment of human viral and cancer diseases;
2. cyclic 3ʹ,5ʹ-diguanylate, its arabinofuranosyl and deoxy derivatives, cyclic 3ʹ,5ʹ-diadenylate displaying potent immune-stimulating activities;
3. highly purified natural 2ʹ-deoxynucleoside-5ʹ-triphosphates essential for conducting standard and real-time PCR;

- in collaboration with Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, NAS Belarus original chemical-enzymatical processes for producing superefficient antitumor drugs «Leucladin» and «Fludarabel» were developed and scaled up to industrial level;
- the technology was elaborated for nanostructuring proteins, nucleic acids and derived components to promote their safe delivery and controlled release in target cells.

Representative publications:

1. Enzymatic synthesis of 2′-ara and 2′-deoxy analogues of c-di-GMP / A. S. Shchokolova [et al.] // Nucleosides, Nucleotides, Nucleic Acids. – 2015. – Vol. 34, № 6. – P. 416–423.
2. Zinchenko, A. I. Construction of plasmid enriched with immunostimulatory CpG motifs / A. I. Zinchenko, S. V. Kvach, A. S. Shchokolova // East. Eur. Sci. J. – 2014. – № 3. – P. 10–13.
3. Enzymatic synthesis of c-di-GMP using inclusion bodies of Thermotoga maritima full-length diguanylate cyclase / A. S. Korovashkina [et al.] // J. Biotechnol. – 2012. – Vol. 164, № 2. – P. 276–280.
4. Application of recombinant enzymes for the synthesis of pharmaceutically valuable nucleosides and nucleotides / D. V. Burko [et al.] // Biotechnology in Medicine, Foodstuffs, Biocatalysis, Environment and Biogeotechnology. – New York: Nova Science Publ., 2010. – Р. 1–13.
5. Application of Streptomyces netropsis phospholipase D for synthesis of phosphatidylserine / L. L. Birichevskaya [et al.] // Biotechnology, Biodegradation, Water and Foodstuffs. – New York: Nova Science Publ., 2009. – Р. 65–71.
6. Use of Erwinia herbicola recombinant nucleoside phosphotransferase for the synthesis of pharmaceutically useful nucleoside-5’-monophosphates / S. V. Kvach [et al.] // New Aspects of Biotech. and Med. / ed. by A. M. Egorov, G. E. Zaikov. – New York: Nova Sci. Publ., 2007. – P. 7–13.