ENGINEERING NEW FUNCTIONS AND ALTERING EXISTING FUNCTIONS

Structural and mechanistic information, sequence comparisons, and site -directed mutagenesis data continue to provide a basis for the rationa l design of new protein functions and the alteration of existing funct ions. Random mutagenesis and 'directed evolution' approaches, however, are making significant headway in solving protein engineering problem s, proving highly practical for tuning properties such as enzyme subst rate specificity.