Adhikari A, Bhattarai BR, Aryal A, Thapa N, Kc P, Adhikari A, Maharjan S, Chanda PB, Regmi BP, Parajuli N. Reprogramming natural proteins using unnatural amino acids.
RSC Adv 2021;
11:38126-38145. [PMID:
35498070 PMCID:
PMC9044140 DOI:
10.1039/d1ra07028b]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2021] [Accepted: 11/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Unnatural amino acids have gained significant attention in protein engineering and drug discovery as they allow the evolution of proteins with enhanced stability and activity. The incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins offers a rational approach to engineer enzymes for designing efficient biocatalysts that exhibit versatile physicochemical properties and biological functions. This review highlights the biological and synthetic routes of unnatural amino acids to yield a modified protein with altered functionality and their incorporation methods. Unnatural amino acids offer a wide array of applications such as antibody-drug conjugates, probes for change in protein conformation and structure-activity relationships, peptide-based imaging, antimicrobial activities, etc. Besides their emerging applications in fundamental and applied science, systemic research is necessary to explore unnatural amino acids with novel side chains that can address the limitations of natural amino acids.
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