Biomolecular engineering can be used to purposefully manipulate biomolecules, such as peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and lipids, within the framework of the relations among their structures, functions and properties.
Molecular biology is principally concerned with the storage, replication, and use of information. A living cell must process information from the external world and act upon it to ensure survival and replication of the organism.
Recent advances in biomolecular engineering, such as genetic engineering, DNA and RNA engineering, protein engineering, site-specific chemical and enzymatic conjugation technologies, self-assembly technology and massive high throughput screening (HTS) methods, have enabled us to improve, stabilize, integrate and alter the functions and properties of biological materials.
In protein engineering rational design involves alterations of selected residues in a protein via site-specific mutagenesis to achieve predicted changes in function. Protein engineering refers to the ability to alter protein structure to achieve a desired protein function.
DNA shuffling will play a key role in biomolecular engineering. DNA shuffling exchanges large functional domains of sequences to search for the best candidate molecule, thus mimicking and accelerating the process of sexual recombination in the evolution of life. The phage‐display system of combinatorial peptide libraries will be extensively exploited to design and create many novel proteins.
Biomolecular Engineering
