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(R)-3-amino-1-butanol is a key intermediate of Dolutegravir for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and its green and efficient biosynthesis has attracted a great deal of attention. Transaminases are currently used as promising biocatalyst for the synthesis of chiral amines. However, many transaminases have (S)-specificity and (R)-selective transaminases were less exploited and studied, making the production of (R)-amines remain challenging. In this study, a novel transaminase from Actinobacteria sp. (As-TA) was obtained and applied for the biosynthesis of (R)-3-amino-1-butanol by transferring the amino group from isopropylamine to 4-hydroxy-2-butanone. After optimization of the reaction condition and using a substrate fed-batch strategy, the conversion of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mM 4-hydroxy-2-butanone reached 100%, 94.9%, 86.1%, 76.1% and 70.9%, respectively. (R)-3-amino-1-butanol with a maximum yield of 29.6 g/L and 99.9% e.e. value was obtained. This was the first time demonstrating the successful biosynthesis of (R)-3-amino-1-butanol with transaminase as biocatalyst and the obtained As-TA enriched the enzyme pool of transaminase with (R)-specificity., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Amine transaminases are a class of efficient and industrially-desired biocatalysts for the production of chiral amines. In this study, stabilized variants of the (R)-selective amine transaminase from Aspergillus terreus (AT-ATA) were constructed by consensus mutagenesis. Using Consensus Finder (http://cbs-kazlab.oit.umn.edu/), six positions with the most prevalent amino acid (over 60% threshold) among the homologous family members were identified. Subsequently, these six residues were individually mutated to match the consensus sequence (I77 L, Q97E, H210N, N245D, G292D, and I295 V) using site-directed mutagenesis. Compared to that of the wild-type, the thermostability of all six single variants was improved. The H210N variant displayed the largest shift in thermostability, with a 3.3-fold increase in half-life (t 1/2 ) at 40 °C, and a 4.6 °C increase in T 50 10 among the single variants. In addition, the double mutant H210N/I77L displayed an even larger shift with 6.1-fold improvement of t 1/2 at 40 °C, and a 6.6 °C increase in T 50 10 . Furtherly, the H210N/I77L mutation was introduced into the previously engineered thermostable AT-ATA by the introduction of disulfide bonds, employing B-factor and folding free energy (ΔΔG fold ) calculations. Our results showed that the combined variant H210N/I77L/M150C-M280C had the largest shift in thermostability, with a 16.6-fold improvement of t 1/2 and a 11.8 °C higher T 50 10 ., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, two stereocomplementary ω-transaminases from Arthrobacter sp. (AsR-ωTA) and Chromobacterium violaceum (Cv-ωTA) were immobilized via iron cation affinity binding onto polymer-coated controlled porosity glass beads (EziG ™ ). The immobilization procedure was studied with different types of carrier materials and immobilization buffers of varying compositions, concentrations, pHs and cofactor (PLP) concentrations. Notably, concentrations of PLP above 0.1 mM were correlated with a dramatic decrease of the immobilization yield. The highest catalytic activity, along with quantitative immobilization, was obtained in MOPS buffer (100 mM, pH 8.0, PLP 0.1 mM, incubation time 2 h). Leaching of the immobilized enzyme was not observed within 3 days of incubation. EziG-immobilized AsR-ωTA and Cv-ωTA retained elevated activity when tested for the kinetic resolution of rac-α-methylbenzylamine (rac-α-MBA) in single batch experiments. Recycling studies demonstrated that immobilized EziG 3 -AsR-ωTA could be recycled for at least 16 consecutive cycles (15 min per cycle) and always affording quantitative conversion (TON ca. 14,400). Finally, the kinetic resolution of rac-α-MBA with EziG 3 -AsR-ωTA was tested in a continuous flow packed-bed reactor (157 μL reactor volume), which produced more than 5 g of (S)-α-MBA (>49% conversion, >99% ee) in 96 h with no detectable loss of catalytic activity. The calculated TON was more than 110,000 along with a space-time yield of 335 g L -1  h -1 ., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Chiral β-amino alcohols are very important chiral building block for preparing bioactive compounds for use in pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries. Synthesis of chiral β-amino alcohols by transaminase is big challenging due to the strict substrate specificities and very low activity of the enzyme. In this work, a (R)-selective ω-transaminase (MVTA) from Mycobacterium vanbaalenii was employed as a biocatalyst for the first time for the synthesis of chiral β-amino alcohol via kinetic resolution and asymmetric reductive amination. The enzyme was purified and characterized. Kinetic resolution of a set of racemic β-amino alcohols including two cyclic β-amino alcohols by MVTA was demonstrated, affording (R)-β-amino alcohols, (1S, 2S)-trans-2-aminocyclopentanol and (1R, 2S)-cis-1-amino-2-indanols in >99% ee and 50-62% conversion. Asymmetric reductive amination of three α-hydroxy ketones (10-300 mM) by MVTA was conducted, (S)-β-amino alcohols were obtained with >99% ee and 80-99% conversion. Preparation experiment for the reductive amination of 200 mM 2-hydroxyacetophenone by the resting cells of recombinant E. coli (MVTA) was proceeded smoothly and product (S)-2-amino-2-phenylethanol was obtained with 71% isolated yield, >99% ee and 68.6 g/L/d volumetric productivity. The current research proved that the MVTA is a robust enzyme for the preparation of chiral β-amino alcohol with high volumetric productivity., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The amine transaminase from Vibrio fluvialis (Vf-ATA) is an attractive enzyme with applications within Biocatalysis for the preparation of chiral amines. Various catalytic properties of Vf-ATA have been investigated, but a biophysical characterization of its stability has been lacking. Today, the industrial application of Vf-ATA is limited by its low operational stability. In order to enhance the knowledge regarding the structural stability of ATAs, general characterizations of different ATAs are required. In this work, the stability of Vf-ATA was explored. First, the affinity between enzyme and pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP) (K D value of 7.9 μM) was determined. Addition of PLP to enzyme preparations significantly improved the enzyme thermal stability by preventing enzyme unfolding. With the aim to understand if this was due to the PLP phosphate group coordination into the phosphate group binding cup, the effect of phosphate buffer on the enzyme stability was compared to HEPES buffer. Low concentrations of phosphate buffer showed a positive effect on the enzyme initial activity, while higher phosphate buffer concentrations prevented cofactor dissociation. Additionally, the effects of various amine or ketone substrates on the enzyme stability were explored. All tested amines caused a concentration dependent enzyme inactivation, while the corresponding ketones showed no or stabilizing effects. The enzyme inactivation due to the presence of amine can be connected to the formation of PMP, which forms in the presence of amines in the absence of ketone. Since PMP is not covalently bound to the enzyme, it could readily leave the enzyme upon formation. Exploring the different stability effects of cofactor, substrates, additives and buffer system on ATAs seems to be important in order to understand and improve the general performance of ATAs., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

l-phenylglycine is a rare non-proteinogenic amino acid, which only occurs in a few natural compounds, such as the streptogramin antibiotics pristinamycin I and virginiamycin S or the bicyclic peptide antibiotic dityromycin. Here we report on the biochemical characterization of the aminotransferase PglE that catalyzes the transamination from phenylglyoxylate to l-phenylglycine, which represents the final reaction step during phenylglycine biosynthesis. Enzyme assays with the purified PglE enzyme revealed that l-phenylalanine is used as an amino group donor for the transamination reaction, leading to the formation of phenylpyruvate, which may re-enter phenylglycine biosynthesis as a precursor. Based on these results, we postulate a novel l-phenylglycine biosynthetic pathway., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

R-ɷ-transaminases transfer an amino group from an amino donor (e.g. (R)-1-phenylethylamine) onto an amino acceptor (e.g. pyruvate), resulting a co-product (e.g. d-alanine). This work intends to immobilize R-ɷ-Transaminase on MnO 2 nanorods to achieve multienzyme catalysis. R-ɷ-Transaminase (RTA) and d-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) have been fused to an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) separately through genetic engineering of the enzymes. ELP-RTA and ELP-DAAO have been separately immobilized on polydopamine-coated MnO 2 nanorods. When the two immobilized enzymes were used together in one pot, the transformation of (R)-1-phenylethylamine was catalyzed by the immobilized ELP-RTA, and the co-product d-alanine was converted back to pyruvate under the catalysis of the immobilized ELP-DAAO, achieving the recycling of pyruvate in situ. Thus pyruvate was maintained at a low concentration in order to reduce its negative effect. On the other hand, the generated H 2 O 2 of ELP-DAAO was decomposed by the MnO 2 nanorods, and the evolved oxygen oxidized the reduced cofactors of ELP-DAAO. Forming the circles of hydrogen peroxide→oxygen→hydrogen peroxide accelerated the deamination reaction. The highly efficient conversion of the co-product d-alanine back to pyruvate accelerated the forming of the pyruvate→d-alanine→pyruvate cycle between the two immobilized enzymes. The coordination of the pyruvate→d-alanine→pyruvate and hydrogen peroxide→oxygen→hydrogen peroxide cycles accelerated the transformation of (R)-1-phenylethylamine. As a result, As a result, the immobilized enzymes achieved a conversion of 98±1.8% in comparison to 69.6±1.2% by free enzymes., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Optically pure β-amino acids are of high pharmacological significance since they are used as key ingredients in many physiologically active compounds. Despite a number of enzymatic routes to these compounds, an efficient synthesis of β-amino acids continues to pose a major challenge for researchers. ω-Transaminase has emerged as an important class of enzymes for generating amine compounds. However, only a few ω-transaminases have been reported so far which show activity towards aromatic β-amino acids. In this study, (S)-ω-transaminase from Burkholderia graminis C4D1M has been functionally characterized and used for the production of chiral aromatic β-amino acids via kinetic resolution. The enzyme showed a specific activity of 3.1 U/mg towards rac-β-phenylalanine at 37°C. The Km and Kcat values of this enzyme towards rac-β-phenylalanine with pyruvate as the amino acceptor were 2.88 mM and 91.57 min(-1) respectively. Using this enzyme, racemic β-amino acids were kinetically resolved to produce (R)-β-amino acids with an excellent enantiomeric excess (> 99%) and ∼ 50% conversion. Additionally, kinetic resolution of aromatic β-amino acids was performed using benzaldehyde as a cheap amino acceptor., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Transaminases from Aspergillus fumigatus ((R)-selective, AspFum), Ruegeria pomeroyi ((S)-selective, 3HMU) and Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1 ((S)-selective, 3I5T) were immobilized on chitosan with specific activities of 99, 157, and 163U/g and acceptable yields (54, 21, and 23%, respectively) for glutaraldehyde (GA) immobilization. Besides GA, also divinylsulfone was used as linker molecule leading to a similar efficient immobilization for two enzymes, GibZea and NeoFis, whereas GA was superior in the other cases. Storage of the GA-immobilized enzymes for one month resulted in increased relative activities between 120 and 180%. The thermal stability was improved, especially for the GA-immobilized AspFum compared to the free enzyme after incubation for 4h at 60°C (10% vs. 235% residual activity). Especially after incubation of AspFum (free or immobilized) for 2h at 50°C a strongly increased activity was observed (up to 359% of the initial activity). This effect was studied in more detail, revealing that one heat activation prior and one after immobilization increased the overall immobilization efficiency. Recycling of the immobilized ATAs resulted only in a small reduction of activity after four batches. Asymmetric synthesis of (R)- or (S)-1-methyl-3-phenylpropylamine from the prostereogenic ketone using isopropylamine (IPA) as amino donor was applied with conversions up to 50% (AspFum) or 75% (3HMU). Except for NeoFis, all immobilized ATAs showed higher conversions compared to the free enzyme., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The concept of de novo metabolic engineering through novel synthetic pathways offers new directions for multi-step enzymatic synthesis of complex molecules. This has been complemented by recent progress in performing enzymatic reactions using immobilized enzyme microreactors (IEMR). This work is concerned with the construction of de novo designed enzyme pathways in a microreactor synthesizing chiral molecules. An interesting compound, commonly used as the building block in several pharmaceutical syntheses, is a single diastereoisomer of 2-amino-1,3,4-butanetriol (ABT). This chiral amino alcohol can be synthesized from simple achiral substrates using two enzymes, transketolase (TK) and transaminase (TAm). Here we describe the development of an IEMR using His6-tagged TK and TAm immobilized onto Ni-NTA agarose beads and packed into tubes to enable multi-step enzyme reactions. The kinetic parameters of both enzymes were first determined using single IEMRs evaluated by a kinetic model developed for packed bed reactors. The Km(app) for both enzymes appeared to be flow rate dependent, while the turnover number kcat was reduced 3 fold compared to solution-phase TK and TAm reactions. For the multi-step enzyme reaction, single IEMRs were cascaded in series, whereby the first enzyme, TK, catalyzed a model reaction of lithium-hydroxypyruvate (HPA) and glycolaldehyde (GA) to L-erythrulose (ERY), and the second unit of the IEMR with immobilized TAm converted ERY into ABT using (S)-α-methylbenzylamine (MBA) as amine donor. With initial 60mM (HPA and GA each) and 6mM (MBA) substrate concentration mixture, the coupled reaction reached approximately 83% conversion in 20 min at the lowest flow rate. The ability to synthesize a chiral pharmaceutical intermediate, ABT in relatively short time proves this IEMR system as a powerful tool for construction and evaluation of de novo pathways as well as for determination of enzyme kinetics., (Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Complex molecules are synthesised via a number of multi-step reactions in living cells. In this work, we describe the development of a continuous flow immobilized enzyme microreactor platform for use in evaluation of multi-step bioconversion pathways demonstrating a de novo transketolase/ω-transaminase-linked asymmetric amino alcohol synthesis. The prototype dual microreactor is based on the reversible attachment of His₆-tagged enzymes via Ni-NTA linkage to two surface derivatised capillaries connected in series. Kinetic parameters established for the model transketolase (TK)-catalysed conversion of lithium-hydroxypyruvate (Li-HPA) and glycolaldehyde (GA) to L-erythrulose using a continuous flow system with online monitoring of reaction output was in good agreement with kinetic parameters determined for TK in stop-flow mode. By coupling the transketolase catalysed chiral ketone forming reaction with the biocatalytic addition of an amine to the TK product using a transaminase (ω-TAm) it is possible to generate chiral amino alcohols from achiral starting compounds. We demonstrated this in a two-step configuration, where the TK reaction was followed by the ω-TAm-catalysed amination of L-erythrulose to synthesise 2-amino-1,3,4-butanetriol (ABT). Synthesis of the ABT product via the dual reaction and the on-line monitoring of each component provided a full profile of the de novo two-step bioconversion and demonstrated the utility of this microreactor system to provide in vitro multi-step pathway evaluation., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Detoxification of the mycotoxin fumonisin B(1) comprises at least two enzymatic steps, an initial deesterification reaction, followed by deamination of the resulting hydrolyzed fumonisin B(1). In this study, two genes that are responsible for degradation of fumonisin B(1) by the bacterium Sphingopyxis sp. MTA144 were identified within a gene cluster, assumed to be associated with fumonisin degradation. The first gene encodes a protein which shows similarity to carboxylesterases, type B. The second gene encodes a polypeptide homologous to aminotransferases, class III. The two genes were isolated and expressed heterologously. The effect of the recombinant enzymes on fumonisin B(1) and hydrolyzed fumonisin B(1) was determined. The recombinant carboxylesterase was shown to catalyze the deesterification of fumonisin B(1) to hydrolyzed fumonisin B(1). The heterologously expressed aminotransferase was shown to deaminate hydrolyzed fumonisin B(1) in the presence of pyruvate and pyridoxal phosphate. We propose that the consecutive action of these two enzymes is sufficient for fumonisin B(1) detoxification. The results of this work provide a basis for the development of an enzymatic detoxification process for fumonisin B(1) in food and animal feed, especially under oxygen limited conditions, as they are found, e.g. in ensilaged forage or in the intestinal tract of animals.

Due to broad and overlapping substrate specificities, aminotransferases remain the last uncharacterized enzymes from most amino acid biosynthetic pathways in Corynebacterium glutamicum. We report here a complete description of all aminotransferases participating in the biosynthesis of the branched-chain amino acids and phenylalanine in C. glutamicum. We used methods of profile analysis on the newly available genome sequence to systematically search for and characterize members of the four known aminotransferase classes. This led to the discovery of sixteen new, potential aminotransferase encoding genes in the C. glutamicum genome, eleven of which were subsequently characterized experimentally with respect to their participation in different amino acid biosynthetic pathways. Disruption by insertion mutagenesis of ilvE, encoding a branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase, confirmed its function in leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis. Two double mutants lacking both ilvE and genes classified as class I aminotransferases exhibited additional auxotrophic requirements for valine and phenylalanine, respectively. In C. glutamicum the branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase thus participates in four amino acid biosynthetic pathways, for which in case of valine and phenylalanine biosynthesis two additional enzymes with overlapping substrate specificity exist. The novel protein with aminotransferase activity in valine biosynthesis belongs to the very recently described MocR subfamily of GntR-type helix-turn-helix transcriptional regulators, is located upstream of a potential operon of a newly described pyridoxine biosynthetic pathway and when disrupted, gives rise to a pyridoxine auxotrophy. The theoretical and experimental data we present should further provide a solid platform for ongoing research and understanding of the network of aminotransferases which participate in amino acid biosynthesis in C. glutamicum.

The enzyme activities of the valine biosynthetic pathway and their regulation have been studied in the valine-producing strain, Corynebacterium glutamicum 13032DeltailvApJC1ilvBNCD. In this micro-organism, this pathway might involve up to five enzyme activities: acetohydroxy acid synthase (AHAS), acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase (AHAIR), dihydroxyacid dehydratase and transaminases B and C. For each enzyme, kinetic parameters (optimal temperature, optimal pH and affinity for substrates) were determined. The first enzyme of the pathway, AHAS, was shown to exhibit a weak affinity for pyruvate (K(m)=8.3 mM). It appeared that valine and leucine inhibited the three first steps of the pathway (AHAS, AHAIR and DHAD). Moreover, the AHAS activity was inhibited by isoleucine. Considering the kinetic data collected during this work, AHAS would be a key enzyme for further strain improvement intending to increase the valine production by C. glutamicum.

D-phenylglycine aminotransferase (D-PhgAT) from a newly isolated soil bacterium, Pseudomonas stutzeri ST-201, was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity and characterized. The molecular weight (M(r)) of the native enzyme was estimated to be 92,000. It is composed of two subunits identical in molecular weight (M(r)) = 47,500). The isoelectric point (pI) of the native enzyme was 5.0. The enzyme catalyzed reversible transamination specific for D-phenylglycine or D-4-hydroxyphenylglycine in which 2-oxoglutarate was an exclusive amino group acceptor and was converted into L-glutamic acid. Neither the D- nor L-isomer of phenylalanine, tyrosine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine or serine could serve as a substrate. The enzyme was most active at alkaline pH with maximum activity at pH 9-10. The temperature for maximum activity was 35-45 degrees C. The apparent K(m) values for D-phenylglycine and for 2-oxoglutarate at 35 degrees C, pH 9.5 were 1.1 and 2.4 mM, respectively. The enzyme activity was strongly inhibited by typical inhibitors of pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzymes. Possible application of this enzyme for synthesis of enantiomerically pure D-phenylglycine was demonstrated.