Research progress on application of multi-enzyme-catalyzed cascade reactions in enzymatic synthesis of natural products / 中国中药杂志

As a biocatalyst, enzyme has the advantages of high catalytic efficiency, strong reaction selectivity, specific target products, mild reaction conditions, and environmental friendliness, and serves as an important tool for the synthesis of complex organic molecules. With the continuous development of gene sequencing technology, molecular biology, genetic manipulation, and other technologies, the diversity of enzymes increases steadily and the reactions that can be catalyzed are also gradually diversified. In the process of enzyme-catalyzed synthesis, the majority of common enzymatic reactions can be achieved by single enzyme catalysis, while many complex reactions often require the participation of two or more enzymes. Therefore, the combination of multiple enzymes together to construct the multi-enzyme cascade reactions has become a research hotspot in the field of biochemistry. Nowadays, the biosynthetic pathways of more natural products with complex structures have been clarified, and secondary metabolic enzymes with novel catalytic activities have been identified, discovered, and combined in enzymatic synthesis of natural/unnatural molecules with diverse structures. This study summarized a series of examples of multi-enzyme-catalyzed cascades and highlighted the application of cascade catalysis methods in the synthesis of carbohydrates, nucleosides, flavonoids, terpenes, alkaloids, and chiral molecules. Furthermore, the existing problems and solutions of multi-enzyme-catalyzed cascade method were discussed, and the future development direction was prospected.

Protopanaxadiol-type ginsenoside hydrolases and their application in the preparation of ginsenoside Compound K: a review / 生物工程学报

Ginsenoside Compound K (CK) has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory pharmacological activities. It has not been isolated from natural ginseng and is mainly prepared by deglycosylation of protopanaxadiol. Compared with the traditional physicochemical preparation methods, the preparation of CK by hydrolysis with protopanaxadiol-type (PPD-type) ginsenoside hydrolases has the advantages of high specificity, environmental-friendliness, high efficiency and high stability. In this review, the PPD-type ginsenoside hydrolases were classified into three categories based on the differences in the glycosyl-linked carbon atoms of the hydrolase action. It was found that most of the hydrolases that could prepare CK were PPD-type ginsenoside hydrolase type Ⅲ. In addition, the applications of hydrolases in the preparation of CK were summarized and evaluated to facilitate large-scale preparation of CK and its development in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Enzymatic synthesis of three kinds of galactose-cholesterol ligands and their structure-activity relationship with liver targeting / 中草药

Objective To construct three kinds of doxorubicin liposomes modified with cholesterol-galactose ligand by lipase-catalyzed method and compare their characteristic of pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution in vivo. Methods Three types of cholesterol-galactose ligands, CHS-C8-GalNAc, CHS-C8-GAL, and CHS-C8-LA were synthetized by lipase-catalyzed method in nonaqueous phase. The structure characterizations of products were obtained by MS and NMR. Conventional liposomes (CL DOX) and ligand-coupled liposomes (NGal-LP DOX, Gal-LP DOX, and LA-LP DOX) were prepared by thin film dispersion-ammonium sulphate gradient method. Structure-activity relationship between asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPr) and the chemical structure of the glycolipids was explored through the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution parameters of ligand-coupled liposomes in vivo. Results The desired compounds with a high yield of above 90% were confirmed by MS and NMR. The liposomes average size was lower than 90 nm, polymer dispersity index was lower than 0.1, encapsulation efficiency was greater than 99%, leakage rat was lower than 5% with 24 h, and zeta potential closed to zero. The affinity of the three ligand molecules to liver was the following order: CHS-C8-GalNAc > CHS-C8-LA > CHS-C8-Gal. However, only the liposomes modified with CHS-C8-GalNAc could significantly be inhibited by the preinjection of asialofetuin for hepatic uptake rate (P 0.05). Conclusion The ligand with N-acetylgalactosamine residue showed high targeting efficiency for hepatocytes, while the ligand with D-galactose (Gal) or lactitol residue could competitive bind with Gal particle receptor on kupffer cells.

Whey upgrading by enzyme biocatalysis

Whey is a co-product of processes for the production of cheese and casein that retains most of the lactose content in milk. World production of whey is estimated around 200 million tons per year with an increase rate of about 2 percent/per year. Milk production is seasonal, so surplus whey is unavoidable. Traditionally, whey producers have considered it as a nuisance and strategies of whey handling have been mostly oriented to their more convenient disposal. This vision has been steadily evolving because of the upgrading potential of whey major components (lactose and whey proteins), but also because of more stringent regulations of waste disposal. Only the big cheese manufacturing companies are in the position of implementing technologies for their recovery and upgrading, so there is a major challenge in incorporating medium and small size producers to a platform of whey utilization, conciliating industrial interest with environmental protection within the framework of sustainable development. Within this context, among the many technological options for whey upgrading, transformation of whey components by enzyme biocatalysis appears as prominent. In fact, enzymes are green catalysts that can perform a myriad of transformation reactions under mild conditions and with strict specificity, so reducing production costs and environmental burden. This review pretends to highlight the impact of biocatalysis within a platform of whey upgrading. Technological options are shortly reviewed and then an in-depth and critical appraisal of enzyme technologies for whey upgrading is presented, with a special focus on newly developed enzymatic processes of organic synthesis, where the added value is high, being then a powerful driving force for industrial implementation.