Deinove

Deinove was founded when Philippe Pouletty MD met Professor Miroslav Radman, with a view to exploiting the research results generated by Professor Radman and his colleagues and developing an innovative industrial project in the biofuel sector.

Professor Radman had worked out the unique mechanism by which Deinococcus repairs its genome (the set of genes governing the organism's biological functions) after mortal destruction. This mechanism brings the bacterium "back to life" when a simple drop of water is added. The details of this discovery have been published in the scientific journal Nature (2006:443(7111):569-573) and patented by Deinove. The mechanism is used by these robust but non-pathogenic bacteria to survive in very hostile environments. In their two or three billion years of evolution on Earth (in comparison, the Earth is 5 billion years old and mankind arose 200,000 years ago), the deinococci have also captured genes and thus a variety of new properties from other living organisms. This notably enables them to thrive by efficiently degrading biomass and extracting the sugar that can be fermented into ethanol.

Deinove's research work has confirmed the extreme robustness of the deinococci vis-à-vis various types of stress (ionizing radiation, desiccation, solvents, ethanol, butanol, acid and alkaline milieus, high temperature, etc.) and their ability to integrate large genomic fragments from other micro-organisms. These properties are key success factors for the company's target industrial applications.

The deinococci's properties (robustness, biodiversity and metabolic properties) and Deinove's research results explain these bacteria's huge potential as specialized "cell factories" for the production of ethanol and other components of industrial value in a cost-effective, environmentally friendly way.