ABSTRACT
Advances in chemical synthesis of DNA permit virtually unlimited genetic modification, and offer the prospect for developing protein engineering technology to create novel proteins not found in nature. One of the major assumptions underlying the belief that protein engineering can be successful is that proteins in general will be forgiving of attempts at modification. X-ray diffraction methods are the only techniques that can provide the detailed structural information at the atomic scale which will be required for protein engineering. The technical breakthrough that makes protein engineering feasible is the ability to rapidly and inexpensively synthesize oligonucleotides of defined sequence. A major investment of effort and resources in protein engineering will be needed before any commercially significant alterations to a protein are achieved. Protein engineering might be aimed at changing the substrate specificity of the enzyme as well as the position on the ring at which hydroxylation occurs.
