Use of the dehydrophos biosynthetic enzymes to prepare antimicrobial analogs of alaphosphin.

The C-terminal domain of the dehydrophos biosynthetic enzyme DhpH (DhpH-C) catalyzes the condensation of Leu-tRNALeu with (R)-1-aminoethylphosphonate, the aminophosphonate analog of alanine called Ala(P). The product of this reaction, Leu-Ala(P), is a phosphonodipeptide, a class of compounds that have previously been investigated for use as clinical antibiotics. In this study, we show that DhpH-C is highly substrate tolerant and can condense various aminophosphonates (Gly(P), Ser(P), Val(P), 1-amino-propylphosphonate, and phenylglycine(P)) to Leu. Moreover, the enzyme is also tolerant with respect to the amino acid attached to tRNALeu. Using a mutant of leucyl tRNA synthetase that is deficient in its proofreading ability allowed the preparation of a series of aminoacyl-tRNALeu derivatives (Ile, Ala, Val, Met, norvaline, and norleucine). DhpH-C accepted these aminoacyl-tRNA derivatives and condensed the amino acid with l-Ala(P) to form the corresponding phosphonodipeptides. A subset of these peptides displayed antimicrobial activities demonstrating that the enzyme is a versatile biocatalyst for the preparation of antimicrobial peptides. We also investigated another enzyme from the dehydrophos biosynthetic pathway, the 2-oxoglutarate dependent enzyme DhpA. This enzyme oxidizes 2-hydroxyethylphosphonate to 1,2-dihydroxyethylphosphonate en route to l-Ala(P), but longer incubation results in overoxidation to 1-oxo-2-hydroxyethylphosphonate. This α-ketophosphonate was converted by the pyridoxal phosphate dependent enzyme DhpD into l-Ser(P). Thus, the dehydrophos biosynthetic enzymes can generate not only l-Ala(P) but also l-Ser(P).

Investigation of Amide Bond Formation during Dehydrophos Biosynthesis.

Dehydrophos is a tripeptide phosphonate antibiotic produced by Streptomyces luridus. Its biosynthetic pathway involves the use of aminoacyl-tRNA (aa-tRNA) for amide bond formation. The first amide bond during biosynthesis is formed by DhpH-C, a peptidyltransferase that utilizes Leu-tRNALeu. DhpH-C is a member of a burgeoning family of natural product biosynthetic enzymes that make use of aa-tRNA outside of canonical translation activities in the cell. Here, we used site-directed mutagenesis of both DhpH-C and tRNALeu to investigate the enzyme mechanism and substrate specificity, respectively, and analyzed the substrate scope for the production of a set of dipeptides. DhpH-C appears to recognize both the amino acyl group on the tRNA and the tRNA acceptor stem, and the enzyme can accept other hydrophobic residues, in addition to leucine. These results contribute to a better understanding of enzyme-aa-tRNA interactions and the growing exploration of aa-tRNA usage beyond translation.

Revisiting the biosynthesis of dehydrophos reveals a tRNA-dependent pathway.

Bioactive natural products containing a C-P bond act as mimics of phosphate esters and carboxylic acids, thereby competing with these compounds for active sites of enzymes. Dehydrophos (DHP), a broad-spectrum antibiotic, is a phosphonotripeptide produced by Streptomyces luridus, in which glycine and leucine are linked to an aminophosphonate analog of dehydroalanine, ΔAla(P). This unique feature, in combination with the monomethylation of the phosphonic acid, renders DHP a Trojan horse type antibiotic because peptidase-mediated hydrolysis will release methyl acetylphosphonate, a potent inhibitor of pyruvate dehydrogenase. Bioinformatic analysis of the biosynthetic gene cluster suggested that ΔAla(P) would be generated from Ser(P), the phosphonate analog of Ser, by phosphorylation and subsequent elimination, and that ΔAla(P) would be condensed with Leu-tRNA(Leu). DhpH was anticipated to carry out this elimination/ligation cascade. DhpH is a multidomain protein, in which a pyridoxal phosphate binding domain is fused to an N-acetyltransferase domain related to the general control nonderepressible-5 (GCN5) family. In this work, the activity of DhpH was reconstituted in vitro. The enzyme was able to catalyze the ß-elimination reaction of pSer(P) to generate ΔAla(P), but it was unable to condense ΔAla(P) with Leu. Instead, ΔAla(P) is hydrolyzed to acetyl phosphonate, which is converted to Ala(P) by a second pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzyme, DhpD. Ala(P) is the substrate for the condensation with Leu-tRNA(Leu) catalyzed by the C-terminal domain of DhpH. DhpJ, a 2-oxoglutarate/Fe(II)-dependent enzyme, introduces the vinyl functionality into Leu-Ala(P) acting as a desaturase, and addition of Gly by DhpK in a Gly-tRNA(Gly)-dependent manner completes the in vitro biosynthesis of dehydrophos.

Towards preparative-scale, biocatalytic alkene reductions.

Simple strategies for using alkene reductase enzymes to produce gram-scale quantities of both (R)- and (S)-citronellal have been developed. The methodology is easily accessible to non-specialist laboratories, allowing alkene reductases to be added to the toolbox of routine synthetic transformations.

Site-saturation mutagenesis of tryptophan 116 of Saccharomyces pastorianus old yellow enzyme uncovers stereocomplementary variants.

Site-saturation mutagenesis was used to generate all possible replacements for Trp 116 of Saccharomyces pastorianus (formerly Saccharomyces carlsbergensis ) old yellow enzyme (OYE). Our original hypothesisthat smaller amino acids at position 116 would allow better acceptance of bulky 3-alkyl-substituted 2-cyclohexenonesproved incorrect. Instead, Phe and Ile replacements favored the binding of some substrates in an opposite orientation, which yielded reversed stereochemical outcomes compared to that of the wild-type OYE. For example, W116I OYE reduced (R)- and (S)-carvone to enantiomeric products, rather than the diastereomers produced by the wild-type OYE. Deuterium labeling revealed that (S)-carvone reduction by the W116I OYE occurred by the same pathway as that by the wild type (net trans-addition of H(2)), proving that different substrate binding orientations were responsible for the divergent products. Trp 116 mutants also afforded different stereochemical outcomes for reductions of (R)-perillaldehyde and neral. Preliminary studies of an OYE family member whose native sequence contains Ile at position 116 ( Pichia stipitis OYE 2.6) revealed that this enzyme's stereoselectivity matched that of the wild-type S. pastorianus OYE, showing that the identity of the residue at position 116 does not solely determine the substrate binding orientation. Computational docking studies using an induced fit methodology successfully reproduced the majority of the experimental outcomes. These computational tools will allow preliminary in silico screening of additional residues to identify those most likely to control the substrate binding orientation and provide some guidance to future experimental studies.

Opposite stereochemical courses for enzyme-mediated alkene reductions of an enantiomeric substrate pair.

Rat NADP-dependent leukotriene B4 12-hydroxydehydrogenase (Ltb4dh) catalyzes olefin reductions for some activated alkenes at the expense of NADPH in the absence of a flavin cofactor. Unlike flavoprotein alkene reductases, where net trans-addition of hydrogen has been consistently observed, Ltb4dh reduced both enantiomers of perillaldehyde to the same cis-product. To uncover the reason for this unexpected result, the stereochemical courses of perillaldehyde reductions by Ltb4dh were determined by deuterium labeling followed by (2)H NMR analysis. These data showed unequivocally that Ltb4dh mediated net trans-addition of hydrogen to (R)-perillaldehyde but followed the opposite stereochemical course (net syn-addition) for (S)-perillaldehyde. To the best of our knowledge, such divergent stereochemical pathways for a single enzyme have not previously been reported.