Bacillus anthracis ω-amino acid:pyruvate transaminase employs a different mechanism for dual substrate recognition than other amine transaminases.

Understanding the metabolic potential of organisms or a bacterial community based on their (meta) genome requires the reliable prediction of an enzyme's function from its amino acid sequence. Besides a remarkable development in prediction algorithms, the substrate scope of sequences with low identity to well-characterized enzymes remains often very elusive. From a recently conducted structure function analysis study of PLP-dependent enzymes, we identified a putative transaminase from Bacillus anthracis (Ban-TA) with the crystal structure 3N5M (deposited in the protein data bank in 2011, but not yet published). The active site residues of Ban-TA differ from those in related (class III) transaminases, which thereby have prevented function predictions. By investigating 50 substrate combinations its amine and ω-amino acid:pyruvate transaminase activity was revealed. Even though Ban-TA showed a relatively narrow amine substrate scope within the tested substrates, it accepts 2-propylamine, which is a prerequisite for industrial asymmetric amine synthesis. Structural information implied that the so-called dual substrate recognition of chemically different substrates (i.e. amines and amino acids) differs from that in formerly known enzymes. It lacks the normally conserved 'flipping' arginine, which enables dual substrate recognition by its side chain flexibility in other ω-amino acid:pyruvate transaminases. Molecular dynamics studies suggested that another arginine (R162) binds ω-amino acids in Ban-TA, but no side chain movements are required for amine and amino acid binding. These results, supported by mutagenesis studies, provide functional insights for the B. anthracis enzyme, enable function predictions of related proteins, and broadened the knowledge regarding ω-amino acid and amine converting transaminases.

Establishing a synthetic pathway for high-level production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae via ß-alanine.

Microbial fermentation of renewable feedstocks into plastic monomers can decrease our fossil dependence and reduce global CO2 emissions. 3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3HP) is a potential chemical building block for sustainable production of superabsorbent polymers and acrylic plastics. With the objective of developing Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an efficient cell factory for high-level production of 3HP, we identified the ß-alanine biosynthetic route as the most economically attractive according to the metabolic modeling. We engineered and optimized a synthetic pathway for de novo biosynthesis of ß-alanine and its subsequent conversion into 3HP using a novel ß-alanine-pyruvate aminotransferase discovered in Bacillus cereus. The final strain produced 3HP at a titer of 13.7±0.3gL(-1) with a 0.14±0.0C-molC-mol(-1) yield on glucose in 80h in controlled fed-batch fermentation in mineral medium at pH 5, and this work therefore lays the basis for developing a process for biological 3HP production.

One-pot synthesis of amino-alcohols using a de-novo transketolase and beta-alanine: pyruvate transaminase pathway in Escherichia coli.

Biocatalysis continues to emerge as a powerful technique for the efficient synthesis of optically pure pharmaceuticals that are difficult to access via conventional chemistry. The power of biocatalysis can be enhanced if two or more reactions can be achieved by a single whole cell biocatalyst containing a pathway designed de-novo to facilitate a required synthetic sequence. The enzymes transketolase (TK) and transaminase (TAm) respectively catalyze asymmetric carbon--carbon bond formation and amine group addition to suitable substrate molecules. The ability of a transaminase to accept the product of the transketolase reaction can allow the two catalysts to be employed in series to create chiral amino-alcohols from achiral substrates. As proof of principle, the beta-alanine: pyruvate aminotransferase (beta-A:P TAm) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been cloned, to create plasmid pQR428, for overexpression in E.coli strain BL21gold(DE3). Production of the beta-A:P TAm alongside the native transketolase (overexpressed from plasmid pQR411), in a single E.coli host, has created a novel biocatalyst capable of the synthesis of chiral amino alcohols via a synthetic two-step pathway. The feasibility of using the biocatalyst has been demonstrated by the formation of a single diastereoisomer of 2-amino-1,3,4-butanetriol (ABT) product, in up to 21% mol/mol yield, by the beta-A:P TAm, via transamination of L-erythrulose synthesized by TK, from achiral substrates glycolaldehyde (GA) and beta-hydroxypyruvate (beta-HPA). ABT synthesis was achieved in a one-pot process, using either whole cells of the dual plasmid strain or cell lysate, while the dual alcohol-amine functionality of ABT makes it an excellent synthon for many pharmaceutical syntheses.