Protein engineering enzymes activity

Biological catalysts — enzymes — are usually proteins. The development of new protein syntheses is nowadays dominated by genetic protein engineering (see section 4.1.2.6). Bio-organic approaches towards novel catalytically active structures and replicating systems try to manage without biopolymers. 

Enzymes. Protein engineering has been used both to understand enzyme mechanism and to selectively modify enzyme function (4,5,62—67). Much as in protein stabiUty studies, the role of a particular amino acid can be assessed by replacement of a residue incapable of performing the same function. An understanding of how the enzyme catalyzes a given reaction provides the basis for manipulating the activity or specificity. 

Specificity for a particular charged substrate can be engineered into an enzyme by replacement of residues within the enzyme-active site to achieve electrostatic complementarity between the enzyme and substrate (75). Protein engineering, when coupled with detailed stmctural information, is a powerful technique that can be used to alter the catalytic activity of an enzyme in a predictable fashion. 

Protein engineering is now routinely used to modify protein molecules either via site-directed mutagenesis or by combinatorial methods. Factors that are Important for the stability of proteins have been studied, such as stabilization of a helices and reducing the number of conformations in the unfolded state. Combinatorial methods produce a large number of random mutants from which those with the desired properties are selected in vitro using phage display. Specific enzyme inhibitors, increased enzymatic activity and agonists of receptor molecules are examples of successful use of this method. 

Enzyme promiscuity is clearly advantageous to chemists since it broadens the applicability of enzymes in chemical synthesis. New catalytic activities in existing enzymes can be enhanced by protein engineering - appropriate mutagenesis of the enzymes [106]. Some of the most illustrative examples of this unusual activity of common enzymes are presented below. 

De novo design of proteins with pre-specified enzymatic activity is one of the most complex goals of protein engineering. So far only a few resnlts have been reported, but they are extremely interesting because they do prove that we are at the level where our insight into protein structure is sufficiently advanced to allow for de novo enzyme design. 

The tyrosyl radical is used to initiate the ribonucleotide reduction at the active site in the R1 protein 3.5 nm away. The tyrosyl radical is very stable and was discovered by a characteristic EPR spectrum of isolated enzyme. Alteration of this spectrum when bacteria were grown in deuterated tyrosine indicated that the radical is located on a tyrosyl side chain and that the spin density is delocalized over the tyrosyl ring.361 362 Using protein engineering techniques the ring was located as Tyr 122 of the E. coli enzyme. A few of the resonance structures that can be used to depict the radical are the following ... 

Bovine pancreatic RNase A is a member of a homologous superfamily. In addition, there is a separate family of guanine-specific microbial RNases that have evolved to have a similar active site.192,193 Ribonuclease T1 from Aspergillus oryzae and the 110-residue bamase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens of Mr 12 392 (see Chapter 19) are the best known examples. One of the histidine residues is replaced by a glutamate in these enzymes. The microbial enzymes are much more amenable to study by protein engineering. 

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