Directed Evolution of Enzymes: How to Improve Nucleic Acid Polymerases for Biocatalysis
-
Last Update: 2021-01-30
-
Source: Internet
-
Author: User
Search more information of high quality chemicals, good prices and reliable suppliers, visit
www.echemi.com
Natural selection has created optimal catalysts that exhibit their convincing performance even with a number of sometimes counteracting constraints. Nucleic acid polymerases, for example, provide for the maintenance, transmission, and expression of genetic information and thus play a central role in every living organism. While faithful replication and strict substrate recognition are crucial for long-term survival of species, relaxed fidelity and/or substrate tolerance could be valuable features for biotechnological applications involving the enzymatic synthesis of modified
DNA
or RNA. Directed evolution that mimics natural evolution on a laboratory time-scale has emerged as a powerful tool for tailoring enzyme functions to specific requirements. In this chapter, we introduce basic techniques necessary for improving enzyme function by directed evolution, and we use the “tuning” of bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase toward decreased fidelity as an example.
This article is an English version of an article which is originally in the Chinese language on echemi.com and is provided for information purposes only.
This website makes no representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness ownership or reliability of
the article or any translations thereof. If you have any concerns or complaints relating to the article, please send an email, providing a detailed
description of the concern or complaint, to
service@echemi.com. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days. Once verified, infringing content
will be removed immediately.