One gram of soil contains billions of micro-organisms, the fewest of which can be isolated, but by isolating DNA directly from such samples, genes can be obtained and utilized in industry.
Matís-Prokaria was one of the first companies in Europe funded by the European Union to develop a methodology for searching for enzyme genes directly from environmental samples. This project was in the fifth framework program of the European Union and was called Thermogen. The work in this project involved looking for starch-degrading and starch-producing enzyme genes from thermal samples with new technology to be developed. In addition to Matís-Prokaria, only two research groups were involved in the project, which was led by Guðmundur Óli Hreggviðsson and Ólafur H. Friðjónsson. The results of the project were very important in the development of the methodology on which much of Matís-Prokaria's activities today are based on enzyme gene search. Master's and doctoral students graduated in projects both here and abroad. An increased understanding was gained of the nature and properties of starch-converting enzymes. Some are valuable insider knowledge, but three articles have been published based on the results of the project and one is newly published and it discusses the properties of a certain subgroup of starch enzymes that were revealed in this study. The article can be found in its entirety here.