Common Methods Employed in Directed Evolution and Their Application in Modification of Lipases

Abstract

Biocatalyst plays an important role in the catalysis of biochemical/chemical reactions. Unfortunately, the majority of natural occurring enzyme lacks characteristic features essentially required during industrial processes e.g. thermostability/solvent stability/enantio-selectivity. Protein engineering methods play an important role in altering the natural properties of the enzymes i.e. protein thermostability, catalytic efficiency, tolerance towards extreme pH, activity and stability in presence of organic solvents. Directed evolution has emerged as useful technique that can produce variants, prior the knowledge of three dimensional structures. This review article discusses most common methods that are employed in modification of industrially relevant enzymes. Since, past several years so our lab is working in lipases, therefore we are discussing the application of directed evolution in altering the function of lipases.