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Multi-enzyme Screening Using a High-throughput Genetic Enzyme Screening System
Published on: August 8, 2016
Functional-based screening methods for lipases, esterases, and phospholipases in metagenomic libraries
Dolores Reyes-Duarte1, Manuel Ferrer, Humberto García-Arellano
1Departamento de Procesos y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Cuajimalpa (UAM-C), D.F. Mexico, Mexico. dreyes@correo.cua.uam.mx
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.)
|March 20, 2012
Summary
Metagenomic functional screening identifies novel enzymes by activity, not just sequence. This powerful approach discovers new biocatalysts and assigns functions to hypothetical proteins for biotechnological applications.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Enzyme Discovery
- Metagenomics
Background:
- Sequence homology searches are limited in identifying novel enzymes.
- Functional screening offers a powerful alternative for enzyme discovery.
- Metagenomic approaches increase the diversity of accessible enzymes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe functional screening methods for enzyme discovery.
- To highlight the advantages of functional screening over sequence homology.
- To focus on methods for mining esterases and lipases.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing metagenomic techniques for enzyme discovery.
- Implementing functional screening based on enzyme activity.
- Designing screening programs for hydrolases, oxidoreductases, esterases, and lipases.
Main Results:
- Functional screening identifies enzymes with no sequence similarity to known ones.
- This method enables the functional assignment of hypothetical proteins.
- The described methods guarantee the greatest enzyme diversity.
Conclusions:
- Metagenomic functional screening is a superior strategy for discovering novel enzymes.
- This approach expands the repertoire of enzymes for biotechnological applications.
- It facilitates the annotation of uncharacterized proteins in public databases.
