Glutathione transferases with novel active sites isolated by phage display from a library of random mutants

Human glutathione transferase A1-1 can be expressed as a fusion protein with coat protein III of filamentous phage f1 in a form that allows selection among variant mutant forms based on specific adsorption to immobilized active-site ligands. A library of mutant enzymes differing in the active-site region was generated by random mutagenesis of ten amino acid residues involved in the binding of electrophilic substrates. Novel glutathione transferases with altered specificity for active-site ligands were isolated by adsorption of the fusion protein on the surface of phage to analogs of an electrophilic substrate. Thus, phage display of glutathione transferase affords a system for engineering novel binding specificities onto the pre-existing protein framework of the enzyme.