Prenyltransferase substrate binding pocket flexibility and its application in isoprenoid profiling

Acceptor substrate determines donor specificity of an aromatic prenyltransferase: expanding the biocatalytic potential of NphB

Abstract

Aromatic prenyltransferases are known for their extensive promiscuity toward aromatic acceptor substrates and their ability to form various carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. Of particular interest among the prenyltransferases is NphB, whose ability to geranylate cannabinoid precursors has been utilized in several in vivo and in vitro systems. It has therefore been established that prenyltransferases can be utilized as biocatalysts for the generation of useful compounds. However, recent observations of non-native alkyl-donor promiscuity among prenyltransferases indicate the role of NphB in biocatalysis could be expanded beyond geranylation reactions. Therefore, the goal of this study was to elucidate the donor promiscuity of NphB using different acceptor substrates. Herein, we report distinct donor profiles between NphB-catalyzed reactions involving the known substrate 1,6-dihydroxynaphthalene and an FDA-approved drug molecule sulfabenzamide. Furthermore, we report the first instance of regiospecific, NphB-catalyzed N-alkylation of sulfabenzamide using a library of non-native alkyl-donors, indicating the biocatalytic potential of NphB as a late-stage diversification tool.

Key Points

• NphB can utilize the antibacterial drug sulfabenzamide as an acceptor.

• The donor profile of NphB changes dramatically with the choice of acceptor.

• NphB performs a previously unknown regiospecific N-alkylation on sulfabenzamide.

• Prenyltransferases like NphB can be utilized as drug-alkylating biocatalysts.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s00253-020-10529-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Enzymatic studies on aromatic prenyltransferases

Aromatic prenyltransferases (PTases), including ABBA-type and dimethylallyl tryptophan synthase (DMATS)-type enzymes from bacteria and fungi, play important role for diversification of the natural products and improvement of the biological activities. For a decade, the characterization of enzymes and enzymatic synthesis of prenylated compounds by using ABBA-type and DMATS-type PTases have been demonstrated. Here, I introduce several examples of the studies on chemoenzymatic synthesis of unnatural prenylated compounds and the enzyme engineering of ABBA-type and DMATS-type PTases.

Evolutionary relationships of microbial aromatic prenyltransferases

The linkage of isoprenoid and aromatic moieties, catalyzed by aromatic prenyltransferases (PTases), leads to an impressive diversity of primary and secondary metabolites, including important pharmaceuticals and toxins. A few years ago, a hydroxynaphthalene PTase, NphB, featuring a novel ten-stranded β-barrel fold was identified in Streptomyces sp. strain CL190. This fold, termed the PT-barrel, is formed of five tandem ααββ structural repeats and remained exclusive to the NphB family until its recent discovery in the DMATS family of indole PTases. Members of these two families exist only in fungi and bacteria, and all of them appear to catalyze the prenylation of aromatic substrates involved in secondary metabolism. Sequence comparisons using PSI-BLAST do not yield matches between these two families, suggesting that they may have converged upon the same fold independently. However, we now provide evidence for a common ancestry for the NphB and DMATS families of PTases. We also identify sequence repeats that coincide with the structural repeats in proteins belonging to these two families. Therefore we propose that the PT-barrel arose by amplification of an ancestral ααββ module. In view of their homology and their similarities in structure and function, we propose to group the NphB and DMATS families together into a single superfamily, the PT-barrel superfamily.