Exploration of sequence space for protein engineering

The process of protein engineering is currently evolving towards a heuristi c understanding of the sequence-function relationship. Improved DNA sequenc ing capacity, efficient protein function characterization and improved qual ity of data points in conjunction with well-established statistical tools f rom other industries are changing the protein engineering field. Algorithms capturing the heuristic sequence-function relationships will have a drasti c impact on the field of protein engineering. In this review, several alter native approaches to quantitatively assess sequence space are discussed and the relatively few examples of wet-lab validation of statistical sequence- function characterization/correlation are described. Copyright (C) 2001 Joh n Wiley & Sons, Ltd.