Screening for Novel Enzymes

The development of new biocatalysts as synthetic tools for chemists has been expanding rapidly over the last several years. It is now possible either to discover or engineer enzymes with unique substrate specificities and selectivities that are stable and robust for organic synthesis applications. This has been made possible by the application of the newest screening and selection technologies that allow rapid identification of enzyme activities from diverse sources.We focus on how to recognize and tackle important issues during the strategic design and implementation of screening for novel enzymes. We also review the approaches available for biocatalyst discovery and relate them to the isolation of thermostable enantioselective esterases and alcohol dehydrogenases for the purpose of illustration and discussion.