title: Protein engineering from "scratch" is maturing.
abstract: Precisely tuning the active site by protein engineering has led to the development of a highly efficient Kemp eliminase (see structure with substrate in the binding pocket). The starting protein scaffold with only low activity originated from computational design, as no natural enzyme with this activity was known. This is a breakthrough in protein design, as novel catalytic activities are now in reach that match those of natural enzymes.
authors: Abt. Proteinbiochemie, Institut für Biochemie, Universität Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Strasse 4, 17487 Greifswald (Germany).
authors: Matthias
authors: M
authors: Höhne
authors: Uwe T
authors: UT
authors: Bornscheuer
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D055162:Biocatalysis; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D016296:Mutagenesis; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000639:trends*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D014995:Xylosidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D014995:Xylosidases
keywords: Kemp eliminase; computational chemistry; directed evolution; enzyme catalysis; protein engineering