Protein Engineering for Industrial Biocatalysis: Principles, Approaches, and Lessons from Engineered PETases

Protein engineering has emerged as a transformative field in industrial biotechnology, enabling the optimization of enzymes to meet stringent industrial demands for stability, specificity, and efficiency. This review explores the principles and methodologies of protein engineering, emphasizing rational design, directed evolution, semi-rational approaches, and the recent integration of machine learning. These strategies have significantly enhanced enzyme performance, even rendering engineered PETase industrially relevant. Insights from engineered PETases underscore the potential of protein engineering to tackle environmental challenges, such as advancing sustainable plastic recycling, paving the way for innovative solutions in industrial biocatalysis. Future directions point to interdisciplinary collaborations and the integration of emerging machine learning technologies to revolutionize enzyme design.