Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges
Enzymes are essential catalysts for various chemical reactions in biological systems and often rely on metal ions or cofactors to stabilize their structure or perform functions. Improving enzyme performance has always been an important direction of protein engineering. In recent years, various artif...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Molecules |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/28/15/5850 |
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| author | Fenghua Liu Lingling He Sheng Dong Jinsong Xuan Qiu Cui Yingang Feng |
| author_facet | Fenghua Liu Lingling He Sheng Dong Jinsong Xuan Qiu Cui Yingang Feng |
| author_sort | Fenghua Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Enzymes are essential catalysts for various chemical reactions in biological systems and often rely on metal ions or cofactors to stabilize their structure or perform functions. Improving enzyme performance has always been an important direction of protein engineering. In recent years, various artificial small molecules have been successfully used in enzyme engineering. The types of enzymatic reactions and metabolic pathways in cells can be expanded by the incorporation of these artificial small molecules either as cofactors or as building blocks of proteins and nucleic acids, which greatly promotes the development and application of biotechnology. In this review, we summarized research on artificial small molecules including biological metal cluster mimics, coenzyme analogs (mNADs), designer cofactors, non-natural nucleotides (XNAs), and non-natural amino acids (nnAAs), focusing on their design, synthesis, and applications as well as the current challenges in synthetic biology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:20:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d08400047fa847cea667336bcb3b692b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1420-3049 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:20:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecules |
| spelling | doaj.art-d08400047fa847cea667336bcb3b692b2023-11-18T23:19:40ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492023-08-012815585010.3390/molecules28155850Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and ChallengesFenghua Liu0Lingling He1Sheng Dong2Jinsong Xuan3Qiu Cui4Yingang Feng5CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 189 Songling Road, Qingdao 266101, ChinaDepartment of Bioscience and Bioengineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 189 Songling Road, Qingdao 266101, ChinaDepartment of Bioscience and Bioengineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 189 Songling Road, Qingdao 266101, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 189 Songling Road, Qingdao 266101, ChinaEnzymes are essential catalysts for various chemical reactions in biological systems and often rely on metal ions or cofactors to stabilize their structure or perform functions. Improving enzyme performance has always been an important direction of protein engineering. In recent years, various artificial small molecules have been successfully used in enzyme engineering. The types of enzymatic reactions and metabolic pathways in cells can be expanded by the incorporation of these artificial small molecules either as cofactors or as building blocks of proteins and nucleic acids, which greatly promotes the development and application of biotechnology. In this review, we summarized research on artificial small molecules including biological metal cluster mimics, coenzyme analogs (mNADs), designer cofactors, non-natural nucleotides (XNAs), and non-natural amino acids (nnAAs), focusing on their design, synthesis, and applications as well as the current challenges in synthetic biology.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/28/15/5850artificial small moleculesbiological metal cluster mimicscoenzyme analogsdesigner cofactorsnon-natural nucleotidesnon-natural amino acids |
| spellingShingle | Fenghua Liu Lingling He Sheng Dong Jinsong Xuan Qiu Cui Yingang Feng Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges Molecules artificial small molecules biological metal cluster mimics coenzyme analogs designer cofactors non-natural nucleotides non-natural amino acids |
| title | Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges |
| title_full | Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges |
| title_fullStr | Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges |
| title_short | Artificial Small Molecules as Cofactors and Biomacromolecular Building Blocks in Synthetic Biology: Design, Synthesis, Applications, and Challenges |
| title_sort | artificial small molecules as cofactors and biomacromolecular building blocks in synthetic biology design synthesis applications and challenges |
| topic | artificial small molecules biological metal cluster mimics coenzyme analogs designer cofactors non-natural nucleotides non-natural amino acids |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/28/15/5850 |
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