"A Study in Yellow": Investigations in the Stereoselectivity of Ene-Reductases.

Ene-reductases from the Old Yellow Enzyme (OYE) superfamily are a well-known and efficient biocatalytic alternative for the asymmetric reduction of C=C bonds. Considering the broad variety of substituents that can be tolerated, and the excellent stereoselectivities achieved, it is apparent why these enzymes are so appealing for preparative and industrial applications. Different classes of C=C bonds activated by at least one electron-withdrawing group have been shown to be accepted by these versatile biocatalysts in the last decades, affording a vast range of chiral intermediates employed in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, flavours, fragrances and fine chemicals. In order to access both enantiomers of reduced products, stereodivergent pairs of OYEs are desirable, but their natural occurrence is limited. The detailed knowledge of the stereochemical course of the reaction can uncover alternative strategies to orient the selectivity via mutagenesis, evolution, and substrate engineering. An overview of the ongoing studies on OYE-mediated bioreductions will be provided, with particular focus on stereochemical investigations by deuterium labelling.

An Efficient Protein Evolution Workflow for the Improvement of Bacterial PET Hydrolyzing Enzymes.

Enzymatic degradation is a promising green approach to bioremediation and recycling of the polymer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). In the past few years, several PET-hydrolysing enzymes (PHEs) have been discovered, and new variants have been evolved by protein engineering. Here, we report on a straightforward workflow employing semi-rational protein engineering combined to a high-throughput screening of variant libraries for their activity on PET nanoparticles. Using this approach, starting from the double variant W159H/S238F of Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 PETase, the W159H/F238A-ΔIsPET variant, possessing a higher hydrolytic activity on PET, was identified. This variant was stabilized by introducing two additional known substitutions (S121E and D186H) generating the TS-ΔIsPET variant. By using 0.1 mg mL-1 of TS-ΔIsPET, ~10.6 mM of degradation products were produced in 2 days from 9 mg mL-1 PET microparticles (~26% depolymerization yield). Indeed, TS-ΔIsPET allowed a massive degradation of PET nanoparticles (>80% depolymerization yield) in 1.5 h using only 20 µg of enzyme mL-1. The rationale underlying the effect on the catalytic parameters due to the F238A substitution was studied by enzymatic investigation and molecular dynamics/docking analysis. The present workflow is a well-suited protocol for the evolution of PHEs to help generate an efficient enzymatic toolbox for polyester degradation.

Discovery and Characterization of a Novel Thermostable ß-Amino Acid Transaminase from a Meiothermus Strain Isolated in an Icelandic Hot Spring.

A Meiothermus strain capable of using ß-phenylalanine for growth is isolated by culture enrichment of samples collected in hot environments and the genome is sequenced showing the presence of 22 putative transaminase (TA) sequences. On the basis of phylogenetic and sequence analysis, a TA termed Ms-TA2 is selected for further studies. The enzyme is successfully produced in Escherichia coli Rosetta(DE3) cells, with 70 mg of pure protein obtained from 1 L culture after purification by affinity chromatography. Ms-TA2 shows high activity toward (S)-ß-phenylalanine and other (S)-ß-amino acids, as well as a preference for α-ketoglutarate and aromatic aldehydes as amino acceptors. Moreover, Ms-TA2 is shown to be a thermostable enzyme by maintaining about 60% of the starting activity after 3 h incubation at 50 °C and showing a melting temperature of about 73 °C. Finally, a homology-based structural model of Ms-TA2 is built and key active site interactions for substrate and cofactor binding are analyzed.

Conversion of Oleic Acid into Azelaic and Pelargonic Acid by a Chemo-Enzymatic Route.

A chemo-enzymatic approach for the conversion of oleic acid into azelaic and pelargonic acid is herein described. It represents a sustainable alternative to ozonolysis, currently employed at the industrial scale to perform the reaction. Azelaic acid is produced in high chemical purity in 44% isolation yield after three steps, avoiding column chromatography purifications. In the first step, the lipase-mediated generation of peroleic acid in the presence of 35% H2O2 is employed for the self-epoxidation of the unsaturated acid to the corresponding oxirane derivative. This intermediate is submitted to in situ acid-catalyzed opening, to afford 9,10-dihydroxystearic acid, which readily crystallizes from the reaction medium. The chemical oxidation of the diol derivative, using atmospheric oxygen as a stoichiometric oxidant with catalytic quantities of Fe(NO3)3∙9∙H2O, (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl (TEMPO), and NaCl, affords 9,10-dioxostearic acid which is cleaved by the action of 35% H2O2 in mild conditions, without requiring any catalyst, to give pelargonic and azelaic acid.

Exploiting the vicinal disubstituent effect on the diastereoselective synthesis of γ and δ lactones.

Trifluoroacetic acid catalysed lactonization of vicinal disubstituted γ-hydroxyesters was investigated in different solvents. The reaction kinetics, monitored by NMR spectroscopy, showed that: (i) the vic-disubstituent effect is stereoselective since the anti diastereoisomer ring closes substantially more rapidly than the syn isomer ring; (ii) the anti-vic effect is much stronger than the classical Thorpe-Ingold effect (known also as the gem-disubstituent effect), instead the syn diastereoisomers have rate constants comparable to that of the gem-disubstituted ester; (iii) the vic-effect can be enhanced by increasing the steric hindrance of one of the two substituents or carrying out the reaction in non-polar solvents. DFT computations of energy barriers (ΔG‡) were in good agreement with the experimental data. The distortion/interaction-activation strain model together with the Winstein-Holness kinetic scheme gave more insights into the origin of the vic-effect. An application of this effect consists of the diastereomeric resolution of disubstituted γ and δ lactones, among which are the naturally occurring Nicotiana t. lactone, the whisky and cognac oak lactones, and the Aerangis lactone. Both cis and trans diastereoisomers of these lactones were isolated in good yield and with high diastereomeric excess (de >92%). The selectivities of the diastereomeric resolution process, determined by NMR spectroscopy, are reported as well.

Tandem Tetrahydroisoquinoline-4-carboxylic Acid/ß-Alanine as a New Construct Able To Induce a Flexible Turn.

Tetrahydroisoquinoline-4-carboxylic acid, a constrained ß2 -amino acid named ß-TIC, was synthesised for the first time in enantiopure form. The biocatalytic route applied herein represents one of the few successful examples of enzymatic resolution of ß2 -amino acids. Model tetrapeptides, namely, Fmoc-l-Ala-ß-TIC-ß-Ala-l-Val-OBn (Fmoc=fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl, Bn=benzyl), containing both isomers of ß-TIC, were prepared. Both computational and NMR spectroscopy studies were performed. A reverse-turn conformation was observed in the case of (R)-ß-TIC enantiomer that was obtained in 99 % enantiomeric excess by enzymatic resolution. The ß-TIC/ß-Ala construct represents the first example of a flexible turn mimetic containing a cyclic and an acyclic ß-amino acid. Furthermore, the presence of an aromatic ring of ß-TIC could facilitate non-covalent interactions to increase the potential of this scaffold for the preparation of protein-protein interaction modulators.

A thermostable L-aspartate oxidase: a new tool for biotechnological applications.

L-Amino acid oxidases (LAAOs) are homodimeric flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-containing flavoproteins that catalyze the stereospecific oxidative deamination of L-amino acids to α-keto acids, ammonia, and hydrogen peroxide. Unlike the D-selective counterpart, the biotechnological application of LAAOs has not been thoroughly advanced because of the difficulties in their expression as recombinant protein in prokaryotic hosts. In this work, L-aspartate oxidase from the thermophilic archea Sulfolobus tokodaii (StLASPO, specific for L-aspartate and L-asparagine only) was efficiently produced as recombinant protein in E. coli in the active form as holoenzyme. This recombinant flavoenzyme shows the classical properties of FAD-containing oxidases. Indeed, StLASPO shows distinctive features that makes it attractive for biotechnological applications: high thermal stability (it is fully stable up to 80 °C) and high temperature optimum, stable activity in a broad range of pH (7.0-10.0), weak inhibition by the product oxaloacetate and by D-aspartate, and tight binding of the FAD cofactor. This latter property significantly distinguishes StLASPO from the E. coli counterpart. StLASPO represents an appropriate novel biocatalyst for the production of D-aspartate and a well-suited protein scaffold to evolve a LAAO activity by protein engineering.

Multistep enzyme catalyzed reactions for unnatural amino acids.

The use of unnatural amino acids, particularly synthetic α-amino acids, for modern drug discovery research requires the availability of enantiomerically pure isomers. Starting from a racemate, one single enantiomer can be obtained using a deracemization process. The two more common strategies of deracemization are those obtained by stereoinversion and by dynamic kinetic resolution. Both techniques will be here described using as a substrate the D,L-3-(2-naphthyl)-alanine, a non-natural amino acid: the first one employing a multi-enzymatic redox system, the second one combining an hydrolytic enzyme together with a base-catalyzed substrate racemization. In both cases, the final product, L-3-(2-naphthyl)alanine, is recovered with good yield and excellent enantiomeric excess.

New aliphatic glycerophosphoryl-containing polyurethanes: synthesis, platelet adhesion and elution cytotoxicity studies.

in this study new poly(ether)urethanes (PeUs) based on aliphatic diisocyanates were synthesized with phospholipid-like residues as chain extenders. The primary objective was to prepare new polyurethanes from diisocyanates that are less toxic than the aromatic ones widely used in medical-grade polyurethanes, in order to investigate the effect of the different aromatic or aliphatic hard segment content on the final properties of the materials. Some glycerophospho residues were simultaneously introduced to enhance the hemocompatibility of these materials. Polymers were prepared by a conventional two-step solution polymerization procedure using hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDi) and dodecametilendiisocyanate (DDi) and poly(1,4-butanediol) with molecular weight 1000 to form prepolymers, which were subsequently polymerized with 1-glycerophosphorylcholine (1-GPC) or glycerophosphorylserine (GPS) to act as chain extenders. The reference polymers bearing 1,4-butandiol (BD) were also synthesized. The polymers obtained were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (fT-iR), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H nmR), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The hemocompatibility of synthesized segmented polyurethanes was preliminarily investigated by platelet-rich plasma contact studies and related scanning electron microscopy (Sem) photographs as well as by cell viability assay after cell exposure to material elutions to assess the effect of any toxic leachables coming out from the samples. Two of the polymers gave interesting results, suggesting the desirability of further investigation into their possible use in biomedical devices.

Potential application of N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine amidohydrolase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 for beta-amino acid production.

An N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine amidohydrolase of industrial interest from Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 (beta car(At)) has been characterized. Beta car(At) is most active at 30 degrees C and pH 8.0 with N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine as a substrate. The purified enzyme is completely inactivated by the metal-chelating agent 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid (HQSA), and activity is restored by the addition of divalent metal ions, such as Mn(2+), Ni(2+), and Co(2+). The native enzyme is a homodimer with a molecular mass of 90 kDa from pH 5.5 to 9.0. The enzyme has a broad substrate spectrum and hydrolyzes nonsubstituted N-carbamoyl-alpha-, -beta-, -gamma-, and -delta-amino acids, with the greatest catalytic efficiency for N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine. Beta car(At) also recognizes substrate analogues substituted with sulfonic and phosphonic acid groups to produce the beta-amino acids taurine and ciliatine, respectively. Beta car(At) is able to produce monosubstituted beta(2)- and beta(3)-amino acids, showing better catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) for the production of the former. For both types of monosubstituted substrates, the enzyme hydrolyzes N-carbamoyl-beta-amino acids with a short aliphatic side chain better than those with aromatic rings. These properties make beta car(At) an outstanding candidate for application in the biotechnology industry.

A practical selective synthesis of mixed short/long chains glycerophosphocholines.

Glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC) is transformed into the cyclic stannylene derivatives, which are selectively acylated to 1-acyl-2-lyso-glycerophosphocholines. The reaction is effective using C-2 to C-16 acid chlorides in 2-propanol. After solvent replacement the lyso-phospholipid (lyso-PL) is subjected to a second acylation using acid anhydrides in methylene chloride. A series of 1(2)-short-2(1)-long-diacyl-glycerophosphocholines are obtained in high yields and selectivity. No diacylation product was detected. In order to detect mixed-chain lipids with inverted disposition of acyl chains, the long chain was introduced first and the thus resulting isomeric compounds compared by NMR. An NMR method was developed in order to determine the positional purity of the isomeric compounds.

Synthesis and antiproliferative activity of alkylphosphocholines.

Alkylphosphocholines (APC) with one or more methylene groups in the alkyl chain replaced by oxygen atoms or carbonyl groups, or both have been assembled modularly using omega-diols as central building blocks. Out of 25 new compounds of this kind, 11 were evaluated for their antiproliferative activity on four cell lines and compared with miltefosine to evaluate their hemolytic activity (HA) and cytotoxicity on non-tumoral cells (MT2), used as markers of adverse effects. Compound 13 was more active on cancer cell lines than on non-tumoral cells and the data were similar for MTT and thymidine incorporation assays. It had less HA than miltefosine. Compound 13 could therefore be a candidate for the preparation of compounds with higher cytotoxicity on cancer cells and lower general toxicity.