Although aldehyde oxidase (AO) is
an important hepatic drug-metabolizing
enzyme, it remains understudied and is consequently often overlooked
in preclinical studies, an oversight that has resulted in the failure
of multiple clinical trials. AO’s preclusion to investigation
stems from the following: (1) difficulties synthesizing metabolic
standards due to the chemospecificity and regiospecificity of the
enzyme and (2) significant inherent variability across existing in
vitro systems including liver cytosol, S9 fractions, and primary hepatocytes,
which lack specificity and generate discordant expression and activity
profiles. Here, we describe a practical bacterial biotransformation
system, ecoAO, addressing both issues simultaneously. ecoAO is a cell
paste of MoCo-producing Escherichia coli strain TP1017 expressing human AO. It exhibits specific activity
toward known substrates, zoniporide, 4-trans-(N,N-dimethylamino)cinnamaldehyde, O6-benzylguanine, and zaleplon; it also has utility as a biocatalyst,
yielding milligram quantities of synthetically challenging metabolite
standards such as 2-oxo-zoniporide. Moreover, ecoAO enables routine
determination of kcat and V/K, which are essential parameters for accurate
in vivo clearance predictions. Furthermore, ecoAO has potential as
a preclinical in vitro screening tool for AO activity, as demonstrated
by its metabolism of 3-aminoquinoline, a previously uncharacterized
substrate. ecoAO promises to provide easy access to metabolites with
the potential to improve pharmacokinetic clearance predictions and
guide drug development.