Marine Proteobacteria metabolize glycolate via the ß-hydroxyaspartate cycle.

One of the most abundant sources of organic carbon in the ocean is glycolate, the secretion of which by marine phytoplankton results in an estimated annual flux of one petagram of glycolate in marine environments1. Although it is generally accepted that glycolate is oxidized to glyoxylate by marine bacteria2-4, the further fate of this C2 metabolite is not well understood. Here we show that ubiquitous marine Proteobacteria are able to assimilate glyoxylate via the ß-hydroxyaspartate cycle (BHAC) that was originally proposed 56 years ago5. We elucidate the biochemistry of the BHAC and describe the structure of its key enzymes, including a previously unknown primary imine reductase. Overall, the BHAC enables the direct production of oxaloacetate from glyoxylate through only four enzymatic steps, representing-to our knowledge-the most efficient glyoxylate assimilation route described to date. Analysis of marine metagenomes shows that the BHAC is globally distributed and on average 20-fold more abundant than the glycerate pathway, the only other known pathway for net glyoxylate assimilation. In a field study of a phytoplankton bloom, we show that glycolate is present in high nanomolar concentrations and taken up by prokaryotes at rates that allow a full turnover of the glycolate pool within one week. During the bloom, genes that encode BHAC key enzymes are present in up to 1.5% of the bacterial community and actively transcribed, supporting the role of the BHAC in glycolate assimilation and suggesting a previously undescribed trophic interaction between autotrophic phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacterioplankton.

A Modular In†Vitro Platform for the Production of Terpenes and Polyketides from CO2.

A long-term goal in realizing a sustainable biocatalysis and organic synthesis is the direct use of the greenhouse gas CO2 as feedstock for the production of bulk and fine chemicals, such as pharmaceuticals, fragrances and food additives. Here we developed a modular in vitro platform for the continuous conversion of CO2 into complex multi-carbon compounds, such as monoterpenes (C10 ), sesquiterpenes (C15 ) and polyketides. Combining natural and synthetic metabolic pathway modules, we established a route from CO2 into the key intermediates acetyl- and malonyl-CoA, which can be subsequently diversified through the action of different terpene and polyketide synthases. Our proof-of-principle study demonstrates the simultaneous operation of different metabolic modules comprising of up to 29 enzymes in one pot, which paves the way for developing and optimizing synthesis routes for the generation of complex CO2 -based chemicals in the future.

The multicatalytic compartment of propionyl-CoA synthase sequesters a toxic metabolite.

Cells must cope with toxic or reactive intermediates formed during metabolism. One coping strategy is to sequester reactions that produce such intermediates within specialized compartments or tunnels connecting different active sites. Here, we show that propionyl-CoA synthase (PCS), an ∼ 400-kDa homodimer, three-domain fusion protein and the key enzyme of the 3-hydroxypropionate bi-cycle for CO2 fixation, sequesters its reactive intermediate acrylyl-CoA. Structural analysis showed that PCS forms a multicatalytic reaction chamber. Kinetic analysis suggested that access to the reaction chamber and catalysis are synchronized by interdomain communication. The reaction chamber of PCS features three active sites and has a volume of only 33 nm3. As one of the smallest multireaction chambers described in biology, PCS may inspire the engineering of a new class of dynamically regulated nanoreactors.

Oxalyl-CoA Decarboxylase Enables Nucleophilic One-Carbon Extension of Aldehydes to Chiral α-Hydroxy Acids.

The synthesis of complex molecules from simple, renewable carbon units is the goal of a sustainable economy. Here we explored the biocatalytic potential of the thiamine-diphosphate-dependent (ThDP) oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase (OXC)/2-hydroxyacyl-CoA lyase (HACL) superfamily that naturally catalyzes the shortening of acyl-CoA thioester substrates through the release of the C1 -unit formyl-CoA. We show that the OXC/HACL superfamily contains promiscuous members that can be reversed to perform nucleophilic C1 -extensions of various aldehydes to yield the corresponding 2-hydroxyacyl-CoA thioesters. We improved the catalytic properties of Methylorubrum extorquens OXC by rational enzyme engineering and combined it with two newly described enzymes-a specific oxalyl-CoA synthetase and a 2-hydroxyacyl-CoA thioesterase. This enzymatic cascade enabled continuous conversion of oxalate and aromatic aldehydes into valuable (S)-α-hydroxy acids with enantiomeric excess up to 99 %.

InhA, the enoyl-thioester reductase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis forms a covalent adduct during catalysis.

The enoyl-thioester reductase InhA catalyzes an essential step in fatty acid biosynthesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is a key target of antituberculosis drugs to combat multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains. This has prompted intense interest in the mechanism and intermediates of the InhA reaction. Here, using enzyme mutagenesis, NMR, stopped-flow spectroscopy, and LC-MS, we found that the NADH cofactor and the CoA thioester substrate form a covalent adduct during the InhA catalytic cycle. We used the isolated adduct as a molecular probe to directly access the second half-reaction of the catalytic cycle of InhA (i.e. the proton transfer), independently of the first half-reaction (i.e. the initial hydride transfer) and to assign functions to two conserved active-site residues, Tyr-158 and Thr-196. We found that Tyr-158 is required for the stereospecificity of protonation and that Thr-196 is partially involved in hydride transfer and protonation. The natural tendency of InhA to form a covalent C2-ene adduct calls for a careful reconsideration of the enzyme's reaction mechanism. It also provides the basis for the development of effective tools to study, manipulate, and inhibit the catalytic cycle of InhA and related enzymes of the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) superfamily. In summary, our work has uncovered the formation of a covalent adduct during the InhA catalytic cycle and identified critical residues required for catalysis, providing further insights into the InhA reaction mechanism important for the development of antituberculosis drugs.

A Chemo-Enzymatic Road Map to the Synthesis of CoA Esters.

Coenzyme A (CoA) is a ubiquitous cofactor present in every known organism. The thioesters of CoA are core intermediates in many metabolic processes, such as the citric acid cycle, fatty acid biosynthesis and secondary metabolism, including polyketide biosynthesis. Synthesis of CoA-thioesters is vital for the study of CoA-dependent enzymes and pathways, but also as standards for metabolomics studies. In this work we systematically tested five chemo-enzymatic methods for the synthesis of the three most abundant acyl-CoA thioester classes in biology; saturated acyl-CoAs, α,ß-unsaturated acyl-CoAs (i.e., enoyl-CoA derivatives), and α-carboxylated acyl-CoAs (i.e., malonyl-CoA derivatives). Additionally we report on the substrate promiscuity of three newly described acyl-CoA dehydrogenases that allow the simple conversion of acyl-CoAs into enoyl-CoAs. With these five methods, we synthesized 26 different CoA-thioesters with a yield of 40% or higher. The CoA esters produced range from short- to long-chain, include branched and α,ß-unsaturated representatives as well as other functional groups. Based on our results we provide a general guideline to the optimal synthesis method of a given CoA-thioester in respect to its functional group(s) and the commercial availability of the precursor molecule. The proposed synthetic routes can be performed in small scale and do not require special chemical equipment, making them convenient also for biological laboratories.

Exploring alternative pathways for the in vitro establishment of the HOPAC cycle for synthetic CO2 fixation.

Nature has evolved eight different pathways for the capture and conversion of CO2, including the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle of photosynthesis. Yet, these pathways underlie constrains and only represent a fraction of the thousands of theoretically possible solutions. To overcome the limitations of natural evolution, we introduce the HydrOxyPropionyl-CoA/Acrylyl-CoA (HOPAC) cycle, a new-to-nature CO2-fixation pathway that was designed through metabolic retrosynthesis around the reductive carboxylation of acrylyl-CoA, a highly efficient principle of CO2 fixation. We realized the HOPAC cycle in a step-wise fashion and used rational engineering approaches and machine learning-guided workflows to further optimize its output by more than one order of magnitude. Version 4.0 of the HOPAC cycle encompasses 11 enzymes from six different organisms, converting ~3.0 mM CO2 into glycolate within 2 hours. Our work moves the hypothetical HOPAC cycle from a theoretical design into an established in vitro system that forms the basis for different potential applications.

A versatile active learning workflow for optimization of genetic and metabolic networks.

Optimization of biological networks is often limited by wet lab labor and cost, and the lack of convenient computational tools. Here, we describe METIS, a versatile active machine learning workflow with a simple online interface for the data-driven optimization of biological targets with minimal experiments. We demonstrate our workflow for various applications, including cell-free transcription and translation, genetic circuits, and a 27-variable synthetic CO2-fixation cycle (CETCH cycle), improving these systems between one and two orders of magnitude. For the CETCH cycle, we explore 1025 conditions with only 1,000 experiments to yield the most efficient CO2-fixation cascade described to date. Beyond optimization, our workflow also quantifies the relative importance of individual factors to the performance of a system identifying unknown interactions and bottlenecks. Overall, our workflow opens the way for convenient optimization and prototyping of genetic and metabolic networks with customizable adjustments according to user experience, experimental setup, and laboratory facilities.

Light-powered CO2 fixation in a chloroplast mimic with natural and synthetic parts.

Nature integrates complex biosynthetic and energy-converting tasks within compartments such as chloroplasts and mitochondria. Chloroplasts convert light into chemical energy, driving carbon dioxide fixation. We used microfluidics to develop a chloroplast mimic by encapsulating and operating photosynthetic membranes in cell-sized droplets. These droplets can be energized by light to power enzymes or enzyme cascades and analyzed for their catalytic properties in multiplex and real time. We demonstrate how these microdroplets can be programmed and controlled by adjusting internal compositions and by using light as an external trigger. We showcase the capability of our platform by integrating the crotonyl-coenzyme A (CoA)/ethylmalonyl-CoA/hydroxybutyryl-CoA (CETCH) cycle, a synthetic network for carbon dioxide conversion, to create an artificial photosynthetic system that interfaces the natural and the synthetic biological worlds.

Combining Promiscuous Acyl-CoA Oxidase and Enoyl-CoA Carboxylase/Reductases for Atypical Polyketide Extender Unit Biosynthesis.

The incorporation of different extender units generates structural diversity in polyketides. There is significant interest in engineering substrate specificity of polyketide synthases (PKSs) to change their chemical structure. Efforts to change extender unit selectivity are hindered by the lack of simple screening methods and easily available atypical extender units. Here, we present a chemo-biosynthetic strategy that employs biocatalytic proofreading and allows access to a large variety of extender units. First, saturated acids are chemically coupled to free coenzyme A (CoA). The corresponding acyl-CoAs are then converted to alkylmalonyl-CoAs in a "one-pot" reaction through the combined action of an acyl-CoA oxidase and enoyl-CoA carboxylase/reductase. We synthesized six different extender units and used them in in vitro competition screens to investigate active site residues conferring extender unit selectivity. Our results show the importance of an uncharacterized glutamine in extender unit selectivity and open the possibility for comprehensive studies on extender incorporation in PKSs.

Mutasynthesis-derived myxalamids and origin of the isobutyryl-CoA starter unit of myxalamid B.

Myxalamids are potent inhibitors of the eukaryotic electron transport chain produced by different myxobacteria. Here, we describe the identification of the myxalamid biosynthesis gene cluster from Myxococcus xanthus. Additionally, new myxalamids (5-13) have been obtained by mutasynthesis from bkd mutants of M. xanthus and Stigmatella aurantiaca. Moreover, as these bkd mutants are still able to produce myxalamid B (2), the origin of the isobutyryl-CoA (IB-CoA) starter unit required for its biosynthesis has been determined. In a M. xanthus bkd mutant, IB-CoA originates from valine, but in S. aurantiaca this starter unit is derived from alpha-oxidation of iso-odd fatty acids, thereby connecting primary and secondary metabolism.

In Vitro Characterization and Concerted Function of Three Core Enzymes of a Glycyl Radical Enzyme - Associated Bacterial Microcompartment.

Many bacteria encode proteinaceous bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) that encapsulate sequential enzymatic reactions of diverse metabolic pathways. Well-characterized BMCs include carboxysomes for CO2-fixation, and propanediol- and ethanolamine-utilizing microcompartments that contain B12-dependent enzymes. Genes required to form BMCs are typically organized in gene clusters, which promoted their distribution across phyla by horizontal gene transfer. Recently, BMCs associated with glycyl radical enzymes (GREs) were discovered; these are widespread and comprise at least three functionally distinct types. Previously, we predicted one type of these GRE-associated microcompartments (GRMs) represents a B12-independent propanediol-utilizing BMC. Here we functionally and structurally characterize enzymes of the GRM of Rhodopseudomonas palustris BisB18 and demonstrate their concerted function in vitro. The GRM signature enzyme, the GRE, is a dedicated 1,2-propanediol dehydratase with a new type of intramolecular encapsulation peptide. It forms a complex with its activating enzyme and, in conjunction with an aldehyde dehydrogenase, converts 1,2-propanediol to propionyl-CoA. Notably, homologous GRMs are also encoded in pathogenic Escherichia coli strains. Our high-resolution crystal structures of the aldehyde dehydrogenase lead to a revised reaction mechanism. The successful in vitro reconstitution of a part of the GRM metabolism provides insights into the metabolic function and steps in the assembly of this BMC.

A synthetic pathway for the fixation of carbon dioxide in vitro.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important carbon feedstock for a future green economy. This requires the development of efficient strategies for its conversion into multicarbon compounds. We describe a synthetic cycle for the continuous fixation of CO2 in vitro. The crotonyl-coenzyme A (CoA)/ethylmalonyl-CoA/hydroxybutyryl-CoA (CETCH) cycle is a reaction network of 17 enzymes that converts CO2 into organic molecules at a rate of 5 nanomoles of CO2 per minute per milligram of protein. The CETCH cycle was drafted by metabolic retrosynthesis, established with enzymes originating from nine different organisms of all three domains of life, and optimized in several rounds by enzyme engineering and metabolic proofreading. The CETCH cycle adds a seventh, synthetic alternative to the six naturally evolved CO2 fixation pathways, thereby opening the way for in vitro and in vivo applications.

Novel sulfated phosphoglycolipids from Natronomonas moolapensis.

Polar lipid pattern determination is often used for the taxonomic classification of halophilic Archaea in addition to a genomic characterization. During the analysis of polar lipid extracts from the recently described haloarchaeon Natrononomonas moolapensis, an unknown glycolipid was detected. Fragmentation patterns observed from preliminary mass spectrometric analysis initially suggested the presence of a sulfo-hexosyl-phosphatidylglycerol. However, by NMR spectroscopy and enzymatic assays the existence of two isomeric molecules with different hexoses (1-(6-sulfo-d-glcp/galf-ß1,2-glycero)-phospho-2,3-diphytanylglycerol) could be shown. The structural origin from phosphatidylglycerol distinguishes these glycolipids within Archaea, because all other characterized haloarchaeal glycolipids consist of diphytanylglycerol directly linked to an oligoglycosyl moiety. Now the door is open to investigate the physical and functional consequences of these architectural differences of the head groups.