The less polluting nature of biofuels makes them an excellent alternative energy source.
FREMONT, CA: A first-generation biofuel is typically derived from sugarcane juice, while a second-generation biofuel derives from organic matter leftovers from first-generation production. Plants like corn, sugarcane, and soy can produce biofuels. The cultivation of plants can continue as long as we produce biofuels. They are renewable and sustainable. It is, however, very expensive to produce biofuels from plant biomass. Many complex processes are required to produce biofuels.
Scientists can use technology to detect the essential characteristics of efficient enzymes, then use these characteristics to design more efficient enzymes.
Genetic engineering: Gene engineering involves mutating the structure of an enzyme and studying how the mutations affect the enzyme's function to produce enzymes that help chemical reactions occur more quickly. Genetic engineering is complex. Scientists could not possibly make and test all of these mutations. As a result, computers can be used to simulate mutations, identifying those most likely to be tested in laboratory experiments. Special computer programs can simulate enzyme structures using DNA sequences as the basis. In some software, mutant enzyme functions are visualized as movies using graphics cards (typically used for gaming).
Algorithm: Despite the power of computers, they have limitations. To make a computer do anything, we must create step-by-step procedures.
A better enzyme must first have an understanding of its structure. Each enzyme has its signature pattern. A signature pattern is a set of characteristics determined by computing analyses of a biomolecule in structural bioinformatics. A molecule signature can be calculated by counting the number of neighbor atoms (the final result is a list of neighbor atoms).
The type of atoms contained in an enzyme determines its shape, function, and efficiency. Enzymes are composed of several atoms interconnected by chemical interactions. Atoms are very small particles, and the distances between them are also very small. The number and location of atoms determine a biofuel enzyme's shape, function, and efficiency. To determine the signature pattern of the enzyme, we developed an algorithm for analyzing each atom and its neighbors. A list of numbers can represent the signature patterns of enzymes. To determine how similar enzymes are to each other, we can use simple equations to calculate the distance between the numbers. The signature patterns and functions of similar enzymes will be similar.
