Developing Unconstrained Methods for Enzyme Evolution
Abstract
A grand challenge in synthetic biology is to create artificial enzymes with catalytic activities similar to natural enzymes. Although several protein enzymes have been developed by computational design and protein evolution methods, the generation of efficient enzymes remains a difficult problem. In this sponsored project we are examining the question of why modern protein engineering methods fail to produce catalytically efficient enzymes. This study has broad application in many technologies from chemical synthesis to human health and the environment. Our work centers around the notion that de novo evolved proteins represent better starting points for catalyst development than natural proteins,because unlike natural proteins, synthetic proteins are not biased by a complex, largely unknown evolutionary history. To test this hypothesis, we are attempting to evolve a de novo generated ATP binding protein into a larger protein structure with improved ATPase activity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 19, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA616585
Entities
People
- B. W. Simpson
- C. R. Stevenson
- J. C. Chaput
- J. M. Stomel
- M. A. Hamada
- M. A. Leon
- S. B. Korch
- S. K. Gujulla
Organizations
- Arizona State University