Evolution is generally regarded as pretty good at specializing
species for certain ecological niches, but with a glacial pace
of adaptation, sometimes it needs a helping hand. Meet the team
of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who decided they
wanted to beef up the paraoxonase 1 (PON1) to the point it could
combat sarin and other G-type nerve agents. PON1 is an enzyme
that is produced by our livers that can counteract sarin, tabun,
soman, and cyclosarin, but not well enough for use in case of
emergency — requiring people to use masks and suits, which can
be penetrated. So the researchers undertook a path of "directed
enzyme evolution," intentionally speeding up the course of
adaptation to further their goal. This technique is,
essentially, the sort of wonderful mad science that we love here
at io9. They artificially induced mutations into the gene that
encoded target enzyme, creating variations in its efficiency and
ability, and picking the best out of the lot. Within four
generations of this proce