Effective engineering of a ketoreductase for the biocatalytic synthesis of an ipatasertib precursor.

Semi-rational enzyme engineering is a powerful method to develop industrial biocatalysts. Profiting from advances in molecular biology and bioinformatics, semi-rational approaches can effectively accelerate enzyme engineering campaigns. Here, we present the optimization of a ketoreductase from Sporidiobolus salmonicolor for the chemo-enzymatic synthesis of ipatasertib, a potent protein kinase B inhibitor. Harnessing the power of mutational scanning and structure-guided rational design, we created a 10-amino acid substituted variant exhibiting a 64-fold higher apparent kcat and improved robustness under process conditions compared to the wild-type enzyme. In addition, the benefit of algorithm-aided enzyme engineering was studied to derive correlations in protein sequence-function data, and it was found that the applied Gaussian processes allowed us to reduce enzyme library size. The final scalable and high performing biocatalytic process yielded the alcohol intermediate with ≥ 98% conversion and a diastereomeric excess of 99.7% (R,R-trans) from 100 g L-1 ketone after 30 h. Modelling and kinetic studies shed light on the mechanistic factors governing the improved reaction outcome, with mutations T134V, A238K, M242W and Q245S exerting the most beneficial effect on reduction activity towards the target ketone.

Screening methods for enzyme-mediated alcohol oxidation.

Alcohol oxidation for the generation of carbonyl groups, is an essential reaction for the preparation of fine chemicals. Although a number of chemical procedures have been reported, biocatalysis is a promising alternative for more sustainable and selective processes. To speed up the discovery of novel (bio)catalysts for industrial applications, efficient screening approaches need to be established. Here, we report on an enzyme-mediated alcohol oxidation screening platform to rapidly detect the activities and selectivities of three classes of biocatalysts; ketoreductases (KREDs), alcohol oxidases (AlcOXs) and laccase-mediator systems (LMSs) with diverse substrates.

Asymmetric Biocatalytic Synthesis of 1-Aryltetrahydro-ß-carbolines Enabled by "Substrate Walking".

Stereoselective catalysts for the Pictet-Spengler reaction of tryptamines and aldehydes may allow a simple and fast approach to chiral 1-substituted tetrahydro-ß-carbolines. Although biocatalysts have previously been employed for the Pictet-Spengler reaction, not a single one accepts benzaldehyde and its substituted derivatives. To address this challenge, a combination of substrate walking and transfer of beneficial mutations between different wild-type backbones was used to develop a strictosidine synthase from Rauvolfia serpentina (RsSTR) into a suitable enzyme for the asymmetric Pictet-Spengler condensation of tryptamine and benzaldehyde derivatives. The double variant RsSTR V176L/V208A accepted various ortho-, meta- and para-substituted benzaldehydes and produced the corresponding chiral 1-aryl-tetrahydro-ß-carbolines with up to 99 % enantiomeric excess.

Extended Catalytic Scope of a Well-Known Enzyme: Asymmetric Reduction of Iminium Substrates by Glucose Dehydrogenase.

NADP(H)-dependent imine reductases (IREDs) are of interest in biocatalytic research due to their ability to generate chiral amines from imine/iminium substrates. In reaction protocols involving IREDs, glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) is generally used to regenerate the expensive cofactor NADPH by oxidation of d-glucose to gluconolactone. We have characterized different IREDs with regard to reduction of a set of bicyclic iminium compounds and have utilized 1 H NMR and GC analyses to determine degree of substrate conversion and product enantiomeric excess (ee). All IREDs reduced the tested iminium compounds to the corresponding chiral amines. Blank experiments without IREDs also showed substrate conversion, however, thus suggesting an iminium reductase activity of GDH. This unexpected observation was confirmed by additional experiments with GDHs of different origin. The reduction of C=N bonds with good levels of conversion (>50 %) and excellent enantioselectivity (up to >99 % ee) by GDH represents a promiscuous catalytic activity of this enzyme.

Expanding the Imine Reductase Toolbox by Exploring the Bacterial Protein-Sequence Space.

Recent investigations on imine reductases (IREDs) have enriched the toolbox of potential catalysts for accessing chiral amines, which are important building blocks for the pharmaceutical industry. Herein, we describe the characterization of 20 new IREDs. A C-terminal domain clustering of the bacterial protein-sequence space was performed to identify the novel IRED candidates. Each of the identified enzymes was characterized against a set of nine cyclic imine model substrates. A refined clustering towards putative active-site residues was performed and was consistent both with our screening and previously reported results. Finally, preparative scale experiments on a 100 mg scale with two purified IREDs, IR_20 from Streptomyces tsukubaensis and IR_23 from Streptomyces vidiochromogenes, were carried out to provide (R)-2-methylpiperidine in 98% ee (71% yield) and (R)-1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline in >98% ee (82% yield).

Thiol-functionalization of acrylic ester monomers catalyzed by immobilized Humicola insolens cutinase.

Immobilized cutinase HiC from the ascomycete Humicola insolens was applied as a novel biocatalyst for the synthesis of functionalized acryclic esters by transesterification. As a model reaction, transesterification of methyl acrylate with 6-mercapto-1-hexanol at a high molar ratio in a solvent free system was chosen. Besides two minor Michael-addition by-products, 6-mercaptohexyl acrylic ester was identified as the main product with the thiol as the functional end group. Reaction conditions were optimized regarding the influence of water (0-1.72 M), temperature (22-50 °C), product inhibition and addition of the radical inhibitor butylated hydroxytoluol (BHT; 0.14-0.71 M) on conversion and by-product formation. Highest conversion of 6-mercapto-1-hexanol to 6-mercaptohexyl acrylic ester (95.4 ± 0.3%) was achieved after 6h at 40 °C in the presence of 0.025% (w/w) water without formation of by-products in a solvent free system. Applying methyl methacrylate, transesterification with 6-mercapto-1-hexanol was significantly lower (43.6 ± 0.1%) compared to transesterification of methyl acrylate with 6-mercapto-1-hexanol.