Can in silico engineering speed up the delivery of biocatalysts for the burgeoning bioeconomy? In this issue, Kamerlin and coworkers introduce CADEE [Amrein et al. (2017), IUCrJ, 4, 50-64] - a framework for Computer-Aided Directed Evolution of Enzymes - that promises to lessen the burden on 'wet lab' enzymologists when optimizing biocatalysts using laboratory-based directed evolution methods.

A new biocatalytic assay analyzing the simultaneous presence of creatine kinase (CK) and alanine transaminase (ALT) was developed aiming at the recognition of biofluids of different gender for forensic applications. Knowing the difference in the concentrations of CK and ALT enzymes in the blood of healthy adults of male and female groups we mimicked the samples of different gender with various ...

Leukocyte extravasation from the blood into tissues is crucial for normal immune surveillance and in inflammation. Traditionally molecules belonging to selectin, chemokine, integrin, and immunoglobulin super families are thought to mediate the multiple adhesive and activation events needed for a successful emigration cascade. Recently, emerging evidence suggests that enzymes expressed on the su...

As synthetic pathways built from exogenous enzymes become more complicated, the probability of encountering undesired interactions with host organisms increases, thereby lowering product titer. An emerging strategy to combat this problem is to spatially organize pathway enzymes into multi-protein complexes, where high local concentrations of enzymes and metabolites may enhance flux and limit pr...

To transfer to the laboratory, the excellent efficiency shown by enzymes in Nature, biocatalysis, had to mimic several synthetic strategies used by the living organisms. Biosynthetic pathways are examples of tandem catalysis and may be assimilated in the biocatalysis field for the use of isolated multi-enzyme systems in the homogeneous phase. The concurrent action of several enzymes that work s...

welsh onion (allium fistulosum l.) is one of the important vegetable crops in china. however, the seeds of this crop are short-lived and their vitality tends to be easily lost in the course of storage. the present study was conducted to elucidate the effects of welsh onion seed priming with potassium nitrate (kno3) on seed vigor and on other such related mechanisms during twelve months of stora...

The rapid evolution of bacteria is crucial to their survival and is caused by exchange, transfer, and uptake of DNA, among other things. Conjugation is one of the main mechanisms by which bacteria share their DNA, and it is thought to be controlled by varied bacterial immune systems. Contradictory results about restriction-modification systems based on phenotypic studies have been presented as ...

The large family of enzymes, known as polyphenols oxidases, includes laccase. Due to the inclusion a copper atom in their catalytic core, laccases are frequently referred multi-copper oxidases. Laccases versatile enzymes that can catalyze oxidation wide range phenolic and non-phenolic substances. In current study, local strain Aspergillus niger was used for solid-state fermentation produce fung...