Protein engineering from scratch is maturing

Abstract

Biocatalysis uses natural enzymes to perform a desired reaction, and numerous examples covering almost all enzyme classes are well-documented in the literature. If a natural enzyme does not show the desired performance, then methods of protein engineering[1] can be used to adapt its properties to meet a given target such as stereoselectivity, desired substrate scope, or stability to heat or organic solvents. Particularly over the past two decades, many success stories based on various tools of protein engineering-ranging from random mutagenesis combined with highthroughput screening to rational protein design methods-have been written. This also includes various industrial processes based on specifically designed biocatalysts[2]. © 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.