Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering & Sciences Publication Pvt. Ltd. Computational Methods for Enzyme Design and Its Biological Significance

Abstract: Enzymes are large biological molecules responsible for the thousands of metabolic processes that sustain life. They are highly selective catalysts, greatly accelerating both the rate and specificity of metabolic reactions, from the digestion of food to the synthesis of DNA. Most enzymes are proteins, although some catalytic RNA molecules have been identified. Enzymes adopt a specific three-dimensional structure, and may employ organic (e.g. biotin) and inorganic (e.g. magnesium ion) cofactors to assist in catalysis. Multiple experimental approaches have been applied to generate nearly all possible mutations of target enzymes, allowing the identification of desirable variants with improved properties to meet the practical needs. Meanwhile, an increasing number of computational methods have been developed to assist in the modification of enzymes during the past few decades. With the development of bioinformatics algorithms, computational approaches are now able to provide more precise guidance for enzyme engineering and make it more efficient and less laborious. In this review, we summarize the recent advances of method development with significant biological outcomes to provide important insights into successful computational protein designs