Novel enzymes through design and evolution.

Woycechowsky KJ; Vamvaca K; Hilvert D

doi:10.1002/9780471224464.ch4

Back

Journal article

Novel enzymes through design and evolution.

Woycechowsky KJ Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, ETH-Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
Vamvaca K
Hilvert D

2006-11-28

Published in:

Advances in enzymology and related areas of molecular biology. - 2007

English The generation of enzymes with new catalytic activities remains a major challenge. So far, several different strategies have been developed to tackle this problem, including site-directed mutagenesis, random mutagenesis (directed evolution), antibody catalysis, computational redesign, and de novo methods. Using these techniques, a broad array of novel enzymes has been created (aldolases, decarboxylases, dehydratases, isomerases, oxidases, reductases, and others), although their low efficiencies (10 to 100 M(-1) s(-l)) compared to those of the best natural enzymes (10(6) to 10(8) M(-1) s(-1)) remains a significant concern. Whereas rational design might be the most promising and versatile approach to generating new activities, directed evolution seems to be the best way to optimize the catalytic properties of novel enzymes. Indeed, impressive successes in enzyme engineering have resulted from a combination of rational and random design.

Language