Polymers have found enormous technological significance in a variety of areas
including plastics, resins, fibers, and biomaterials. Both the chemical nature of
the polymer and its structure are critical in determining its properties; the im-
portance of polymer structure in dictating function has, for many decades, fueled
the development of synthetic strategies for creating well-defined macromolecules.
During the past 15 years, the application of biosynthetic strategies has gained
increasing prominence as a polymer synthetic method, owing to the fact that the
biosynthesis of macromolecules offers precise control of monomer sequence and
macromolecular structure. This control is the source of the information storage,
hierarchical assembly, mechanical strength, and enzymatic properties of natural
macromolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins, which serve as an inspiration
to the polymer chemist. Genetic methods of polymer synthesis have therefore been
used to create protein-based polymeric materials inspired by natural molecules
such as collagen, silk, and elastin, as well as materials comprising amino acid
sequences with no natural counterpart. The macromolecules produced by these
strategies exhibit novel and well-controlled properties, and genetically directed
synthetic methods promise the contribution of additional advanced materials in
the future