A research team maps the key tasks that define modern enzyme engineering—function annotation, structure modeling, and property prediction—and explain how AI methods now accelerate each step, from mining candidate enzymes in massive sequence databases to generating new variants with improved activity, stability, or selectivity.

Sulfolobus islandicus, an archaeal model organism, offers unique advantages for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology applications owing to its ability to thrive under low pH and high temperature conditions. Although several genetic tools exist for this organism, the absence of well-defined chromosomal integration sites continues to limit its development as a cellular factory. A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign employed the CRISPR-COPIES pipeline and a multi-omics strategy that integrates genomics and epigenomics to guide the selection of genomic regions suitable for integration. This work expands the genetic toolbox for non-conventional hosts, advancing the potential for robust platforms for synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology.