Natural evolution enzyme model systems

Supramolecular bioinorganic chemistry is a natural evolution in biomimetic metallic systems as it constitutes a further degree of complexity in modeling. The traditional approach consisting in modeling the first coordination sphere of metallic sites proved to be very efficient, as valuable data could be extracted from these examples to gain insight in natural systems mechanisms. But they fail to reproduce several specific aspects of enzymes that can be... 

It also seems clear that specific interactions (which are used by natural enzymes) are missing from even the more sophisticated systems. This could be a problem if we want to mimic natural enzymes, or if we want to use (complex) model systems to understand the power of natural enzymes. But overall, there is no need for artificial design to replicate what we know about enzymes—artificial evolution might as well proceed toward a route unexplored by Nature. Although specific interactions are important for natural enzymes, or enzymes involved in metabolic pathways for which there needs to be discrimination, there are other processes for which such discrimination might not be crucial. Degradation of pollutants is an obvious... 

In nature, enzymes play an important role in the survival and reproduction of their source organism. Therefore, many enzymes in their natural form are not suitable for application directly as biocatalysts in bioprocessing. For example, most enzymes are active at relatively mild conditions, thus may not be viable under the harsher conditions encountered in most indnstrial production systems. Various methods have been used to improve the properties of enzymes, including selectivity, activity and thermostability, in order to enable them to function as efficient industrial biocatalysts. Enzyme engineering, which encompasses rational design and directed evolution, is an efficient method to improve enzyme properties. Rational design seeks for beneficial mutations or protein sequences by applying empirically derived rules or theoretical models. Meanwhile, directed evolution uses a combinatorial approach to create libraries of enzymes from which enhanced variants can be identified... 

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