Altering UDP-glucose Donor Substrate Specificity of Bacillus licheniformis Glycosyltransferase towards TDP-glucose.

The specificity of a Bacillus licheniformis uridine diphosphate (UDP) glycosyltransferase, YjiC, was increased towards thymidine diphosphate (TDP)-sugar by site-directed mutagenesis. The Arg-282 of YjiC was identified and investigated by substituting with Trp. Conversion rate and kinetic parameters were compared between YjiC and its variants with several acceptor substrates such as 7-hydroxyflavone (7-HF), 4',7-dihydroxyisoflavone, 7,8-dihydroxyflavone and curcumin. Molecular docking of TDP-glucose and 7-HF with YjiC model showed pi-alkyl interaction with Arg-282 and His-14, and pi-pi interaction with His14 and thymine ring. YjiC (H14A) variant lost its glucosylation activity with TDP-glucose validating significance of His-14 in binding of TDP-sugars.

Mutational analyses for product specificity of YjiC towards α-mangostin mono-glucoside.

Glycosyltransferases (GTs) are key enzymes for the post-modification of secondary metabolites in drug development processes. In our prior research, an one-pot enzymatic system produced α-mangostin 3,6-di-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (Mg1) at a higher proportion using wild-type glycosyltransferase (YjiC) but α-mangostin 3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (Mg2) exhibited markedly higher anti-bacterial activities. This study focuses on a Bacillus licheniformis-originated flexible glycosyltransferase by mutagenesis to examine the active site residues involved in glycosylation for a product specificity towards Mg2. The generated H298A, H298S, and H298C mutants of YjiC exhibited a regiospecificity towards glycosylated product (Mg2) and were targeted in this study. The production pattern of Mg1 decreased to 63 (H298A), 85 (H298S) and 95% (H298C) yields compared to the wild-type YjiC. The increase of uridine 5'-diphosphate (UDP) leading to the inhibition of enzyme activity and production of uridine 5'-diphosphate glucose (UDP-glucose) in overall system was critical for the specific glycosylated product formation rate. H298A, H298S, and H298C mutants and YjiC exhibited 244, 251, and 186% increases in Mg2 production yields, respectively. And also H298A, H298S, and H298C showed 281, 279, and 251% increases in yield of Mg3 compared with wild type YjiC, respectively. There was improved conversion of both mono-glucosides product (Mg2a and Mg3) than di-glucosides products. The H298 mutants were found to overcome the limitation of the wild-type YjiC for regioselective synthesis of Mg2 by an enzymatic system.