In other words, we're improving the protein that the gene codes for. We are changing the amino acids by mutating the gene that produces the protein. Keep in mind that DNA codes for RNA and RNA goes on to make the protein inside the cells, and proteins are what carry out most of the functions inside the body. Enzymes make up one of the largest classes of proteins. They are biological catalysts and can accelerate chemical reactions over a billion fold and carry out many functions in the body.
Enzymes can have therapeutic importance as well as chemical and industrial importance.
Except with today's best technology, it's difficult for directed evolution to match what nature has accomplished in 3.8 billion years of parallel processing across every niche of the planet. Diversa's recognized that and has developed discovery tools to tap into nature's evolution capability and then combine that with man's in-vitro laboratory directed evolution capability to come up with improved molecules. Things are now possible that would not have been possible prior to these technologies. Generally not, but let's separate out the four markets targeted by Diversa. These are the industrial, chemical, agricultural, and pharmaceutical markets.