High-yielding cascade enzymatic synthesis of 5-methyluridine using a novel combination of nucleoside phosphorylases

Advances in biocatalytic and chemoenzymatic synthesis of nucleoside analogues

INTRODUCTION

Nucleoside analogues represent a cornerstone of achievement in drug discovery, rising to prominence particularly in the fields of antiviral and anticancer discovery over the last 60 years. Traditionally accessed using chemical synthesis, a paradigm shift to include the use of biocatalytic synthesis is now apparent.

AREAS COVERED

Herein, the authors discuss the recent advances using this technology to access nucleoside analogues. Two key aspects are covered, the first surrounding methodology concepts, effectively using enzymes to access diverse nucleoside analogue space and also for producing key building blocks. The second focuses on the use of biocatalytic cascades for de novo syntheses of nucleoside analogue drugs. Finally, recent advances in technologies for effecting enzymatic nucleoside synthesis are considered, chiefly immobilization and flow.

EXPERT OPINION

Enzymatic synthesis of nucleoside analogues is maturing but has yet to usurp chemical synthesis as a first-hand synthesis technology, with scalability and substrate modification primary issues. Moving forward, tandem approaches that harness expertise across molecular microbiology and chemical synthesis will be vital to unlocking the potential of next generation nucleoside analogue drug discovery.

Biocatalytic routes to anti-viral agents and their synthetic intermediates

An assessment of biocatalytic strategies for the synthesis of anti-viral agents, offering guidelines for the development of sustainable production methods for a future COVID-19 remedy.

Multienzymatic synthesis of nucleic acid derivatives: a general perspective

Living cells are most perfect synthetic factory. The surprising synthetic efficiency of biological systems is allowed by the combination of multiple processes catalyzed by enzymes working sequentially. In this sense, biocatalysis tries to reproduce nature's synthetic strategies to perform the synthesis of different organic compounds using natural catalysts such as cells or enzymes. Nowadays, the use of multienzymatic systems in biocatalysis is becoming a habitual strategy for the synthesis of organic compounds that leads to the realization of complex synthetic schemes. By combining several steps in one pot, a significant step economy can be realized and the potential for environmentally benign synthesis is improved. Using this sustainable synthetic system, several work-up steps can be avoided and pure products are ideally isolated after a series of reactions in one single vessel after just one straightforward purification step. In recent years, enzymatic methodology for the preparation of nucleic acid derivatives (NADs) has become a standard technique for the synthesis of a wide variety of natural NADs. Enzymatic methods have been shown to be an efficient alternative for the synthesis of nucleoside and nucleotide analogs to the traditional multistep chemical methods, since chemical glycosylation reactions include several protection-deprotection steps and the use of chemical reagents and organic solvents that are expensive and environmentally harmful. In this minireview, we want to illustrate what we consider the most current relevant examples of in vivo and in vitro multienzymatic systems used for the synthesis of nucleic acid derivatives showing advantages and disadvantages of each methodology. Finally, a detailed perspective about the impact of -omics in multienzymatic systems has been described.