Metabolic Enzymes Research: 3 Emerging Fields that Will Shape the Future
Metabolic enzymes are a class of enzymes that regulate metabolic pathways in energy homeostasis, including glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolisms. Metabolic enzymes often serve as drug targets for metabolic diseases such as obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Metabolic enzymes drive the biochemical reactions in our cells and play a crucial role in various physiological processes, from energy production and storage to biosynthesis and detoxification. However, the applications of these specialized enzymes are not limited to biochemical research but span multiple fields, including medicine, biotechnology, and industry.
With the continuous advancements in protein (enzyme) engineering, machine learning models, and sustainable practices, the field of metabolic enzyme research is expected to evolve more rapidly in the near future. To better understand what to expect, here are some emerging trends that could potentially improve human health, transform industries, and provide sustainable and innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges.
The rise of enzyme engineering and directed evolution is possibly one of the most significant developments in recent years. Since enzymes can now be created or modified to improve their performance, scientists are no longer limited to the enzymes found in nature.
One example is the development of more efficient enzymes for biofuel production. Because traditional enzymes that break down cellulose into sugars (a crucial step in producing ethanol from plant biomass) were not optimal for industrial use. Researchers used directed evolution, a method where enzymes are subjected to repetitive rounds of mutations and selection, to create enhanced and more stable variants that can withstand higher temperatures with increased activity to improve the efficiency of biofuel production.
With enzyme engineering, converting plastic waste into harmless or even useful byproducts may soon be a reality. Researchers are already exploring enzymes like PETase, which can degrade common plastic (polyethylene terephthalate or PET) into its monomers, allowing for recycling at a molecular level.
Synthetic biology involves the integration and optimization of metabolic enzymes into synthetic biological circuits to modify microorganisms capable of producing valuable chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels from renewable resources. It is like "re-wiring" a cell's metabolic machinery to achieve a specific goal, often by combining genetic parts from different species to create a new pathway.
Key aspects of metabolic pathway reconstruction:
Gene manipulation: The core technology involves isolating and manipulating genes that encode enzymes necessary for specific metabolic reactions. These enzymes can then be introduced into a host organism to create a new pathway.
Pathway design: Scientists use computational models and databases to design new metabolic pathways by identifying the necessary enzymes and their corresponding reactions to convert a starting molecule into a desired product.
Heterologous expression: In a heterologous expression system, genes from one organism are introduced into another organism (a "heterologous host") to express the desired enzymes and create a new metabolic pathway.
Optimization: Once a pathway is constructed, researchers can optimize its efficiency by adjusting gene expression levels, manipulating enzyme activity, and optimizing growth conditions.
Applications:
Pharmaceutical production
The best example is the production of an antimalarial drug called artemisinin. Researchers reconstructed the plant's artemisinin biosynthesis pathway in yeast to express a series of enzymes from different organisms. The engineered yeast can produce artemisinic acid, a precursor to artemisinin, in a more controlled and scalable way, thereby increasing its productivity and reducing production costs.
Chemical synthesis
Metabolic enzymes can produce high-value chemicals and bio-based materials from renewable resources (e.g. opioids from simple sugars), novel antibiotics, and therapeutic compounds for personalized treatments (e.g. patient-specific probiotic therapeutics)
Biofuel production
Engineering microbes can produce biofuels like ethanol or biodiesel from renewable feedstocks by creating new pathways for converting sugars into desired fuel molecules. Additionally, it enabled the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly biocatalytic processes (e.g., biocatalytic synthesis of chiral compounds), the synthesis of complex molecules in single biological systems (e.g., one-pot synthesis of plant alkaloids), and the production of thermostable enzymes from extremophiles (organisms that live in extreme environments).
Environmental Remediation
Engineered microbial strains capable of degrading pollutants by engineering new metabolic pathways to break down toxic compounds. Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin created an enzyme variant of PETase that can break down environment-throttling plastics that typically take centuries to degrade in just a matter of hours to days.
Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is a medical treatment that replaces an enzyme deficient or absent in the body. Usually, this is done by giving the patient an intravenous (IV) infusion of a solution containing the enzyme. ERT has been a game-changer for treating certain genetic disorders such as Gaucher, Fabry, MPS I, MPS II (Hunter syndrome), and Pompe disease, where patients lack specific enzymes. Moreover, with researchers exploring new therapeutic uses for enzymes, the field is now expanding beyond traditional ERT.
Researchers are developing enzymes that degrade kynurenine, a metabolite that suppresses the immune system. By eliminating kynurenine, the effectiveness of immunotherapies against cancer can be significantly enhanced.
Due to these recent developments, enzymes that can target and degrade specific pathological proteins or metabolites involved in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's can be a reality in the coming years.
G-Biosciences offers a wide selection of DNA metabolic enzymes for PCR, RT-qPCR, Cloning, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), and Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) techniques.
Antibiotics: https://www.gbiosciences.com/Antibiotics-and-Antimycotics
PCR: https://www.gbiosciences.com/Molecular-Biology/Polymerase-Chain-Reaction-PCR
Protein Purification Handbook