Strategies in Protein Engineering to Evolve Proteins and Mimicking Evolution in the Laboratory Scale
Academic Article
Overview
Identity
Additional Document Info
Other
View All
Overview
abstract
Nature has its own way of synthesizing molecules and materials with an array of bio-catalysts known as enzymes. Enzymes comprise of a combination of proteins which in turn are the building blocks of life. With just a backbone combination of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen, proteins can be perceived as delightfully intelligent and adaptive. Over billions of years, nature have provided a wide range of survival questions in front of these molecules and somehow, they have evolved and survived, as proved by Darwin. This adaptive nature of proteins has been exploited and successful evolution of enzymes is possible towards a desired interest on a laboratory scale using natures machinery. Thus, mimicking evolution on a much shorter time-scale. In this article, we address the strategies involving the idea of evolution in a laboratory directed to fulfil our chemical needs. Also, how with time, the strategies have evolved covering up the loop-holes of previous generations. The advent of polymerase chain reactions made combinatorial libraries creation easy and then screen towards a fitness test. With time we learnt, a combination of evolution with rational designing creates shorter and smarter libraries that have a strong impact factor upon the desired goal and reduce false-positives. However, while controlling biological systems, scientists are manipulating the factories that actually make the molecules and materials into newer forms that are not natural. Nature, out-does scientists via evolution. Through survival of the fittest, evolution collects all the beneficial mutations through multiple iterated genetic diversification and screening.
