Characterization and Application of a Robust Glucose Dehydrogenase from Paenibacillus pini for Cofactor Regeneration in Biocatalysis

Enhanced Expression of Alcohol Dehydrogenase I in Pichia pastoris Reduces the Content of Acetaldehyde in Wines

Acetaldehyde is an important carbonyl compound commonly detected in wines. A high concentration of acetaldehyde can affect the flavor of wines and result in adverse effects on human health. Alcohol dehydrogenase I (ADH1) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae catalyzes the reduction reaction of acetaldehyde into ethanol in the presence of cofactors, showing the potential to reduce the content of acetaldehyde in wines. In this study, ADH1 was successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris GS115 based on codon optimization. Then, the expression level of ADH1 was enhanced by replacing its promoter with optimized promoters and increasing the copy number of the expression cassette, with ADH1 being purified using nickel column affinity chromatography. The enzymatic activity of purified ADH1 reached 605.44 ± 44.30 U/mg. The results of the effect of ADH1 on the content of acetaldehyde in wine revealed that the acetaldehyde content of wine samples was reduced from 168.05 ± 0.55 to 113.17 ± 6.08 mg/L with the addition of 5 mM NADH and the catalysis of ADH1, and from 135.53 ± 4.08 to 52.89 ± 2.20 mg/L through cofactor regeneration. Our study provides a novel approach to reducing the content of acetaldehyde in wines through enzymatic catalysis.

Characterization and Application of a Novel Glucose Dehydrogenase with Excellent Organic Solvent Tolerance for Cofactor Regeneration in Carbonyl Reduction

An efficient cofactor regeneration system has been developed to provide a hydride source for the preparation of optically pure alcohols by carbonyl reductase-catalyzed asymmetric reduction. This system employed a novel glucose dehydrogenase (BcGDH90) from Bacillus cereus HBL-AI. The gene encoding BcGDH90 was found through the genome-wide functional annotation. Homology-built model study revealed that BcGDH90 was a homo-tetramer, and each subunit was composed of βD-αE-αF-αG-βG motif, which was responsible for substrate binding and tetramer formation. The gene of BcGDH90 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant BcGDH90 exhibited maximum activity of 45.3 U/mg at pH 9.0 and 40 °C. BcGDH90 showed high stability in a wide pH range of 4.0-10.0 and was stable after the incubation at 55 °C for 5 h. BcGDH90 was not a metal ion-dependent enzyme, but Zn2+ could seriously inhibit its activity. BcGDH90 displayed excellent tolerance to 90% of acetone, methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, and isopropanol. Furthermore, BcGDH90 was applied to regenerate NADPH for the asymmetric biosynthesis of (S)-(+)-1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol ((S)-PED) from hydroxyacetophenone (2-HAP) with high concentration, which increased the final efficiency by 59.4%. These results suggest that BcGDH90 is potentially useful for coenzyme regeneration in the biological reduction.

Exploring Oxidoreductases from Extremophiles for Biosynthesis in a Non-Aqueous System

Organic solvent tolerant oxidoreductases are significant for both scientific research and biomanufacturing. However, it is really challenging to obtain oxidoreductases due to the shortages of natural resources and the difficulty to obtained it via protein modification. This review summarizes the recent advances in gene mining and structure-functional study of oxidoreductases from extremophiles for non-aqueous reaction systems. First, new strategies combining genome mining with bioinformatics provide new insights to the discovery and identification of novel extreme oxidoreductases. Second, analysis from the perspectives of amino acid interaction networks explain the organic solvent tolerant mechanism, which regulate the discrete structure-functional properties of extreme oxidoreductases. Third, further study by conservation and co-evolution analysis of extreme oxidoreductases provides new perspectives and strategies for designing robust enzymes for an organic media reaction system. Furthermore, the challenges and opportunities in designing biocatalysis non-aqueous systems are highlighted.

Stairway to Stereoisomers: Engineering Short- and Medium-Chain Ketoreductases To Produce Chiral Alcohols

The short- and medium-chain dehydrogenase/reductase superfamilies are responsible for most chiral alcohol production in laboratories and industries. In nature, they participate in diverse roles such as detoxification, housekeeping, secondary metabolite production, and catalysis of several chemicals with commercial and environmental significance. As a result, they are used in industries to create biopolymers, active pharmaceutical intermediates (APIs), and are also used as components of modular enzymes like polyketide synthases for fabricating bioactive molecules. Consequently, random, semi-rational and rational engineering have helped transform these enzymes into product-oriented efficient catalysts. The rise of newer synthetic chemicals and their enantiopure counterparts has proved challenging, and engineering them has been the subject of numerous studies. However, they are frequently limited to the synthesis of a single chiral alcohol. The study attempts to defragment and describe hotspots of engineering short- and medium-chain dehydrogenases/reductases for the production of chiral synthons.

Overexpression and biochemical characterization of a carboxyspermidine dehydrogenase from Agrobacterium fabrum str. C58 and its application to carboxyspermidine production

BACKGROUND

Carboxyspermidine (C-Spd) is a potentially valuable polyamine carboxylate compound and an excellent building block for spermidine synthesis, which is a critical polyamine with significant implications for human health and longevity. C-Spd can also be used to prepare multivalent cationic lipids and modify nucleoside probes. Because of these positive effects on human health, C-Spd is of considerable interest as a food additive and pharmaceutical target.

RESULTS

A putative gene afcasdh from Agrobacterium fabrum str. C58, encoding carboxyspermidine dehydrogenase with C-Spd biosynthesis activity, was synthesized and transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) for overexpression. The recombinant AfCASDH was purified and fully characterized. The optimum temperature and pH for the recombinant enzyme were 30 °C and 7.5, respectively. The coupled catalytic strategy of AfCASDH and various NADPH regeneration systems were developed to enhance the efficient production of C-Spd compound. Finally, the maximum titer of C-Spd production successfully achieved 1.82 mmol L^-1 with a yield of 91% by optimizing the catalytic conditions.

CONCLUSION

A novel AfCASDH from A. fabrum str. C58 was characterized that could catalyze the formation of C-Spd from putrescine and l-aspartate-β-semialdehyde (L-Asa). A whole-cell catalytic strategy coupled with NADPH regeneration was established successfully for C-Spd biosynthesis for the first time. The coupled system indicated that AfCASDH might provide a feasible method for the industrial production of C-Spd. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Recombinant expression of insoluble enzymes in Escherichia coli: a systematic review of experimental design and its manufacturing implications

Recombinant enzyme expression in Escherichia coli is one of the most popular methods to produce bulk concentrations of protein product. However, this method is often limited by the inadvertent formation of inclusion bodies. Our analysis systematically reviews literature from 2010 to 2021 and details the methods and strategies researchers have utilized for expression of difficult to express (DtE), industrially relevant recombinant enzymes in E. coli expression strains. Our review identifies an absence of a coherent strategy with disparate practices being used to promote solubility. We discuss the potential to approach recombinant expression systematically, with the aid of modern bioinformatics, modelling, and ‘omics’ based systems-level analysis techniques to provide a structured, holistic approach. Our analysis also identifies potential gaps in the methods used to report metadata in publications and the impact on the reproducibility and growth of the research in this field.