Month: September 2022

CREATING NOVEL MOLECULES. "The approach is called “directed evolution,” and scientists are using it to generate proteins that do not occur in nature — for example, cancer drugs, new microbial enzymes for converting agricultural waste to fuel, or imaging agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)." https://lnkd.in/dQTrNcQ View in LinkedIn

EMPIRICAL METHOD. "Most protein structures are so complex that it’s nearly impossible to predict how altering their structure will affect their function. So the trial-and-error approach of directed evolution is usually the fastest way to come up with a new protein with desirable traits." https://lnkd.in/dQTrNcQ View in LinkedIn

"DIRECTED EVOLUTION mimics natural evolution in the laboratory (in vitro), but operates on a molecular level (i.e. no new organisms are created) and focuses on specific molecular properties." https://lnkd.in/dPAZwtD View in LinkedIn

"SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY describes the engineering of biological parts and whole systems by either modifying natural organisms or building new biosystems from scratch. To date, most proteins used as parts in synthetic biology are taken from nature. Utilizing naturally evolved proteins has led to numerous successful applications in biotechnology." https://lnkd.in/dJawhaB View in LinkedIn

UNEXPECTED RESULTS. "With the investment of sufficient resources and determination, directed evolution generally appears to yield desired improvements of protein properties, sometimes producing remarkable results." https://lnkd.in/dJawhaB View in LinkedIn

MOLECULAR TRAIT SELECTION. "Directed evolution has proved to be an effective strategy for improving or altering the activity of biomolecules for industrial, research and therapeutic applications. The evolution of proteins in the laboratory requires methods for generating genetic diversity and for identifying protein variants with desired properties." https://lnkd.in/dwR3hCZ View in LinkedIn

LOW YIELDS. "Although it is now possible to create new enzyme active sites with immunological methods or by redesigning existing proteins, the chemical efficiency of these catalysts is typically considerably lower than that of naturally occurring enzymes." https://lnkd.in/dEx4mGb View in LinkedIn

"GENETIC SELECTION is a potentially general method for evolving the properties of these first-generation molecules." https://lnkd.in/dEx4mGb View in LinkedIn

IMPROVING DNA. "Axiomatically, the density of information stored in DNA, with just four nucleotides (GACT), is higher than in a binary code, but less than it might be if synthetic biologists succeed in adding independently replicating nucleotides to genetic systems." https://lnkd.in/dinaF2C View in LinkedIn

EXPANDED GENETIC ALPHABETS. "The possibility of increasing the number of replicable nucleotides in DNA and RNA (collectively xNA) above the standard four found in natural terran xNA was noted a quarter-century ago. However, only recently has the broader scientific community come to recognize that expanded genetic “alphabets” might also expand the functional potential of nucleic acids." https://lnkd.in/dinaF2C View in LinkedIn