The primary goal of genetic manipulation and design of enzymes is to create enzymes that possess some improved or novel activities and properties. These modifications can provide a broader understanding of how an enzyme's structure relates to its function, what changes can be introduced in order to expand the use of enzymes in biotechnology or medicine. Genetically manipulated enzymes have been created through exchange of aminoacids or modifications of secondary and tertiary structures yielding enzymes with novel substrate specificity, biophysical stability, and catalytic properties. Genetic manipulation may involve altering the many regions or activities of enzymes including catalytic, noncatalytic and regulatory properties.

Alteration of noncatalytic and regulatory properties may involve the insertion of short peptide domains with defined functions. These domains may serve in stabilizing the enzyme, targeting it to a specific compartment or substrate like the cell membrane or DNA. These...