Technical Aspects of Biocatalysis

Screening kits/sets containing samples of the normal commercially available enzymes are also provided by other enzyme suppliers, such as Boehringer Mannheim/Roche (Chirazyme sets for lipases/esterases, aldol reaction kits), Altus Biologies (ChiroScreen Kits TE and EH (based on CLECs, see section 5) for the chiral resolution of alcohols, amines, and esters), Biocatalysts (kits with alcohol dehydrogenases), Enzymatix (lipase biotransformation research kit), and others. 

World-wide, comparatively limited screening effort is devoted to discovery of completely new, so far unknown subclasses of enzymes (see also section 6). To make use of the opportunities still hidden in the vast unexplored part of biodiversity, the new approaches using molecular biology techniques can yield exciting and unexpected new types of biocatalysts with interesting synthetic abilities. In order to widen the application spectrum of chemistry and biotechnology, the screening efforts should be enforced in both academic and industrial research. 

In contrast to what many people still seem to believe, screening must not necessarily be a frustrating and laborious job for dummies. As is demonstrated by many successful examples from academia and industry, screening can be done with very clever strategies and be very exciting. Some very useful indications in this direction can be found in the excellent proceedings of the International Symposium New Frontiers in Screening for Microbial Biocatalysts held in 1996 [27]. 

Screening for suitable micro-organisms (plant cells, etc.) and/or enzymes with the required catalytic properties and selectivities. 

Screening for the optimum conditions for culture growth and production of the desired enzyme(s).This can be a very demanding job in cases where the enzyme expression is not constitutive. In this case, the best (and cheapest) conditions for enzyme induction and the right time for harvest must be identified. 

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