Highly efficient bioreduction of 2-hydroxyacetophenone to (S)- and (R)-1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol by two substrate tolerance carbonyl reductases with cofactor regeneration.

Optically pure 1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol is a very important chiral building block and intermediate in fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Reduction of 2-hydroxyacetophenone provides a straightforward approach to access these important compounds. In this study, two enantiocomplementary carbonyl reductases, BDHA (2,3-butanediol dehydrogenase from Bacillus subtilis) and GoSCR (polyol dehydrogenase from Gluconobacter oxydans) were discovered for the first time to convert 2-hydroxyacetophenone (2-HAP) to (R)-1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol ((R)-PED) and (S)-1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol ((S)-PED) with excellent stereochemical selectivity, respectively. The two enzymes were purified and characterized. In vitro bioreduction of 2-HAP catalyzed by BDHA and GoSCR coupled with glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) from Bacillus subtilis for cofactor regeneration were demonstrated, affording both (R)-PED and (S)-PED in>99% ee and 99% conversion. Recombinant Escherichia coli whole cells co-expressing both GDH and BDHA or GoSCR genes were used to asymmetric reduction of 2-HAP to (R)-PED or (S)-PED. Under the optimized conditions, the bioreduction of 400mM (54g/L) substrate was proceeded smoothly without the external addition of cofactor, and the product (R)-PED and (S)-PED were obtained with 99% yield, >99% ee and 18.0g/L/h volumetric productivity. These results offer a practical biocatalytic method for the preparation of both (R)-PED and (S)-PED with high volumetric productivity.

Cloning and characterization of two distinct water-forming NADH oxidases from Lactobacillus pentosus for the regeneration of NAD.

Two uncharacterized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidases (named as LpNox1, LpNox2) from Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC 8041 were cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The sequence analysis revealed that the two enzymes are water-forming Noxs with 64 % and 52 % identity to LbNox from Lactobacillus brevis DSM 20054. The optimal pH and temperature of the purified LpNox1 and LpNox2 were 7.0 and 8.0 and 35 and 40 °C, respectively, with K M of 99.0 µM (LpNox1) and 27.6 µM (LpNox2), and yielding catalytic efficiency k cat/K M of 1.0 and 0.2 µM(-1) s(-1), respectively. Heat inactivation studies revealed that the two enzymes are relatively instable. The application of LpNox1 for the regeneration of NAD(+) was demonstrated by coupling with a glycerol dehydrogenase-catalyzed oxidation of glycerol to 1,3-dihydroxyacetone. The characteristics of the LpNox1 could prove to be of interest in industrial application such as NAD(+) regeneration in dehydrogenase-catalyzed oxidations.