title: Advances in laboratory evolution of enzymes.
abstract: We address recent developments in the area of laboratory, or directed evolution, with a focus on enzymes and on new methodologies of generic potential. We survey three main areas: (i) library making techniques, including the application of computational and rational methods for library design; (ii) screening and selection techniques, including recent applications of enzyme screening by FACS (fluorescence activated cell sorter); (iii) new approaches for performing directed evolution, and in particular, the application of 'neutral drifts' (libraries generated by rounds of mutation and selection for the enzyme's original function) and of consensus mutations to generate highly evolvable starting points for directed evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Shimon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bershtein
authors.forename: Dan S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Tawfik
mesh_terms: D019020:Directed Molecular Evolution / Q000379:methods*; D004798:Enzymes / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015723:Gene Library; D009154:Mutation
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes