March+4

Hi Folks,

Here are the web link of the two papers we are going to discuss.

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I already uploaded the paper and supplemental infomation on this website, and posted a discussion thread. Once again, the focus of our discussion is on metabolic engineering, so please pay less attention to the target of the engineering (such as HIV), but rather pay attention to the engineering approaches.

I have three questions. The first one was posted earlier. That question is for all of you to think over but I hope the discussion leader Doug will try to summarize the answers from the others. The second question is for Matt. Q2: What factors one needs to consider when designing direct evolution approaches (such as to improve an enzyme, or a transporter, or building a protein cage)? The third question is for Sheri. Q3: what's the advantages of designing protein scaffold over building direct fusion proteins? (Basically, why not just link the enzymes together to improve the efficiency of the pathway?

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me an email at oyu@danforthcenter.org

Thanks.

Oliver