A computer graphic showing part of the active site of retro-aldolase, a new enzyme designed to break unnatural carbon-carbon bonds.
Credit: Jason DeChancie/UCLA
Surface scratched
Though the notion of designer enzymes is causing quite a buzz at the moment, there are those who remain cautious about the work.
"For most practical applications ... and at this particular stage [the synthetic enzymes are] simply not practicable," says David Ollis, a chemist from the Australian National University in Canberra. "I believe we're really still limited to just modifying or improving on enzymes that already exist [in Nature] at this stage," he says.
Röthlisberger is more optimistic. "I think we [have] just scratched the surface," she says. "There are many more interesting chemical transformations … and applications to study."
Along the way, she says, lies great potential to not only develop useful synthetic enzymes, but also to learn more about how naturally occurring enzymes work and evolve. This itself may open new and exciting research doors.
Lauren Monaghan is a science writer based in Sydney, Australia.
