ד"ר ליבנת [ליבנת אפריאט גורנו] ג'ורנו

Education

BSc in Chemistry and Biology, Tel Aviv University 2001-2004

MSc in Biochemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science 2004-2006

PhD in Biochemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science 2006-2011

PostDoctoral studies the Australian National University 2012-2013

Position

Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

Our research interests includes studying the evolution of enzymatic functions and biochemical traits for a better  understanding of how microbial enzyme are adopted to their environments and evolved to perform their roles in nature. Our projects include

1. Exploring Enzymatic Properties and evolution in microbial communication mechanisms: Investigating the correlations between the specificity of enzymes that inhibit microbial communication mechanisms, their environmental and evolutionary origins, roles in mixed microbial populations, and their ability to modulate such communication.
2. Designing Anti-Microbial Enzymes: Identifying and engineering new enzymes to combat bacterial and fungal pathogens, via directed enzyme evolution.
3.  Synthetic Biology: Harnessing the catalytic efficiency of enzymes to degrade xenobiotics, such as pesticides, mycotoxins, and plastics, for environmental remediation.

1. Afriat L, Roodveldt C, Manco G, Tawfik DS. “The latent promiscuity of newly identified microbial lactonases is linked to recently diverged phosphotriesterase.”  Biochemistry. 2006. 21;45(46):13677-86.  IF=2.9. No. of citations=216.
2. Jackson CJ, Foo JL, Tokuriki N, Afriat L, Carr PD, Kim HK, Schenk G, Tawfik DS, Ollis DL. “Conformational sampling, catalysis, and evolution of the bacterial phosphotriesterase.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009, 106(51):21631-6. IF=10.7. No. of citations=101.
3. Afriat-Jurnou L, Jackson CJ, Tawfik DS. “Reconstructing a Missing Link in the Evolution of a Recently Diverged Phosphotriesterase by Active-Site Loop Remodeling.”  Biochemistry. 2012, 7;51(31):6047-55. IF=2.9. No. of citations=107.
4. Tokuriki N, Jackson CJ, Afriat-Jurnou L, Tawfik DS, “Diminishing returns and tradeoffs constrain the laboratory optimization of an enzyme.” Nature communication, 2012. 4;3:1257. IF=16.6. Q1. No. of citations=156.
5. Ahmed FH, Carr PD, Lee BM, Afriat-Jurnou L, Mohamed AE, Hong NS, Flanagan J, Taylor MC, Greening C, Jackson CJ. "Sequence-Structure-Function Classification of a Catalytically Diverse Oxidoreductase Superfamily in Mycobacteria". Journal of Molecular Biology, 2015. 427(22):3554-71. IF=5.6. No. of citations=11.
6. Campbell E, Kaltenbach M, Correy GJ, Carr PD, Porebski BT, Livingstone EK, Afriat-Jurnou L, Buckle AM, Weik M, Hollfelder F, Tokuriki N, Jackson CJ. "The role of protein dynamics in the evolution of new enzyme function". Nature Chemical Biology 2016. 12 (11):944-950. IF=14.8. Q1. No. of citations=192.
7. Afriat-Jurnou L,  Cohen R,  Paluy I, Ben-adiva R, Yadid I. "Directed evolution of an endoinulinase from Talaromyces purpureogenus toward efficient production of inulooligosaccharides", Biotechnology Progress, 2018. IF=3.37. Q3. No. of citations=8.
8. Prabahar V, Afriat-Jurnou L, Paluy I, Peleg Y, Noy D. "New homologues of Brassicaceae water-soluble chlorophyll proteins shed light on chlorophyll binding, spectral tuning, and molecular evolution". FEBS J., 2019. IF=5.4. Q1. No. of citations=11.
9. Lee BM, Almeida DV, Afriat-Jurnou L, Aung HL, Forde BM, Hards K, Pidot SJ, Ahmed HF, Mohamed E, Taylor MC,  West NP, Stinear TP, Greening C, Beatson SA, Cook GM, Nuermberger EL,  Jackson CJ. "Predicting nitroimidazole antibiotic resistance mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis with protein engineering". PLOS pathogen, 2020. IF=6.7. Q1. No. of citations=35.
10. Gurevich D, Dor S, Erov M, Dan Y, Moy JC, Mairesse O, Dafny-Yelin M, Adler-Abramovich L, Afriat-Jurnou L. "Directed Enzyme Evolution and Encapsulation of Quorum Quenching Lactonase in Peptide Nano Spheres as an Antibacterial Treatment against Plant Pathogens". American Chemical Society- Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2020.  IF=9.5. Q1. No. of citations=14.
11. Ya'ar-Bar S, Dor S, Mayan E, Afriat-Jurnou L. " The identification of putative N-acyl homoserine lactonases in Plant pathogenic Erwinia species, and the characterization of a quorum quenching lactonase from E. amylovora the causal of fire blight disease". American Chemical Society- Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 2021. IF=6.1. Q1. No. of citations=5.
12. Tohar R, Ansbacher T, Sher I, Afriat-Jurnou L, Weinbergand E, Gal M. "Screening Collagenase Activity in Bacterial Lysate for Directed Enzyme Applications". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021. IF=5.6. Q1. No. of citations=3.
13. Dor S, Prusky D, Afriat-Jurnou L. " Bacterial Quorum Quenching Lactonase Hydrolyses Fungal Mycotoxin and Reduces Pathogenicity of P. expansum-Suggesting a Mechanism of Bacterial Antagonism". Journal of Fungi, 2021. IF=5.7. Q1. No. of citations=7.
14. Haramati R, Dor S, Gurevich D, Levy D, Freund D, Rytwo G, Sharon I, Afriat-Jurnou L. "Mining marine metagenomes reveals a Quorum Quenching lactonase with unique biochemical properties that inhibits milk spoilage caused by Pseudomonas fluorescens".  American Society of Microbiology-Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2021. IF=5.05. Q1. No. of citations=2.
15. Dor S, Nudel K, Eagan J.L., Cohen R., Hull C.M., Keller N.P., Prusky D, Afriat-Jurnou L. Bacterial-fungal crosstalk defined by a fungal lactone mycotoxin and its degradation by a bacterial lactonase. American Society of Microbiology-Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2024. IF=5.05. Q1.
16. Dan Y, Gurevich D, Gershony O, Netti F, Adler-Abramovich L, Afriat-Jurnou L. "Coupling peptide-based encapsulation of a bacterial phosphotriesterase with native bacteria for pesticide biodegradation". American Chemical Society- Applied Materials and Interfaces. 2024 IF=9.5.
17. Orr G, Niv Y, Barakat M, Boginya A, Dessau M, Afriat-Jurnou L. Streamlined screening of extracellularly expressed PETase library for improved PET degradation activity. Biotechnology Journal. 2024. IF=4.7