Advances in Machine Learning for Directed Evolution: A Five-Year Retrospective
The last five-plus years have seen many protein engineering disciplines transformed by advances in machine learning (ML), but the same cannot be said for directed evolution. Reflecting on a previously co-authored perspective, I discuss why I believe this to be the case, arguing that a disconnect between the goals of machine-learning-assisted directed evolution (MLDE) researchers--"identify an optimal protein"--and the goals of directed evolution more broadly--"identify a sufficient protein given time and resource constraints"--is a principal culprit. As an example, I highlight how nearly all current MLDE methods neglect to account for the cost of DNA synthesis, resulting in strategies tha...
| Authors | Bruce J. Wittmann |
|---|---|
| Primary category | q-bio.BM |
| Published | 2 September 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 2 September 2026 |
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