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Engineering specialized metabolic pathways--is there a room for enzyme improvements?
Arren Bar-Even1, Dan Salah Tawfik
1Department of Plant Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. arren@weizmann.ac.il
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
|October 30, 2012
Summary
Enzyme engineering can significantly enhance metabolic engineering by improving enzyme efficiency and selectivity. This integration boosts pathway performance for higher yields and product purity, especially in specialized metabolism.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Metabolic Engineering
- Enzyme Engineering
Background:
- Metabolic engineering traditionally combines existing enzymes to create new biosynthesis pathways.
- The efficiency of individual enzyme components within these pathways can be a limiting factor.
- Enzyme engineering offers potential solutions to improve pathway performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the application of enzyme engineering in transforming biosynthesis pathways.
- To assess the potential for improving enzyme catalytic efficiency and selectivity for metabolic engineering.
- To highlight opportunities in specialized metabolism for integrating enzyme and pathway engineering.
Main Methods:
- Discussion of recent advances in enzyme engineering capabilities.
- Analysis of enzyme characteristics in central versus specialized metabolism.
- Evaluation of spontaneous reactions in specialized metabolism.
Main Results:
- Enzyme engineering can dramatically improve catalytic efficiency and selectivity.
- Specialized metabolism enzymes possess unique features beneficial for pathway engineering.
- Engineering enzymes for spontaneous reactions in specialized metabolism offers advantages.
Conclusions:
- Integrating enzyme and pathway engineering, particularly in specialized metabolism, can lead to higher metabolic efficiencies.
- Improved enzyme performance through engineering enhances production rates and product purities.
- Enzyme engineering is a powerful tool for optimizing biosynthesis pathways.
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