New directions in biocatalysis

Biocatalysts are of increasing interest for the preparation of optically ac tive compounds in pharmaceutical, fine chemical and in agricultural busines s. in the development of industrial applicable biocatalysts under non-natur al conditions, directed evolution is a useful tool which emulates natural p rocesses of diversity generation and selection. Random mutations are introd uced in a gene or different genes are recombined to create libraries of new biocatalysts. Selection is performed or high throughput screening procedur es are completed by means of laboratory automation to identify optimized ca talysts. Repeated cycles of directed evolution allow the in vitro molecular evolution to provide a new biocatalyst with the desired properties like en hanced activity, stability or selectivity in a very rapid manner.