Enzyme Engineering
Enzyme Engineering
Almac biocatalysis solutions offers enzyme engineering services for pharmaceutical and industrial enzyme applications.
Enzymes are the foundation of all biochemical reactions and life. Enzymes work by decreasing activation energy of all biochemical reactions in living organisms. Enzymes are classified into seven categories according to the types of reactions they carry out: EC 1 Oxidoreductases; EC 2 Transferases; EC 3 Hydrolases, EC 4 Lyases, EC 5 Isomerases, EC 6 Ligases, EC 7 Translocases.
Enzyme engineering is the process of improving enzymes for various industrial applications such as those found in the pharmaceutical, fine chemical, agriculture, biofuels, textiles, F&F and food processing. Key enzyme properties include selectivity, activity, process tolerance, and thermostability. Please click on the links to find out more about some of the enzymes engineered by Almac biocatalysis:
| Enzyme Class | Case Study |
| EC 1 Oxidoreductases | Case Study 1 Case Study 2 Case Study 3 Case Study 4 |
| EC 2 Transferases | Case Study 1 |
| EC 3 Hydrolases | Case Study 1 Case Study 2 |
| EC 4 Lyases | Case Study 1 Case Study 2 |
| EC 6 Ligases | Case Study 1 |
Enzyme Engineering Services
Rational enzyme design
Rational enzyme design
(8 – 12 weeks 100 – 200 mutants)
Molecular modelling, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, quantum mechanics and bioinformatic tools are used to sample the sequence space of the enzyme with the goal of rationally designing mutants with improved activity, selectivity, specificity and stability. All mutants are cloned, expressed and screened individually for improvements for the reaction of interest.
Smart site saturation mutagenesis
Smart site saturation mutagenesis
(3 – 4 months 5,000 – 10,000 mutants)
Molecular modelling, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, quantum mechanics and bioinformatic tools are used to sample the sequence space of the enzyme with the goal of identifying the enzyme hotspots, which are targeted for site saturation mutagenesis. All mutants are cloned, expressed and screened on an amino acid site by site basis for improvements in the reaction of interest.
Directed evolution
Directed evolution
3 mth packages > 10,000 mutants
Directed evolution by both site-specific and random mutagenesis. Use of robotics and high throughput screening methodologies to screen 10,000s of mutants for desired improvements. Rapid sequencing and In silico analysis of improved mutant positions to identify alternative superior amino acids at that position and the likelihood of successful additive combination with previously identified mutants.
Machine learning assisted enzyme design
Machine learning assisted enzyme design
Almac utilise machine learning and deep learning to leverage the data generated from enzyme engineering work packages to identify patterns and create models which can be used to predict mutations to further improve the desired enzymatic properties.