Molecular modeling and its applications in protein engineering

Abstract

Protein engineering is the field of study aiming to alter proteins to a desired state that may be useful in applications ranging from medicine to industry. In protein engineering it is of interest to predict amino acid substitutions that are critical to the desired feature. Molecular modeling tools have been extensively used for this purpose. Herein, the focus is on such molecular modeling tools for design of new proteins with improved functions and stabilities. The most widely used molecular modeling tools are described and their applications are exemplified.