Laboratory evolution of stereoselective enzymes: A prolific source of catalysts for asymmetric reactions

Abstract

Evolution in the test tube: The traditional limitations of enzymes as catalysts in organic chemistry or biotechnology - comprising in many cases poor enantioselectivity, limited substrate scope, and insufficient stability - have been eliminated by the techniques of directed evolution. Iterative saturation mutagenesis in particular drives the efficient creation of a new generation of stereoselective biocatalysts which complement chiral synthetic homogeneous catalysts. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.