1
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Vornholt T, Mutný M, Schmidt GW, Schellhaas C, Tachibana R, Panke S, Ward TR, Krause A, Jeschek M. Enhanced Sequence-Activity Mapping and Evolution of Artificial Metalloenzymes by Active Learning. ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2024; 10:1357-1370. [PMID: 39071060 PMCID: PMC11273458 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.4c00258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Revised: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Tailored enzymes are crucial for the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. However, enzyme engineering is laborious and failure-prone due to its reliance on serendipity. The efficiency and success rates of engineering campaigns may be improved by applying machine learning to map the sequence-activity landscape based on small experimental data sets. Yet, it often proves challenging to reliably model large sequence spaces while keeping the experimental effort tractable. To address this challenge, we present an integrated pipeline combining large-scale screening with active machine learning, which we applied to engineer an artificial metalloenzyme (ArM) catalyzing a new-to-nature hydroamination reaction. Combining lab automation and next-generation sequencing, we acquired sequence-activity data for several thousand ArM variants. We then used Gaussian process regression to model the activity landscape and guide further screening rounds. Critical characteristics of our pipeline include the cost-effective generation of information-rich data sets, the integration of an explorative round to improve the model's performance, and the inclusion of experimental noise. Our approach led to an order-of-magnitude boost in the hit rate while making efficient use of experimental resources. Search strategies like this should find broad utility in enzyme engineering and accelerate the development of novel biocatalysts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Vornholt
- Department
of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH
Zurich, Mattenstrasse 26, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- National
Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Molecular Systems Engineering, 4056 Basel,Switzerland
| | - Mojmír Mutný
- Department
of Computer Science, ETH Zurich, Andreasstrasse 5, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Gregor W. Schmidt
- Department
of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH
Zurich, Mattenstrasse 26, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Christian Schellhaas
- Department
of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH
Zurich, Mattenstrasse 26, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ryo Tachibana
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Basel, Mattenstrasse 24a, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Sven Panke
- Department
of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH
Zurich, Mattenstrasse 26, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- National
Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Molecular Systems Engineering, 4056 Basel,Switzerland
| | - Thomas R. Ward
- National
Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Molecular Systems Engineering, 4056 Basel,Switzerland
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Basel, Mattenstrasse 24a, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Andreas Krause
- Department
of Computer Science, ETH Zurich, Andreasstrasse 5, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Markus Jeschek
- Department
of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH
Zurich, Mattenstrasse 26, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- Institute
of Microbiology, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
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2
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Zhou L, Tao C, Shen X, Sun X, Wang J, Yuan Q. Unlocking the potential of enzyme engineering via rational computational design strategies. Biotechnol Adv 2024; 73:108376. [PMID: 38740355 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2024.108376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Revised: 04/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Enzymes play a pivotal role in various industries by enabling efficient, eco-friendly, and sustainable chemical processes. However, the low turnover rates and poor substrate selectivity of enzymes limit their large-scale applications. Rational computational enzyme design, facilitated by computational algorithms, offers a more targeted and less labor-intensive approach. There has been notable advancement in employing rational computational protein engineering strategies to overcome these issues, it has not been comprehensively reviewed so far. This article reviews recent developments in rational computational enzyme design, categorizing them into three types: structure-based, sequence-based, and data-driven machine learning computational design. Case studies are presented to demonstrate successful enhancements in catalytic activity, stability, and substrate selectivity. Lastly, the article provides a thorough analysis of these approaches, highlights existing challenges and potential solutions, and offers insights into future development directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Chunmeng Tao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Xiaolin Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Xinxiao Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Jia Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
| | - Qipeng Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
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3
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Hollmann F, Sanchis J, Reetz MT. Learning from Protein Engineering by Deconvolution of Multi-Mutational Variants. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024:e202404880. [PMID: 38884594 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202404880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Revised: 06/05/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/18/2024]
Abstract
This review analyzes a development in biochemistry, enzymology and biotechnology that originally came as a surprise. Following the establishment of directed evolution of stereoselective enzymes in organic chemistry, the concept of partial or complete deconvolution of selective multi-mutational variants was introduced. Early deconvolution experiments of stereoselective variants led to the finding that mutations can interact cooperatively or antagonistically with one another, not just additively. During the past decade, this phenomenon was shown to be general. In some studies, molecular dynamics (MD) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) computations were performed in order to shed light on the origin of non-additivity at all stages of an evolutionary upward climb. Data of complete deconvolution can be used to construct unique multi-dimensional rugged fitness pathway landscapes, which provide mechanistic insights different from traditional fitness landscapes. Along a related line, biochemists have long tested the result of introducing two point mutations in an enzyme for mechanistic reasons, followed by a comparison of the respective double mutant in so-called double mutant cycles, which originally showed only additive effects, but more recently also uncovered cooperative and antagonistic non-additive effects. We conclude with suggestions for future work, and call for a unified overall picture of non-additivity and epistasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank Hollmann
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629HZ, Delft, Netherlands
| | - Joaquin Sanchis
- Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia
| | - Manfred T Reetz
- Max-Plank-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45481, Mülheim, Germany
- Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, 300308, China
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4
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Scalzitti N, Miralavy I, Korenchan DE, Farrar CT, Gilad AA, Banzhaf W. Computational peptide discovery with a genetic programming approach. J Comput Aided Mol Des 2024; 38:17. [PMID: 38570405 DOI: 10.1007/s10822-024-00558-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
The development of peptides for therapeutic targets or biomarkers for disease diagnosis is a challenging task in protein engineering. Current approaches are tedious, often time-consuming and require complex laboratory data due to the vast search spaces that need to be considered. In silico methods can accelerate research and substantially reduce costs. Evolutionary algorithms are a promising approach for exploring large search spaces and can facilitate the discovery of new peptides. This study presents the development and use of a new variant of the genetic-programming-based POET algorithm, called POETRegex , where individuals are represented by a list of regular expressions. This algorithm was trained on a small curated dataset and employed to generate new peptides improving the sensitivity of peptides in magnetic resonance imaging with chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST). The resulting model achieves a performance gain of 20% over the initial POET models and is able to predict a candidate peptide with a 58% performance increase compared to the gold-standard peptide. By combining the power of genetic programming with the flexibility of regular expressions, new peptide targets were identified that improve the sensitivity of detection by CEST. This approach provides a promising research direction for the efficient identification of peptides with therapeutic or diagnostic potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Scalzitti
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Iliya Miralavy
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - David E Korenchan
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Christian T Farrar
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Assaf A Gilad
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
- Department of Radiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
| | - Wolfgang Banzhaf
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
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5
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Kouba P, Kohout P, Haddadi F, Bushuiev A, Samusevich R, Sedlar J, Damborsky J, Pluskal T, Sivic J, Mazurenko S. Machine Learning-Guided Protein Engineering. ACS Catal 2023; 13:13863-13895. [PMID: 37942269 PMCID: PMC10629210 DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.3c02743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/10/2023]
Abstract
Recent progress in engineering highly promising biocatalysts has increasingly involved machine learning methods. These methods leverage existing experimental and simulation data to aid in the discovery and annotation of promising enzymes, as well as in suggesting beneficial mutations for improving known targets. The field of machine learning for protein engineering is gathering steam, driven by recent success stories and notable progress in other areas. It already encompasses ambitious tasks such as understanding and predicting protein structure and function, catalytic efficiency, enantioselectivity, protein dynamics, stability, solubility, aggregation, and more. Nonetheless, the field is still evolving, with many challenges to overcome and questions to address. In this Perspective, we provide an overview of ongoing trends in this domain, highlight recent case studies, and examine the current limitations of machine learning-based methods. We emphasize the crucial importance of thorough experimental validation of emerging models before their use for rational protein design. We present our opinions on the fundamental problems and outline the potential directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petr Kouba
- Loschmidt
Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty
of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech
Republic
- Czech Institute
of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
- Faculty of
Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical
University in Prague, Technicka 2, 166 27 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Kohout
- Loschmidt
Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty
of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech
Republic
- International
Clinical Research Center, St. Anne’s
University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Faraneh Haddadi
- Loschmidt
Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty
of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech
Republic
- International
Clinical Research Center, St. Anne’s
University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Anton Bushuiev
- Czech Institute
of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Raman Samusevich
- Czech Institute
of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
- Institute
of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Flemingovo nám. 2, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Jiri Sedlar
- Czech Institute
of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Jiri Damborsky
- Loschmidt
Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty
of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech
Republic
- International
Clinical Research Center, St. Anne’s
University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Tomas Pluskal
- Institute
of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Flemingovo nám. 2, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Josef Sivic
- Czech Institute
of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Jugoslavskych partyzanu 1580/3, 160 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Stanislav Mazurenko
- Loschmidt
Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty
of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech
Republic
- International
Clinical Research Center, St. Anne’s
University Hospital Brno, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
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6
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Ge F, Chen G, Qian M, Xu C, Liu J, Cao J, Li X, Hu D, Xu Y, Xin Y, Wang D, Zhou J, Shi H, Tan Z. Artificial Intelligence Aided Lipase Production and Engineering for Enzymatic Performance Improvement. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2023; 71:14911-14930. [PMID: 37800676 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c05029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), tailoring methods for enzyme engineering have been widely expanded. Additional protocols based on optimized network models have been used to predict and optimize lipase production as well as properties, namely, catalytic activity, stability, and substrate specificity. Here, different network models and algorithms for the prediction and reforming of lipase, focusing on its modification methods and cases based on AI, are reviewed in terms of both their advantages and disadvantages. Different neural networks coupled with various algorithms are usually applied to predict the maximum yield of lipase by optimizing the external cultivations for lipase production, while one part is used to predict the molecule variations affecting the properties of lipase. However, few studies have directly utilized AI to engineer lipase by affecting the structure of the enzyme, and a set of research gaps needs to be explored. Additionally, future perspectives of AI application in enzymes, including lipase engineering, are deduced to help the redesign of enzymes and the reform of new functional biocatalysts. This review provides a new horizon for developing effective and innovative AI tools for lipase production and engineering and facilitating lipase applications in the food industry and biomass conversion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feiyin Ge
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Gang Chen
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Minjing Qian
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Cheng Xu
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiao Liu
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiaqi Cao
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Xinchao Li
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Die Hu
- School of Pharmacy & School of Biological and Food Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, People's Republic of China
| | - Yangsen Xu
- Dongtai Hanfangyuan Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Yancheng 224241, People's Republic of China
| | - Ya Xin
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Dianlong Wang
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Jia Zhou
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Hao Shi
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhongbiao Tan
- School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai'an 223003, People's Republic of China
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7
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Scalzitti N, Miralavy I, Korenchan DE, Farrar CT, Gilad AA, Banzhaf W. Computational Peptide Discovery with a Genetic Programming Approach. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-3307450. [PMID: 37693481 PMCID: PMC10491332 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3307450/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Background The development of peptides for therapeutic targets or biomarkers for disease diagnosis is a challenging task in protein engineering. Current approaches are tedious, often time-consuming and require complex laboratory data due to the vast search space. In silico methods can accelerate research and substantially reduce costs. Evolutionary algorithms are a promising approach for exploring large search spaces and facilitating the discovery of new peptides. Results This study presents the development and use of a variant of the initial POET algorithm, called P O E T R e g e x , which is based on genetic programming, where individuals are represented by a list of regular expressions. The program was trained on a small curated dataset and employed to predict new peptides that can improve the problem of sensitivity in detecting peptides through magnetic resonance imaging using chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST). The resulting model achieves a performance gain of 20% over the initial POET variant and is able to predict a candidate peptide with a 58% performance increase compared to the gold-standard peptide. Conclusions By combining the power of genetic programming with the flexibility of regular expressions, new potential peptide targets were identified to improve the sensitivity of detection by CEST. This approach provides a promising research direction for the efficient identification of peptides with therapeutic or diagnostic potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Scalzitti
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Iliya Miralavy
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - David E. Korenchan
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Christian T. Farrar
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Assaf A. Gilad
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Radiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Wolfgang Banzhaf
- BEACON Center of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
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8
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Bauer J, Rajagopal N, Gupta P, Gupta P, Nixon AE, Kumar S. How can we discover developable antibody-based biotherapeutics? Front Mol Biosci 2023; 10:1221626. [PMID: 37609373 PMCID: PMC10441133 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1221626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Antibody-based biotherapeutics have emerged as a successful class of pharmaceuticals despite significant challenges and risks to their discovery and development. This review discusses the most frequently encountered hurdles in the research and development (R&D) of antibody-based biotherapeutics and proposes a conceptual framework called biopharmaceutical informatics. Our vision advocates for the syncretic use of computation and experimentation at every stage of biologic drug discovery, considering developability (manufacturability, safety, efficacy, and pharmacology) of potential drug candidates from the earliest stages of the drug discovery phase. The computational advances in recent years allow for more precise formulation of disease concepts, rapid identification, and validation of targets suitable for therapeutic intervention and discovery of potential biotherapeutics that can agonize or antagonize them. Furthermore, computational methods for de novo and epitope-specific antibody design are increasingly being developed, opening novel computationally driven opportunities for biologic drug discovery. Here, we review the opportunities and limitations of emerging computational approaches for optimizing antigens to generate robust immune responses, in silico generation of antibody sequences, discovery of potential antibody binders through virtual screening, assessment of hits, identification of lead drug candidates and their affinity maturation, and optimization for developability. The adoption of biopharmaceutical informatics across all aspects of drug discovery and development cycles should help bring affordable and effective biotherapeutics to patients more quickly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joschka Bauer
- Early Stage Pharmaceutical Development Biologicals, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach/Riss, Germany
- In Silico Team, Boehringer Ingelheim, Hannover, Germany
| | - Nandhini Rajagopal
- In Silico Team, Boehringer Ingelheim, Hannover, Germany
- Biotherapeutics Discovery, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Priyanka Gupta
- In Silico Team, Boehringer Ingelheim, Hannover, Germany
- Biotherapeutics Discovery, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Pankaj Gupta
- In Silico Team, Boehringer Ingelheim, Hannover, Germany
- Biotherapeutics Discovery, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Andrew E. Nixon
- Biotherapeutics Discovery, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
| | - Sandeep Kumar
- In Silico Team, Boehringer Ingelheim, Hannover, Germany
- Biotherapeutics Discovery, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States
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9
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Ose NJ, Campitelli P, Patel R, Kumar S, Ozkan SB. Protein dynamics provide mechanistic insights about epistasis among common missense polymorphisms. Biophys J 2023; 122:2938-2947. [PMID: 36726312 PMCID: PMC10398253 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.01.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Sequencing of the protein coding genome has revealed many different missense mutations of human proteins and different population frequencies of corresponding haplotypes, which consist of different sets of those mutations. Here, we present evidence for pairwise intramolecular epistasis (i.e., nonadditive interactions) between many such mutations through an analysis of protein dynamics. We suggest that functional compensation for conserving protein dynamics is a likely evolutionary mechanism that maintains high-frequency mutations that are individually nonneutral but epistatically compensating within proteins. This analysis is the first of its type to look at human proteins with specific high population frequency mutations and examine the relationship between mutations that make up that observed high-frequency protein haplotype. Importantly, protein dynamics revealed a separation between high and low frequency haplotypes within a target protein cytochrome P450 2A7, with the high-frequency haplotypes showing behavior closer to the wild-type protein. Common protein haplotypes containing two mutations display dynamic compensation in which one mutation can correct for the dynamic effects of the other. We also utilize a dynamics-based metric, EpiScore, that evaluates the epistatic interactions and allows us to see dynamic compensation within many other proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas J Ose
- Department of Physics and Center for Biological Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Paul Campitelli
- Department of Physics and Center for Biological Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Ravi Patel
- Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Sudhir Kumar
- Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Center for Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
| | - S Banu Ozkan
- Department of Physics and Center for Biological Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
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10
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Vasina M, Kovar D, Damborsky J, Ding Y, Yang T, deMello A, Mazurenko S, Stavrakis S, Prokop Z. In-depth analysis of biocatalysts by microfluidics: An emerging source of data for machine learning. Biotechnol Adv 2023; 66:108171. [PMID: 37150331 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2023.108171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Nowadays, the vastly increasing demand for novel biotechnological products is supported by the continuous development of biocatalytic applications which provide sustainable green alternatives to chemical processes. The success of a biocatalytic application is critically dependent on how quickly we can identify and characterize enzyme variants fitting the conditions of industrial processes. While miniaturization and parallelization have dramatically increased the throughput of next-generation sequencing systems, the subsequent characterization of the obtained candidates is still a limiting process in identifying the desired biocatalysts. Only a few commercial microfluidic systems for enzyme analysis are currently available, and the transformation of numerous published prototypes into commercial platforms is still to be streamlined. This review presents the state-of-the-art, recent trends, and perspectives in applying microfluidic tools in the functional and structural analysis of biocatalysts. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of available technologies, their reproducibility and robustness, and readiness for routine laboratory use. We also highlight the unexplored potential of microfluidics to leverage the power of machine learning for biocatalyst development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Vasina
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - David Kovar
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jiri Damborsky
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Yun Ding
- Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Tianjin Yang
- Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland; Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andrew deMello
- Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Stanislav Mazurenko
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Stavros Stavrakis
- Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Zbynek Prokop
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology and RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic.
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11
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Bučko M, Kaniaková K, Hronská H, Gemeiner P, Rosenberg M. Epoxide Hydrolases: Multipotential Biocatalysts. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24087334. [PMID: 37108499 PMCID: PMC10138715 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24087334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Epoxide hydrolases are attractive and industrially important biocatalysts. They can catalyze the enantioselective hydrolysis of epoxides to the corresponding diols as chiral building blocks for bioactive compounds and drugs. In this review article, we discuss the state of the art and development potential of epoxide hydrolases as biocatalysts based on the most recent approaches and techniques. The review covers new approaches to discover epoxide hydrolases using genome mining and enzyme metagenomics, as well as improving enzyme activity, enantioselectivity, enantioconvergence, and thermostability by directed evolution and a rational design. Further improvements in operational and storage stabilization, reusability, pH stabilization, and thermal stabilization by immobilization techniques are discussed in this study. New possibilities for expanding the synthetic capabilities of epoxide hydrolases by their involvement in non-natural enzyme cascade reactions are described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Bučko
- Department of Glycobiotechnology, Institute of Chemistry, Center for Glycomics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 38 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Katarína Kaniaková
- Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Helena Hronská
- Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Peter Gemeiner
- Department of Glycobiotechnology, Institute of Chemistry, Center for Glycomics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 38 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Michal Rosenberg
- Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
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12
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Wittmund M, Cadet F, Davari MD. Learning Epistasis and Residue Coevolution Patterns: Current Trends and Future Perspectives for Advancing Enzyme Engineering. ACS Catal 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.2c01426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marcel Wittmund
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Weinberg 3, 06120 Halle, Germany
| | - Frederic Cadet
- Laboratory of Excellence LABEX GR, DSIMB, Inserm UMR S1134, University of Paris city & University of Reunion, Paris 75014, France
| | - Mehdi D. Davari
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Weinberg 3, 06120 Halle, Germany
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13
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Protein Function Analysis through Machine Learning. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12091246. [PMID: 36139085 PMCID: PMC9496392 DOI: 10.3390/biom12091246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Machine learning (ML) has been an important arsenal in computational biology used to elucidate protein function for decades. With the recent burgeoning of novel ML methods and applications, new ML approaches have been incorporated into many areas of computational biology dealing with protein function. We examine how ML has been integrated into a wide range of computational models to improve prediction accuracy and gain a better understanding of protein function. The applications discussed are protein structure prediction, protein engineering using sequence modifications to achieve stability and druggability characteristics, molecular docking in terms of protein–ligand binding, including allosteric effects, protein–protein interactions and protein-centric drug discovery. To quantify the mechanisms underlying protein function, a holistic approach that takes structure, flexibility, stability, and dynamics into account is required, as these aspects become inseparable through their interdependence. Another key component of protein function is conformational dynamics, which often manifest as protein kinetics. Computational methods that use ML to generate representative conformational ensembles and quantify differences in conformational ensembles important for function are included in this review. Future opportunities are highlighted for each of these topics.
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14
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Kekenes-Huskey PM, Burgess DE, Sun B, Bartos DC, Rozmus ER, Anderson CL, January CT, Eckhardt LL, Delisle BP. Mutation-Specific Differences in Kv7.1 ( KCNQ1) and Kv11.1 ( KCNH2) Channel Dysfunction and Long QT Syndrome Phenotypes. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:7389. [PMID: 35806392 PMCID: PMC9266926 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23137389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2022] [Revised: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The electrocardiogram (ECG) empowered clinician scientists to measure the electrical activity of the heart noninvasively to identify arrhythmias and heart disease. Shortly after the standardization of the 12-lead ECG for the diagnosis of heart disease, several families with autosomal recessive (Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome) and dominant (Romano-Ward Syndrome) forms of long QT syndrome (LQTS) were identified. An abnormally long heart rate-corrected QT-interval was established as a biomarker for the risk of sudden cardiac death. Since then, the International LQTS Registry was established; a phenotypic scoring system to identify LQTS patients was developed; the major genes that associate with typical forms of LQTS were identified; and guidelines for the successful management of patients advanced. In this review, we discuss the molecular and cellular mechanisms for LQTS associated with missense variants in KCNQ1 (LQT1) and KCNH2 (LQT2). We move beyond the "benign" to a "pathogenic" binary classification scheme for different KCNQ1 and KCNH2 missense variants and discuss gene- and mutation-specific differences in K+ channel dysfunction, which can predispose people to distinct clinical phenotypes (e.g., concealed, pleiotropic, severe, etc.). We conclude by discussing the emerging computational structural modeling strategies that will distinguish between dysfunctional subtypes of KCNQ1 and KCNH2 variants, with the goal of realizing a layered precision medicine approach focused on individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter M. Kekenes-Huskey
- Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL 60153, USA
| | - Don E. Burgess
- Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA; (D.E.B.); (E.R.R.)
| | - Bin Sun
- Department of Pharmacology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, China;
| | | | - Ezekiel R. Rozmus
- Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA; (D.E.B.); (E.R.R.)
| | - Corey L. Anderson
- Cellular and Molecular Arrythmias Program, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA; (C.L.A.); (C.T.J.); (L.L.E.)
| | - Craig T. January
- Cellular and Molecular Arrythmias Program, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA; (C.L.A.); (C.T.J.); (L.L.E.)
| | - Lee L. Eckhardt
- Cellular and Molecular Arrythmias Program, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA; (C.L.A.); (C.T.J.); (L.L.E.)
| | - Brian P. Delisle
- Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA; (D.E.B.); (E.R.R.)
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15
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Singer JM, Novotney S, Strickland D, Haddox HK, Leiby N, Rocklin GJ, Chow CM, Roy A, Bera AK, Motta FC, Cao L, Strauch EM, Chidyausiku TM, Ford A, Ho E, Zaitzeff A, Mackenzie CO, Eramian H, DiMaio F, Grigoryan G, Vaughn M, Stewart LJ, Baker D, Klavins E. Large-scale design and refinement of stable proteins using sequence-only models. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0265020. [PMID: 35286324 PMCID: PMC8920274 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Engineered proteins generally must possess a stable structure in order to achieve their designed function. Stable designs, however, are astronomically rare within the space of all possible amino acid sequences. As a consequence, many designs must be tested computationally and experimentally in order to find stable ones, which is expensive in terms of time and resources. Here we use a high-throughput, low-fidelity assay to experimentally evaluate the stability of approximately 200,000 novel proteins. These include a wide range of sequence perturbations, providing a baseline for future work in the field. We build a neural network model that predicts protein stability given only sequences of amino acids, and compare its performance to the assayed values. We also report another network model that is able to generate the amino acid sequences of novel stable proteins given requested secondary sequences. Finally, we show that the predictive model-despite weaknesses including a noisy data set-can be used to substantially increase the stability of both expert-designed and model-generated proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Scott Novotney
- Two Six Technologies, Arlington, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Devin Strickland
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Hugh K. Haddox
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Nicholas Leiby
- Two Six Technologies, Arlington, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Gabriel J. Rocklin
- Department of Pharmacology and Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Cameron M. Chow
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Anindya Roy
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Asim K. Bera
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Francis C. Motta
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America
| | - Longxing Cao
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Eva-Maria Strauch
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Tamuka M. Chidyausiku
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Alex Ford
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Ethan Ho
- Texas Advanced Computing Center, Austin, Texas, United States of America
| | | | - Craig O. Mackenzie
- Quantitative Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
| | - Hamed Eramian
- Netrias, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Frank DiMaio
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Gevorg Grigoryan
- Departments of Computer Science and Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
| | - Matthew Vaughn
- Texas Advanced Computing Center, Austin, Texas, United States of America
| | - Lance J. Stewart
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - David Baker
- Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Eric Klavins
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
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16
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Vanella R, Kovacevic G, Doffini V, Fernández de Santaella J, Nash MA. High-throughput screening, next generation sequencing and machine learning: advanced methods in enzyme engineering. Chem Commun (Camb) 2022; 58:2455-2467. [PMID: 35107442 PMCID: PMC8851469 DOI: 10.1039/d1cc04635g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Enzyme engineering is an important biotechnological process capable of generating tailored biocatalysts for applications in industrial chemical conversion and biopharma. Typical enhancements sought in enzyme engineering and in vitro evolution campaigns include improved folding stability, catalytic activity, and/or substrate specificity. Despite significant progress in recent years in the areas of high-throughput screening and DNA sequencing, our ability to explore the vast space of functional enzyme sequences remains severely limited. Here, we review the currently available suite of modern methods for enzyme engineering, with a focus on novel readout systems based on enzyme cascades, and new approaches to reaction compartmentalization including single-cell hydrogel encapsulation techniques to achieve a genotype-phenotype link. We further summarize systematic scanning mutagenesis approaches and their merger with deep mutational scanning and massively parallel next-generation DNA sequencing technologies to generate mutability landscapes. Finally, we discuss the implementation of machine learning models for computational prediction of enzyme phenotypic fitness from sequence. This broad overview of current state-of-the-art approaches for enzyme engineering and evolution will aid newcomers and experienced researchers alike in identifying the important challenges that should be addressed to move the field forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosario Vanella
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Gordana Kovacevic
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Vanni Doffini
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Jaime Fernández de Santaella
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Michael A Nash
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
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17
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Cadet XF, Gelly JC, van Noord A, Cadet F, Acevedo-Rocha CG. Learning Strategies in Protein Directed Evolution. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2461:225-275. [PMID: 35727454 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2152-3_15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Synthetic biology is a fast-evolving research field that combines biology and engineering principles to develop new biological systems for medical, pharmacological, and industrial applications. Synthetic biologists use iterative "design, build, test, and learn" cycles to efficiently engineer genetic systems that are reliable, reproducible, and predictable. Protein engineering by directed evolution can benefit from such a systematic engineering approach for various reasons. Learning can be carried out before starting, throughout or after finalizing a directed evolution project. Computational tools, bioinformatics, and scanning mutagenesis methods can be excellent starting points, while molecular dynamics simulations and other strategies can guide engineering efforts. Similarly, studying protein intermediates along evolutionary pathways offers fascinating insights into the molecular mechanisms shaped by evolution. The learning step of the cycle is not only crucial for proteins or enzymes that are not suitable for high-throughput screening or selection systems, but it is also valuable for any platform that can generate a large amount of data that can be aided by machine learning algorithms. The main challenge in protein engineering is to predict the effect of a single mutation on one functional parameter-to say nothing of several mutations on multiple parameters. This is largely due to nonadditive mutational interactions, known as epistatic effects-beneficial mutations present in a genetic background may not be beneficial in another genetic background. In this work, we provide an overview of experimental and computational strategies that can guide the user to learn protein function at different stages in a directed evolution project. We also discuss how epistatic effects can influence the success of directed evolution projects. Since machine learning is gaining momentum in protein engineering and the field is becoming more interdisciplinary thanks to collaboration between mathematicians, computational scientists, engineers, molecular biologists, and chemists, we provide a general workflow that familiarizes nonexperts with the basic concepts, dataset requirements, learning approaches, model capabilities and performance metrics of this intriguing area. Finally, we also provide some practical recommendations on how machine learning can harness epistatic effects for engineering proteins in an "outside-the-box" way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xavier F Cadet
- PEACCEL, Artificial Intelligence Department, Paris, France
| | - Jean Christophe Gelly
- Laboratoire d'Excellence GR-Ex, Paris, France
- BIGR, DSIMB, UMR_S1134, INSERM, University of Paris & University of Reunion, Paris, France
| | | | - Frédéric Cadet
- Laboratoire d'Excellence GR-Ex, Paris, France
- BIGR, DSIMB, UMR_S1134, INSERM, University of Paris & University of Reunion, Paris, France
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18
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Intelligent host engineering for metabolic flux optimisation in biotechnology. Biochem J 2021; 478:3685-3721. [PMID: 34673920 PMCID: PMC8589332 DOI: 10.1042/bcj20210535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2021] [Revised: 09/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Optimising the function of a protein of length N amino acids by directed evolution involves navigating a 'search space' of possible sequences of some 20N. Optimising the expression levels of P proteins that materially affect host performance, each of which might also take 20 (logarithmically spaced) values, implies a similar search space of 20P. In this combinatorial sense, then, the problems of directed protein evolution and of host engineering are broadly equivalent. In practice, however, they have different means for avoiding the inevitable difficulties of implementation. The spare capacity exhibited in metabolic networks implies that host engineering may admit substantial increases in flux to targets of interest. Thus, we rehearse the relevant issues for those wishing to understand and exploit those modern genome-wide host engineering tools and thinking that have been designed and developed to optimise fluxes towards desirable products in biotechnological processes, with a focus on microbial systems. The aim throughput is 'making such biology predictable'. Strategies have been aimed at both transcription and translation, especially for regulatory processes that can affect multiple targets. However, because there is a limit on how much protein a cell can produce, increasing kcat in selected targets may be a better strategy than increasing protein expression levels for optimal host engineering.
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19
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Siedhoff NE, Illig AM, Schwaneberg U, Davari MD. PyPEF-An Integrated Framework for Data-Driven Protein Engineering. J Chem Inf Model 2021; 61:3463-3476. [PMID: 34260225 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c00099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Data-driven strategies are gaining increased attention in protein engineering due to recent advances in access to large experimental databanks of proteins, next-generation sequencing (NGS), high-throughput screening (HTS) methods, and the development of artificial intelligence algorithms. However, the reliable prediction of beneficial amino acid substitutions, their combination, and the effect on functional properties remain the most significant challenges in protein engineering, which is applied to develop proteins and enzymes for biocatalysis, biomedicine, and life sciences. Here, we present a general-purpose framework (PyPEF: pythonic protein engineering framework) for performing data-driven protein engineering using machine learning methods combined with techniques from signal processing and statistical physics. PyPEF guides the identification and selection of beneficial proteins of a defined sequence space by systematically or randomly exploring the fitness of variants and by sampling random evolution pathways. The performance of PyPEF was evaluated concerning its predictive accuracy and throughput on four public protein and enzyme data sets using common regression models. It was proved that the program could efficiently predict the fitness of protein sequences for different target properties (predictive models with coefficient of determination values ranging from 0.58 to 0.92). By combining machine learning and protein evolution, PyPEF enabled the screening of proteins with various functions, reaching a screening capacity of more than 500,000 protein sequence variants in the timeframe of only a few minutes on a personal computer. PyPEF displayed significant accuracies on four public data sets (different proteins and properties) and underlined the potential of integrating data-driven technologies for covering different philosophies by either predicting the fitness of the variants to the highest accuracy accounting for epistatic effects or capturing the general trend of introduced mutations on the fitness in directed protein evolution campaigns. In essence, PyPEF can provide a powerful solution to current sequence exploration and combinatorial problems faced in protein engineering through exhaustive in silico screening of the sequence space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niklas E Siedhoff
- Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 3, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 3, 52074 Aachen, Germany.,DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Mehdi D Davari
- Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 3, 52074 Aachen, Germany
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20
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Feehan R, Montezano D, Slusky JSG. Machine learning for enzyme engineering, selection and design. Protein Eng Des Sel 2021; 34:gzab019. [PMID: 34296736 PMCID: PMC8299298 DOI: 10.1093/protein/gzab019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Machine learning is a useful computational tool for large and complex tasks such as those in the field of enzyme engineering, selection and design. In this review, we examine enzyme-related applications of machine learning. We start by comparing tools that can identify the function of an enzyme and the site responsible for that function. Then we detail methods for optimizing important experimental properties, such as the enzyme environment and enzyme reactants. We describe recent advances in enzyme systems design and enzyme design itself. Throughout we compare and contrast the data and algorithms used for these tasks to illustrate how the algorithms and data can be best used by future designers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Feehan
- Center for Computational Biology, The University of Kansas, 2030 Becker Dr., Lawrence, KS 66047-1620, USA
| | - Daniel Montezano
- Center for Computational Biology, The University of Kansas, 2030 Becker Dr., Lawrence, KS 66047-1620, USA
| | - Joanna S G Slusky
- Center for Computational Biology, The University of Kansas, 2030 Becker Dr., Lawrence, KS 66047-1620, USA
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Kansas, 1200 Sunnyside Ave. Lawrence, KS 66045-7600, USA
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