Enantiomerically pure amino acid derivatives could be foundational compounds for peptide drugs. Deracemization of racemates to l-amino acid derivatives can be achieved through the reaction of evolved d-amino acid oxidase and chemical reductants, whereas deracemization to d-amino acid derivatives has not progressed due to the difficulty associated with the heterologous expression of l-amino acid oxidase (LAAO). In this study, we succeeded in developing an ancestral LAAO (AncLAAO) bearing broad substrate selectivity (13 l-amino acids) and high productivity through an Escherichia coli expression system (∼50.7 mg/L). AncLAAO can be applied to perform deracemization to d-amino acids in a similar way to deracemization to l-amino acids. In fact, full conversion (>99% ee, d-form) could be achieved for 16 racemates, including nine d,l-Phe derivatives, six d,l-Trp derivatives, and a d,l-phenylglycine. Taken together, we believe that AncLAAO could be a key enzyme to obtain optically pure d-amino acid derivatives in the future.

L-amino acid oxidases (LAAOs) can be applied to convert racemic amino acids to D-isomers, which are potential precursors of pharmaceuticals. However, this application is hampered by the lack of available stable and structure-determined LAAOs. In this study, we attempt to address this limitation by utilizing two ancestral LAAOs: AncLAAO-N4 and AncLAAO-N5. AncLAAO-N4 has the highest thermal and temporal stabilities among the designed LAAOs that can be used for deracemization and stereoinversion. AncLAAO-N5 can provide X-ray crystal structures, which are helpful to reveal substrate recognition and reaction mechanisms of LAAOs at the molecular level. Next, we attempted to improve activity of AncLAAO-N4 toward L-Val through a semi-rational protein engineering method. Three variants with enhanced activity toward L-Val were obtained. Taken together, we believe that the activity and substrate selectivity of AncLAAOs give them the potential to be key enzymes in various chemoenzymatic reactions.

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