Sensors based on cytochrome P450 and CYP mimicking systems

Electrochemical transformations catalyzed by cytochrome P450s and peroxidases

Cytochrome P450s (Cyt P450s) and peroxidases are enzymes featuring iron heme cofactors that have wide applicability as biocatalysts in chemical syntheses. Cyt P450s are a family of monooxygenases that oxidize fatty acids, steroids, and xenobiotics, synthesize hormones, and convert drugs and other chemicals to metabolites. Peroxidases are involved in breaking down hydrogen peroxide and can oxidize organic compounds during this process. Both heme-containing enzymes utilize active Fe^IVO intermediates to oxidize reactants. By incorporating these enzymes in stable thin films on electrodes, Cyt P450s and peroxidases can accept electrons from an electrode, albeit by different mechanisms, and catalyze organic transformations in a feasible and cost-effective way. This is an advantageous approach, often called bioelectrocatalysis, compared to their biological pathways in solution that require expensive biochemical reductants such as NADPH or additional enzymes to recycle NADPH for Cyt P450s. Bioelectrocatalysis also serves as an ex situ platform to investigate metabolism of drugs and bio-relevant chemicals. In this paper we review biocatalytic electrochemical reactions using Cyt P450s including C-H activation, S-oxidation, epoxidation, N-hydroxylation, and oxidative N-, and O-dealkylation; as well as reactions catalyzed by peroxidases including synthetically important oxidations of organic compounds. Design aspects of these bioelectrocatalytic reactions are presented and discussed, including enzyme film formation on electrodes, temperature, pH, solvents, and activation of the enzymes. Finally, we discuss challenges and future perspective of these two important bioelectrocatalytic systems.

Electrocatalysis by Heme Enzymes—Applications in Biosensing

Heme proteins take part in a number of fundamental biological processes, including oxygen transport and storage, electron transfer, catalysis and signal transduction. The redox chemistry of the heme iron and the biochemical diversity of heme proteins have led to the development of a plethora of biotechnological applications. This work focuses on biosensing devices based on heme proteins, in which they are electronically coupled to an electrode and their activity is determined through the measurement of catalytic currents in the presence of substrate, i.e., the target analyte of the biosensor. After an overview of the main concepts of amperometric biosensors, we address transduction schemes, protein immobilization strategies, and the performance of devices that explore reactions of heme biocatalysts, including peroxidase, cytochrome P450, catalase, nitrite reductase, cytochrome c oxidase, cytochrome c and derived microperoxidases, hemoglobin, and myoglobin. We further discuss how structural information about immobilized heme proteins can lead to rational design of biosensing devices, ensuring insights into their efficiency and long-term stability.

Sensing the Generation of Intracellular Free Electrons Using the Inactive Catalytic Subunit of Cytochrome P450s as a Sink

Cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) abstracts electrons from Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate H (NADPH), transferring them to an active Cytochrome P450 (CYP) site to provide a functional CYP. In the present study, a yeast strain was genetically engineered to delete the endogenous CPR gene. A human CYP expressed in a CPR-null (yRD⁻) strain was inactive. It was queried if Bax—which induces apoptosis in yeast and human cells by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS)—substituted for the absence of CPR. Since Bax-generated ROS stems from an initial release of electrons, is it possible for these released electrons to be captured by an inactive CYP to make it active once again? In this study, yeast cells that did not contain any CPR activity (i.e., because the yeasts’ CPR gene was completely deleted) were used to show that (a) human CYPs produced within CPR-null (yRD-) yeast cells were inactive and (b) low levels of the pro-apoptotic human Bax protein could activate inactive human CYPs within this yeast cells. Surprisingly, Bax activated three inactive CYP proteins, confirming that it could compensate for CPR’s absence within yeast cells. These findings could be useful in research, development of bioassays, bioreactors, biosensors, and disease diagnosis, among others.

Porphyrins as Colorimetric and Photometric Biosensors in Modern Bioanalytical Systems

Advances in porphyrin chemistry have provided novel materials and exciting technologies for bioanalysis such as colorimetric sensor array (CSA), photo-electrochemical (PEC) biosensing, and nanocomposites as peroxidase mimetics for glucose detection. This review highlights selected recent advances in the construction of supramolecular assemblies based on the porphyrin macrocycle that provide recognition of various biologically important entities through the unique porphyrin properties associated with colorimetry, spectrophotometry, and photo-electrochemistry.

A Cytochrome P450 3A4 Biosensor Based on Generation 4.0 PAMAM Dendrimers for the Detection of Caffeine

Cytochromes P450 (CYP, P450) are a large family of heme-active-site proteins involved in many catalytic processes, including steroidogenesis. In humans, four primary enzymes are involved in the metabolism of almost all xenobiotics. Among these enzymes, CYP3A4 is responsible for the inactivation of the majority of used drugs which makes this enzyme an interesting target for many fields of research, especially pharmaceutical research. Since the late 1970s, attempts have been made to construct and develop electrochemical sensors for the determination of substrates. This paper is concerned with the establishment of such a CYP3A4-containing biosensor. The sensor was constructed by adsorption of alternating layers of sub-nanometer gold particle-modified PAMAM (poly-amido-amine) dendrimers of generation 4.0, along with the enzyme by a layer-by-layer assembly technique. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were employed to elucidate the sensor assembly. Additionally, the biosensor was tested by cyclic voltammetry using caffeine as a substrate.

Novel 96-well quantitative bioelectrocatalytic analysis platform reveals highly efficient direct electrode regeneration of cytochrome P450 BM3 on indium tin oxide

Enzymes are the most effective catalysts for a broad range of difficult chemical reactions e.g. hydroxylation of non-activated C-H Bonds and stereoselective synthesis. Nevertheless, a lot of enzymes are not accessible for the biotechnological applications or industrial use. One reason is the prerequisite of expensive cofactors. In this context, we developed a bioelectrocatalytic analysis platform for the electrochemical and photonic quantification of the direct electron transfer from the electrode to redox enzymes and therefore, bypass the need of soluble cofactors that had to be continuously exchanged or regenerated. As reference enzyme, we chose cytochrome P450 BM3 that is restricted by NADPH dependence. We optimized the substrate spectrum for aromatic compounds by introduction of the triple mutation A74G/F87V/L188Q and established a sensitive fluorimetric product formation assay to monitor the enzymatic conversion of 7-ethoxycoumarine to 7-hydroxycoumarine. Gold and indium tin oxide electrodes were characterized with respect to surface morphology, charge-transfer resistance and P450 BM3 immobilization as well as activity. Using gold electrodes, no significant product formation by electrode mediated direct electron transfer could be detected. In contrast, P450 BM3 adsorbed on unmodified indium tin oxide electrodes revealed 36% activity by electrode mediated direct electron transfer in comparison to enzyme regeneration by NADPH. Since the reaction volumes are in the microliter range and upscaling of the measurement system is easily possible, our analysis platform is a useful tool for bioelectrocatalytic enzyme characterization and library screening based optimization for applications in the field of enzyme catalyzed chemical synthesis but also enzyme based fuel cells.

Electrocatalytic cycle of P450 cytochromes: the protective and stimulating roles of antioxidants

This study reports the investigation of the catalytic activity of isolated cytochromes from the cytochrome P450 superfamily. Electrochemically driven CYP reactions may have practical relevance, providing a useful tool for drug assay studies.

5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxyl phenyl)porphyrin-CdS nanocomposites with intrinsic peroxidase-like activity for glucose colorimetric detection

Here, we describe the design of a novel mimic peroxidase, nanocomposites composed by 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxyl phenyl)-porphyrin (H2TCPP) and cadmium sulfide (CdS). The H2TCPP-CdS nanocomposites can catalyze oxidation of substrate 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of H2O2 and form a blue product which can be seen by the naked eye in 5 min. The mechanism of the catalytic reaction originated from the generation of hydroxyl radical (·OH), which is a powerful oxidizing agent to oxidize TMB to produce a blue product. Then, we developed a colorimetric method that is highly sensitive and selective to detect glucose, combined with glucose oxidase (GOx). The proposed method allowed the detection of H2O2 concentration in the range of 4×10(-6)-1.4×10(-5)M and glucose in the range of 1.875×10(-5)-1×10(-4)M with detectable H2O2 concentration as low as 4.6×10(-7)M and glucose as low as 7.02×10(-6)M, respectively. The results provided the theoretical basis of practical application in glucose detecting and peroxidase mimetic enzymes.

Electrochemical detection of human cytochrome P450 2A6 inhibition: a step toward reducing dependence on smoking

Inhibition of human cytochrome P450 2A6 has been demonstrated to play an important role in nicotine metabolism and consequent smoking habits. Here, the "molecular Lego" approach was used to achieve the first reported electrochemical signal of human CYP2A6 and to improve its catalytic efficiency on electrode surfaces. The enzyme was fused at the genetic level to flavodoxin from Desulfovibrio vulgaris (FLD) to create the chimeric CYP2A6-FLD. Electrochemical characterization by cyclic voltammetry shows clearly defined redox transitions of the haem domain in both CYP2A6 and CYP2A6-FLD. Electrocatalysis experiments using coumarin as substrate followed by fluorimetric quantification of the product were performed with immobilized CYP2A6 and CYP2A6-FLD. Comparison of the kinetic parameters showed that coumarin catalysis was carried out with a higher efficiency by the immobilized CYP2A6-FLD, with a calculated kcat value significantly higher (P < 0.005) than that of CYP2A6, whereas the affinity for the substrate (KM) remained unaltered. The chimeric system was also successfully used to demonstrate the inhibition of the electrochemical activity of the immobilized CYP2A6-FLD, toward both coumarin and nicotine substrates, by tranylcypromine, a potent and selective CYP2A6 inhibitor. This work shows that CYP2A6 turnover efficiency is improved when the protein is linked to the FLD redox module, and this strategy can be utilized for the development of new clinically relevant biotechnological approaches suitable for deciphering the metabolic implications of CYP2A6 polymorphism and for the screening of CYP2A6 substrates and inhibitors.