Directed Evolution of Protein Catalysts.
Journal article

Directed Evolution of Protein Catalysts.

  • Zeymer C Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland; email: cathleen.zeymer@org.chem.ethz.ch , hilvert@org.chem.ethz.ch.
  • Hilvert D Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland; email: cathleen.zeymer@org.chem.ethz.ch , hilvert@org.chem.ethz.ch.
  • 2018-03-02
Published in:
  • Annual review of biochemistry. - 2018
English Directed evolution is a powerful technique for generating tailor-made enzymes for a wide range of biocatalytic applications. Following the principles of natural evolution, iterative cycles of mutagenesis and screening or selection are applied to modify protein properties, enhance catalytic activities, or develop completely new protein catalysts for non-natural chemical transformations. This review briefly surveys the experimental methods used to generate genetic diversity and screen or select for improved enzyme variants. Emphasis is placed on a key challenge, namely how to generate novel catalytic activities that expand the scope of natural reactions. Two particularly effective strategies, exploiting catalytic promiscuity and rational design, are illustrated by representative examples of successfully evolved enzymes. Opportunities for extending these approaches to more complex biocatalytic systems are also considered.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
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Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/209403
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