Engineered enzymes for chemical production

Abstract

In order to enable competitive manufacturing routes, most biocatalysts must be tailor-made for their processes. Enzymes from nature rarely have the combined properties necessary for industrial chemical production such as high activity and selectivity on non-natural substrates and toleration of high concentrations of organic media over the wide range of conditions (decreasing substrate, increasing product concentrations, solvents, etc.,) that will be present over the course of a manufacturing process. With the advances in protein engineering technologies, a variety of enzyme properties can be altered simultaneously, if the appropriate screening parameters are employed. Here we discuss the process of directed evolution for the generation of commercially viable biocatalysts for the production of fine chemicals, and how novel approaches have helped to overcome some of the challenges.

Switch of substrate specificity of hyperthermophilic acylaminoacyl peptidase by combination of protein and solvent engineering

“…Because most substrates with long acyl chain lengths are hydrophobic and sparingly soluble in water, large amounts of organic solvents are usually added to the reaction system to increase substrate solubility and catalytic efficiency (Luetz et al, 2008). Unfortunately, most lipolytic enzymes easily lose their activities at high temperatures or in the presence of high concentrations of organic solvents.…”

Biotransformation of Underutilized Natural Resource to Valuable Compounds in Ionic Liquid: Enzymatic Synthesis of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester Analogues from Immature Coffee Beans

“…Generally, enzymes offer advantages in stereo and regioselectivity for synthesis of biologically active compounds (Luetz et al, 2008). Diminished yields, selectivity, and poor solubility of substrates in the aqueous phase may require that the enzymatic reactions be performed in the non-aqueous phase.…”

Unraveling Binding Effects of Cobalt(II) Sepulchrate with the Monooxygenase P450 BM-3 Heme Domain Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] A class of enzymes that targets these applications is cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, a super family of heme-containing proteins. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In the presence of reduction equivalents, they catalyze the oxidation of substrates 12 involved in biosynthesis and biodegradation pathways, or in xenobiotic metabolism.…”