Peptide synthesis: chemical or enzymatic

• Published in: Electronic Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 10; no. 2
• Main Authors: Guzmán, Fanny, Barberis, Sonia, Illanes, Andrés
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Católica de Valparaíso 15-04-2007
• Subjects: enzymatic synthesis, peptides, proteases, solid-phase synthesis
• ISSN: 0717-3458; 0717-3458
• DOI: 10.2225/vol10-issue2-fulltext-13

Peptides are molecules of paramount importance in the fields of health
care and nutrition. Several technologies for their production are now
available, among which chemical and enzymatic synthesis are especially
relevant. The present review pretends to establish a non-biased
appreciation of the advantages, potentials, drawbacks and limitations
of both technologies. Chemical synthesis is thoroughly reviewed and
their potentials and limitations assessed, focusing on the different
strategies and challenges for large-scale synthesis. Then, the
enzymatic synthesis of peptides with proteolytic enzymes is reviewed
considering medium, biocatalyst and substrate engineering, and recent
advances and challenges in the field are analyzed. Even though chemical
synthesis is the most mature technology for peptide synthesis, lack of
specificity and environmental burden are severe drawbacks that can in
principle be successfully overcame by enzyme biocatalysis. However,
productivity of enzymatic synthesis is lower, costs of biocatalysts are
usually high and no protocols exist for its validation and scale-up,
representing challenges that are being actively confronted by intense
research and development in this area. The combination of chemical and
enzymatic synthesis is probably the way to go, since the good
properties of each technology can be synergistically used in the
context of one process objective.