A review on l-ribose isomerases for the biocatalytic production of l-ribose and l-ribulose

Exploiting the biocatalytic potential of co-expressed l-fucose isomerase and d-tagatose 3-epimerase for the biosynthesis of 6-deoxy-l-sorbose

6-Deoxy-l-sorbose (6-DLS) is an imperative rare sugar employed in food, agriculture, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industeries. However, it is a synthetic and very expensive rare sugars, previously synthesized by chemo-enzymatic methods through a long chain of chemical processes. Recently, enzymatic synthesis of rare sugars has attracted a lot of attention due to its advantages over synthetic methods. In this work, a promising approach for the synthesis of 6-DLS from an inexpensive sugar l-fucose was identified. The genes for l-fucose isomerase from Paenibacillus rhizosphaerae (Pr-LFI) and genes for d-tagatose-3-epimerase from Caballeronia fortuita (Cf-DTE) have been used for cloning and co-expression in Escherichia coli, developed a recombinant plasmid harboring pANY1-Pr-LFI/Cf-DTE vector. The recombinant co-expression system exhibited an optimum activity at 50 °C of temperature and pH 6.5 in the presence of Co2+ metal ion which inflated the catalytic activity by 6.8 folds as compared to control group with no metal ions. The recombinant co-expressed system was stable up to more than 50 % relative activity after 12 h and revealed a melting temperature (Tm) of 63.38 °C exhibiting half-life of 13.17 h at 50 °C. The co-expression system exhibited, 4.93, 11.41 and 16.21 g/L of 6-DLS production from initial l-fucose concentration of 30, 70 and 100 g/L, which equates to conversion yield of 16.44 %, 16.30 % and 16.21 % respectively. Generally, this study offers a promising strategy for the biological production of 6-DLS from an inexpensive substrate l-fucose in slightly acidic conditions with the aid of co-expression system harboring Pr-LFI and CF-DTE genes.

L-ribose specific recognition surface constructed by pillar[5]arene-based host-guest interaction

In living organisms, chiral molecules have specific chiral conformations that produce different physiological effects. Ribose is one of the components of RNA, which mainly plays a role in regulating biological activity. Inspired by the biological recognition of sugars, functional chiral surfaces for recognizing L-ribose through non-covalent interactions were constructed. In the strategy of this study, a functional chiral gold surface based on host-guest interactions was constructed through the assembly of the host molecule single-function alynyl pillar[5]arene(SAP5) and the guest molecule (S) -mandelate-violet (SMV). The association constant of SMV and SAP5 was calculated to be 2.95×104 M-1, with a binding ratio of 1:1. By impedance and contact angle detection, the constructed functional interface has good detection effect on L-ribose in the range of 1×10-7 M to1× 10-2 M. In addition, CV was disassembled from the aromatic cavity of pillar[5]arene after adding zinc powder and it can repeat five times with good recyclability, thus achieving the organic combination of interface recognition and intelligence.

Chiral Recognition of D/L-Ribose by Visual and SERS Assessments

Ribose is the central molecular unit in ribose nucleic acid (RNA). Ribose is a key molecule in the study of many persistent scientific mysteries, such as the origin of life and the chiral homogeneity of biological molecules. Therefore, the chiral recognition of ribose is of great significance. The traditional method of chiral recognition of ribose is HPLC, which is time-consuming, expensive, and can only be operated in the laboratory. There is no report on optical analytical techniques that can quickly detect the chirality of ribose. In this study, a simple and convenient approach for the chiral recognition of ribose has been developed. β-cyclodextrin(β-CD)-coated Ag NPs aggregate after adding D-ribose, so that D-/L-ribose can be identified using visual colorimetry and/or surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The color change visible to the naked eye can readily distinguish the chirality of ribose, while the SERS method can provide the more sensitive analysis of enantiomeric ribose. The advantages of this method are that it is fast, convenient, low cost, and can be operated outside the laboratory. DFT calculations show that D-ribose and cyclodextrin have the same chirality, forming multiple strong hydrogen bonds between them; thus, D/L-ribose will induce different optical effects.

Enhancement of L-ribulose Production from L-ribose Through Modification of Ochrobactrum sp. CSL1 Ribose-5-phosphate Isomerase A

L-ribulose, a kind of high-value rare sugar, could be utilized to manufacture L-form sugars and antiviral drugs, generally produced from L-arabinose as a substrate. However, the production of L-ribulose from L-arabinose is limited by the equilibrium ratio of the catalytic reaction, hence, it is necessary to explore a new biological enzymatic method to produce L-ribulose. Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase (Rpi) is an enzyme that can catalyze the reversible isomerization between L-ribose and L-ribulose, which is of great significance for the preparation of L-ribulose. In order to obtain highly active ribose-5-phosphate isomerase to manufacture L-ribulose, ribose-5-phosphate isomerase A (OsRpiA) from Ochrobactrum sp. CSL1 was engineered based on structural and sequence analyses. Through a rational design strategy, a triple-mutant strain A10T/T32S/G101N with 160% activity was acquired. The enzymatic properties of the mutant were systematically investigated, and the optimum conditions were characterized to achieve the maximum yield of L-ribulose. Kinetic analysis clarified that the A10T/T32S/G101N mutant had a stronger affinity for the substrate and increased catalytic efficiency. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the binding of the substrate to A10T/T32S/G101N was more stable than that of wild type. The shorter distance between the catalytic residues of A10T/T32S/G101N and L-ribose illuminated the increased activity. Overall, the present study provided a solid basis for demonstrating the complex functions of crucial residues in RpiAs as well as in rare sugar preparation.