One-Pot Biocatalytic In Vivo Methylation-Hydroamination of Bioderived Lignin Monomers to Generate a Key Precursor to L-DOPA.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2022;
134:e202112855. [PMID:
38505118 PMCID:
PMC10947412 DOI:
10.1002/ange.202112855]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Electron-rich phenolic substrates can be derived from the depolymerisation of lignin feedstocks. Direct biotransformations of the hydroxycinnamic acid monomers obtained can be exploited to produce high-value chemicals, such as α-amino acids, however the reaction is often hampered by the chemical autooxidation in alkaline or harsh reaction media. Regioselective O-methyltransferases (OMTs) are ubiquitous enzymes in natural secondary metabolic pathways utilising an expensive co-substrate S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) as the methylating reagent altering the physicochemical properties of the hydroxycinnamic acids. In this study, we engineered an OMT to accept a variety of electron-rich phenolic substrates, modified a commercial E. coli strain BL21 (DE3) to regenerate SAM in vivo, and combined it with an engineered ammonia lyase to partake in a one-pot, two whole cell enzyme cascade to produce the l-DOPA precursor l-veratrylglycine from lignin-derived ferulic acid.
Collapse