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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.06.27.735025

Function-guided design of active enzymes

Hu, M.·Wu, L.·Yang, Y.·Li, F.·Zhu, L.
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Abstract

Designing enzymes from functional descriptions remains challenging because catalytic activity is governed by sequence-structure-function relationships. Here we present EnzymeArt, a function-conditioned enzyme-design framework centred on a generative sequence model. EnzymeArt couples function-conditioned sequence generation with structure-guided refinement, annotation checks and substrate-aware computational prioritization to select candidates for synthesis and biochemical testing. Across alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and triacylglycerol lipase design campaigns, 57 of 60 synthesized designs showed crude-lysate activity above matched background controls. Purified representatives further showed quantitative steady-state catalytic activity. The best designed ADH reached kcat = 223.7 s-1 and exceeded a wild-type reference under matched conditions, an MDH reached kcat = 267.57 s-1 despite having only 33% sequence identity to its closest BLASTP hit, and a designed lipase hydrolysed both short- and long-chain triglycerides with apparent activity modestly above that of a commercial lipase reference. Together, these results establish a route for converting functional descriptions into experimentally validated enzyme designs with quantitative steady-state kinetic activity.

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Hu, M., Wu, L., Yang, Y., Li, F., Zhu, L.. 2026-06-29. Function-guided design of active enzymes. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.06.27.735025

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