Current advances in design and engineering strategies of industrial enzymes

Enzymes are considered as functional proteins, also known as biocatalysts, which are required for normal cellular function. The commercial production of enzymes with distinct features always remains the top priority of researchers for industrial biocatalysis. However, the insufficient yield, low stability, low activity, formation of by-products, complex purification process, and many other factors are challenging for the enzyme production industry. Novel advancements in protein engineering, especially the combination of multidisciplinary techniques including post-translational enzyme modification, structured assisted protein tailoring and computational modeling approaches, open a new horizon to more efficient production of biocatalysts. In this review, we focus on the development process of enzyme modification design strategies, such as rational design, semi-rational design and de novo design. Selected examples for each strategy, which are particularly useful for novel enzyme design, are given. We hope this review is helpful for the development of biocatalysts for industrial application.