Extremozymes

Extremozymes offer new opportunities for biocatalysis and biotransformation s as a result of their extreme stability. From recent work, major approache s to extending the range of applications of extremozymes have emerged. Both the discovery of new extremophilic species and the determination of genome sequences provide a route to new enzymes, with the possibility that these will lead to novel applications. Of equal importance, protein engineering a nd directed evolution provide approaches to improve enzyme stability and mo dify specificity in ways that may not exist in the natural world.