27^th Biotechnology Congress: Research & Innovations

Enzyme and Protein Engineering

Protein engineering is the synthesis proteins by manipulation of structure and process of developing useful or valuable proteins. It is a new discipline, with much research taking place into the understanding of protein folding, structure and recognition for protein design principles. In the future, more detailed knowledge of protein structure, folding and function, as well as advancements in modern technology, may greatly expand the potentiality of protein engineering. Eventually, even unnatural amino acids may be incorporated, owning to a new method that allows the inclusion of novel amino acids in the genetic code. Proteins have important role in physiological processes and they are involved in movement, recognition, catalysis, regulation etc. Moreover, proteins also have several therapeutically and industrial applications. Enzyme engineering is the modifying an enzyme's structure (and, thus, its function) or modifying the catalytic activity of enzymes to produce new metabolites, to allow new (catalyzed) pathways for reactions to occur, or to convert certain compounds into others (biotransformation). These products are useful as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fuel, food industries, or agricultural additives. In the future, enzymes may be restructured to fit more appropriately into industrial processes for the production of desired metabolites.