Industrial Biotransformations

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4 Optimization of Industrial Enzymes by Molecular Engineering
of molecular biotechnology techniques. This is an ongoing revolution in biological
sciences, which began with the discovery of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
by Watson and Crick in 1953 [5]. Other important developments followed, such as the isolation
of specific restriction enzymes by Smith and coworkers in 1970 [6, 7] and the polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) discovered by Mullis et al. in 1986 [8], which is summarized
in Table 4.1.
Tab. 4.1 Milestones in molecular biotechnology.
Year Scientific milestone Researcher(s)
1953 determination of molecular structure of
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
F.H.C. Crick and J.D. Watson
(Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded in 1962)
1958 first crystal structure of a protein J.C. Kendrew
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded in 1962)
1961 discovery of genetic code, three nucleotide
bases, or one codon, specify one amino acid
S. Brenner and F.H.C. Crick
1970 isolation of the first DNA restriction enzyme H.O. Smith
(Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded in 1978)
1972 creation of recombinant DNA using
restriction enzymes and T4 ligase
1977 techniques developed to determine DNA
sequences
1977 recombinant production of a human protein
(somatostatin) in E. coli
1978 recombinant production of human insulin
in E. coli
1983 development of polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) to specifically amplify target DNA
sequences
1983 first full gene sequence of a virus is
completed (Bacteriophage lambda)
1995 first full gene sequence of a living
organism is completed (Haemophilus
influenzae)
2000 first draft of human genome sequence is
completed
S. Cohen and H. Boyer
F. Sanger and W. Gilbert
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded in 1980)
Genentech (founded by Cohen and Boyer)
Genentech
K.B. Mullis
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded in 1993)
D.L. Daniels and coworkers
R.D. Fleischmann and coworkers
Human genome project and Celera Genomics