Directed evolution allows for the rapid and straight-forward engineering of enzymes. However, it requires i) an efficient high-throughput screening (HTS) to cope with the number of generated enzyme variant and ii) a suitable starting point from which to begin the evolution experiment. Using two case studies – decarboxylase OleT and artificial metalloenzymes – this talk will address both challenges:
i) While OleT and other decarboxylases have an enormous potential in the context of a biobased economy, the glaring lack of a suitable HTS currently hampers their application.
ii) Artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs) consist of a synthetic metal cofactor embedded in a protein scaffold. As the protein and the cofactor do not share a common evolutionary history, they are reminiscent of ancestral metalloenzymes. As such, they provide interesting targets to study evolutionary trajectories and provide alternative starting points for directed evolution experiments.
- M. Wittwer, U. Markel, J. Schiffels, J. Okuda, D. F. Sauer, U. Schwaneberg, Nat. Catal. 2021, 4, 814-827.
- U. Markel, D. F. Sauer, M. Wittwer, J. Schiffels, H. Cui, M. D. Davari, K. W. Kröckert, S. Herres-Pawlis, J. Okuda, U. Schwaneberg, ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 5079-5087.
- D. F. Sauer, M. Wittwer, U. Markel, A. Minges, M. Spiertz, J. Schiffels, M. D. Davari, G. Groth, J. Okuda, U. Schwaneberg, Catal. Sci. Technol. 2021, 11, 4491-4499.
- U. Markel, P. Lanvers, D. F. Sauer, M. Wittwer, G. V. Dhoke, M. D. Davari, J. Schiffels, U. Schwaneberg, Chem. - Eur. J. 2021, 27, 954-958.
- U. Markel, K. D. Essani, V. Besirlioglu, J. Schiffels, W. R. Streit, U. Schwaneberg, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2020, 49, 233-262.
- U. Markel, D. F. Sauer, J. Schiffels, J. Okuda, U. Schwaneberg, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 4454-4464.