Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

We maximize the potential of "enzymes"—the microscopic biocatalysts that fundamentally support life—to conduct a wide range of research, from unraveling the mysteries of life to applications in the agriculture and livestock industries. Our approach is broadly divided into the following three pillars:

1. "Enzyme Creation" via AI and Protein Engineering
Artificial enzymes designed by AI will dramatically expand the possibilities of microbial biomanufacturing. In the future, high-value substances currently produced through complex organic synthesis could be manufactured via microbial cultivation using AI-enzymes. In such next-generation biomanufacturing, controlling the intracellular "redox balance" of microbes is a major key to improving yields. By rationally designing the coenzyme requirements involved in enzyme redox using AI, we will break through this challenge and construct highly efficient, next-generation fermentation production systems.

2. "Unraveling the Mysteries of Life and Learning from the Past" via Enzyme Reverse Evolution
Using computational science, we artificially "reverse-evolve" crucial core enzymes governing energy metabolism back to their ancestral states. We explore the evolutionary origins of how primitive life acquired its current efficient energy utilization mechanisms in the environment billions of years ago. By unlocking the mysteries of life from the trajectory of past evolution, we aim to connect these insights to the design of next-generation artificial enzymes.

3. "Understanding the Livestock Gut Environment" via Novel Enzyme Discovery
The livestock gut microbiome is an outstanding group of specialists that degrade and utilize robust, unused biomass, building astonishing metabolic networks individually or cooperatively. Recently, it has become clear that "uncultured microorganisms" play an extremely important role in these networks both qualitatively and quantitatively. Viewing these uncultured microbes as unexplored genetic resources, we conduct a "treasure hunt" for novel enzymes involved in unused biomass metabolism. We fully mobilize dry methods like metagenomic analysis and AI-based functional prediction, alongside wet methods like biochemical screening and assays. Starting from the functions of the discovered enzymes, we will unravel the unknown nature of the complex cooperative mechanisms woven by the livestock gut microbiome, aiming to contribute to global food security.

By organically linking these three approaches—creation, reverse evolution, and discovery of enzymes—we will deploy a cohesive bioscience bridging basic research and practical applications.

• Next-generation microbial fermentation based on the rational design of coenzyme specificity
• Elucidation of the origin of life and energy acquisition mechanisms through enzyme reverse-evolution
• Discovery and application of unused biomass-related enzymes from uncultured microorganisms in the livestock gut