Towards Selections for Enzyme Turnovers
Abstract
Enzyme engineering is a field with a wide variety of applications, including medicine, alternative energy, waste disposal, and chemical synthesis. Despite rapid advancements in the field, there is still no general method that allows selections for improved catalytic properties of enzymes. A new, general method based on the concept of phage wrapping has been investigated, and would allow for such selections. Cyclic-AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase A (PKA) was selected as a model enzyme, and will be evolved to have altered substrate specificity. Active PKA has been displayed on phage, and substrate wrappers have been synthesized. In addition, a mutant library has been designed for PKA. This project has met with many challenges, but the way has been paved for future students to begin performing mock selections.