Carving the Active Site of CYP153A7 Monooxygenase for Improving Terminal Hydroxylation of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids

The P450-mediated terminal hydroxylation of non-activated C-H bonds is a chemically challenging reaction. CYP153A7 monooxygenase discovered in Sphingomonas sp. HXN200 belongs to the CYP153A subfamily and shows a pronounced terminal selectivity. Herein, we report the significantly improved terminal hydroxylation activity of CYP153A7 by redesign of the substrate binding pocket based on molecular docking of CYP153A7-C 8:0 and sequence alignments. Some of the resultant single mutants were advantageous over the wild-type enzyme with higher reaction rates, achieving a complete conversion of n- octanoic acid (C 8:0. 1 mM) in a shorter period. Especially, a single-mutation variant, D258E, showed 3.8-fold higher catalytic efficiency than the wild type toward the terminal hydroxylation of medium-chain fatty acid C 8:0 into the high value-added product 8-hydroxyoctanoic acid.

Cascade intramolecular Prins/Friedel-Crafts cyclization for the synthesis of 4-aryltetralin-2-ols and 5-aryltetrahydro-5H-benzo[7]annulen-7-ols

The treatment of 2-(2-vinylphenyl)acetaldehydes or 3-(2-vinylphenyl)propanals with BF₃·Et₂O results in an intramolecular Prins reaction affording intermediary benzyl carbenium ions, which are then trapped by a variety of electron-rich aromatics via Friedel–Crafts alkylation. This cascade Prins/Friedel–Crafts cyclization protocol paves an expedient path to medicinally useful 4-aryltetralin-2-ol and 5-aryltetrahydro-5H-benzo[7]annulen-7-ol derivatives.

Evolving P450pyr monooxygenase for highly regioselective terminal hydroxylation of n-butanol to 1,4-butanediol

Directed evolution of a P450pyr created I83M/I82T mutant as the first catalyst for highly regioselective terminal hydroxylation of n-butanol to 1,4-butanediol.

Engineered P450pyr monooxygenase for asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes with unique and high enantioselectivity

A triple mutant of P450pyr monooxygenase (P450pyrTM) catalysed the epoxidation of several para-substituted styrenes as the first enzyme showing high (R)-enantioselectivity and high conversion, demonstrated a broad substrate range, and showed high enantioselectivity for the epoxidation of an unconjugated 1,1-disubstituted alkene, 2-methyl-3-phenyl-1-propene, and a cyclic alkene, N-phenoxycarbonyl-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine, respectively.

Whole cell biotransformation for reductive amination reactions

Whole cell biotransformation systems with enzyme cascading increasingly find application in biocatalysis to complement or replace established chemical synthetic routes for production of, e.g., fine chemicals. Recently, we established an Escherichia coli whole cell biotransformation system for reductive amination by coupling a transaminase and an amino acid dehydrogenase with glucose catabolism for cofactor recycling. Transformation of 2-keto-3-methylvalerate to l-isoleucine by E. coli cells was improved by genetic engineering of glucose metabolism for improved cofactor regeneration. Here, we compare this system with different strategies for cofactor regeneration such as cascading with alcohol dehydrogenases, with alternative production hosts such as Pseudomonas species or Corynebacterium glutamicum, and with improving whole cell biotransformation systems by metabolic engineering of NADPH regeneration.

Engineering of recombinant E. coli cells co-expressing P450pyrTM monooxygenase and glucose dehydrogenase for highly regio- and stereoselective hydroxylation of alicycles with cofactor recycling

E. coli (P450pyrTM-GDH) with dual plasmids, pETDuet containing P450pyr triple mutant I83H/M305Q/A77S (P450pyrTM) and ferredoxin reductase (FdR) genes and pRSFDuet containing glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and ferredoxin (Fdx) genes, was engineered to show a high activity (12.7 U g⁻¹  cdw) for the biohydroxylation of N-benzylpyrrolidine 1 and a GDH activity of 106 U g⁻¹ protein. The E. coli cells were used as efficient biocatalysts for highly regio- and stereoselective hydroxylation of alicyclic substrates at non-activated carbon atom with enhanced productivity via intracellular recycling of NAD(P)H. Hydroxylation of N-benzylpyrrolidine 1 with resting cells in the presence of glucose showed excellent regio- and stereoselectivity, giving (S)-N-benzyl-3-hydroxypyrrolidine 2 in 98% ee as the sole product in 9.8 mM. The productivity is much higher than that of the same biohydroxylation using E. coli (P450pyrTM)b without expressing GDH. E. coli (P450pyrTM-GDH) was found to be highly regio- and stereoselective for the hydroxylation of N-benzylpyrrolidin-2-one 3, improving the regioselectivity from 90% of the wild-type P450pyr to 100% and giving (S)-N-benzyl-4-hydroxylpyrrolidin-2-one 4 in 99% ee as the sole product. A high activity of 15.5 U g⁻¹  cdw was achieved and (S)-4 was obtained in 19.4 mM. E. coli (P450pyrTM-GDH) was also found to be highly regio- and stereoselective for the hydroxylation of N-benzylpiperidin-2-one 5, increasing the ee of the product (S)-N-benzyl-4-hydroxy-piperidin-2-one 6 to 94% from 33% of the wild-type P450pyr. A high activity of 15.8 U g⁻¹  cdw was obtained and (S)-6 was produced in 3.3 mM as the sole product. E. coli (P450pyrTM-GDH) represents the most productive system known thus far for P450-catalyzed hydroxylations with cofactor recycling, and the hydroxylations with E. coli (P450pyrTM-GDH) provide with simple and useful syntheses of (S)-2, (S)-4, and (S)-6 that are valuable pharmaceutical intermediates and difficult to prepare.