Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
Keywords
- Peroxygenase (27)
- Cytochrome P450 (8)
- Peroxidase (7)
- Hydroxylation (5)
- Agrocybe aegerita (4)
- Oxygenation (3)
- P450 (3)
- hydroxylation (3)
- unspecific peroxygenase (3)
- Ascorbic acid (2)
Institute
Cell-Free Protein Synthesis with Fungal Lysates for the Rapid Production of Unspecific Peroxygenases
(2022)
Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs, EC 1.11.2.1) are fungal biocatalysts that have attracted considerable interest for application in chemical syntheses due to their ability to selectively incorporate peroxide-oxygen into non-activated hydrocarbons. However, the number of available and characterized UPOs is limited, as it is difficult to produce these enzymes in homologous or hetero-logous expression systems. In the present study, we introduce a third approach for the expression of UPOs: cell-free protein synthesis using lysates from filamentous fungi. Biomass of Neurospora crassa and Aspergillus niger, respectively, was lysed by French press and tested for translational activity with a luciferase reporter enzyme. The upo1 gene from Cyclocybe (Agrocybe) aegerita (encoding the main peroxygenase, AaeUPO) was cell-free expressed with both lysates, reaching activities of up to 105 U L−1 within 24 h (measured with veratryl alcohol as substrate). The cell-free expressed enzyme (cfAaeUPO) was successfully tested in a substrate screening that included prototypical UPO substrates, as well as several pharmaceuticals. The determined activities and catalytic performance were comparable to that of the wild-type enzyme (wtAaeUPO). The results presented here suggest that cell-free expression could become a valuable tool to gain easier access to the immense pool of putative UPO genes and to expand the spectrum of these sought-after biocatalysts.
Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs), whose sequences can be found in the genomes of thousands of filamentous fungi, many yeasts and certain fungus-like protists, are fascinating biocatalysts that transfer peroxide-borne oxygen (from H2O2 or R-OOH) with high efficiency to a wide range of organic substrates, including less or unactivated carbons and heteroatoms. A twice-proline-flanked cysteine (PCP motif) typically ligates the heme that forms the heart of the active site of UPOs and enables various types of relevant oxygenation reactions (hydroxylation, epoxidation, subsequent dealkylations, deacylation, or aromatization) together with less specific one-electron oxidations (e.g., phenoxy radical formation). In consequence, the substrate portfolio of a UPO enzyme always combines prototypical monooxygenase and peroxidase activities. Here, we briefly review nearly 20 years of peroxygenase research, considering basic mechanistic, molecular, phylogenetic, and biotechnological aspects.
Terminal alkenes are among the most attractive starting materials for the synthesis of epoxides, which are essential and versatile intermediate building blocks for the pharmaceutical, flavoring, and polymer industries. Previous research on alkene epoxidation has focused on the use of several oxidizing agents and/or different enzymes, including cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, as well as microbial whole-cell catalysts that have several drawbacks. Alternatively, we explored the ability of unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) to selectively epoxidize terminal alkenes. UPOs are attractive biocatalysts because they are robust extracellular enzymes and only require H2O2 as cosubstrate. Here, we show how several UPOs, such as those from Cyclocybe (Agrocybe) aegerita (AaeUPO), Marasmius rotula (MroUPO), Coprinopsis cinerea (rCciUPO), Humicola insolens (rHinUPO), and Daldinia caldariorum (rDcaUPO), are able to catalyze the epoxidation of long-chain terminal alkenes (from C12:1 to C20:1) after an initial optimization of several reaction parameters (cosolvent, cosubstrate, and pH). In addition to terminal epoxides, alkenols and other hydroxylated derivatives of the alkenes were formed. Although all UPOs were able to convert and epoxidize the alkenes, notable differences were observed between them, with rCciUPO being responsible for the highest substrate turnover and MroUPO being the most selective with respect to terminal epoxidation. The potential of peroxygenases for epoxidizing long-chain terminal alkenes represents an interesting and green alternative to the existing synthesis technologies.
Aromatic peroxygenases (APOs) represent a unique oxidoreductase sub-subclass of heme proteins with peroxygenase and peroxidase activity and were thus recently assigned a distinct EC classification (EC 1.11.2.1). They catalyze, inter alia, oxyfunctionalization reactions of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons with remarkable regio- and stereoselectivities. When compared with cytochrome P450, APOs appear to be the choice enzymes for oxyfunctionalizations in organic synthesis due to their independence from a cellular environment and their greater chemical versatility. Here, the first two crystal structures of a heavily glycosylated fungal aromatic peroxygenase (AaeAPO) are described. They reveal different pH-dependent ligand binding modes. We model the fitting of various substrates in AaeAPO, illustrating the way the enzyme oxygenates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Spatial restrictions by a phenylalanine pentad in the active-site environment govern substrate specificity in AaeAPO.
This work gives first evidence that the unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) from the basidiomycetes Agrocybe aegerita (AaeUPO), Coprinopsis cinerea (rCciUPO) and Marasmius rotula (MroUPO) are able to catalyze the regioselective hydroxylation of trans-stilbene to 4,4′-dihydroxy-trans-stilbene (DHS), a resveratrol (RSV) analogue whose preventive effects on cancer invasion and metastasis have very recently been shown. Nearly complete transformation of substrate (yielding DHS) was achieved with the three enzymes tested, using H2O2 as the only co-substrate, with AaeUPO showing exceptionally higher total turnover number (200 000) than MroUPO (26 000) and rCciUPO (1400). Kinetic studies demonstrated that AaeUPO was the most efficient enzyme catalyzing stilbene dihydroxylation with catalytic efficiencies (kcat/Km) one and two orders of magnitude higher than those of MroUPO and rCciUPO, so that 4-hydroxystilbene appears to be the best UPO substrate reported to date. In contrast, the peroxygenase from the ascomycete Chaetomium globosum (CglUPO) failed to hydroxylate trans-stilbene at the aromatic ring and instead produced the trans-epoxide in the alkenyl moiety. In addition, stilbenoids such as pinosylvin (Pin) and RSV were tested as substrates for the enzymatic synthesis of RSV from Pin and oxyresveratrol (oxyRSV) from both RSV and Pin. Overall, lower conversion rates and regioselectivities compared with trans-stilbene were accomplished by three of the UPOs, and no conversion was observed with CglUPO. The highest amount of RSV (63% of products) and oxyRSV (78%) were again attained with AaeUPO. True peroxygenase activity was demonstrated by incorporation of 18O from H218O2 into the stilbene hydroxylation products. Differences in the number of phenylalanine residues at the heme access channels seems related to differences in aromatic hydroxylation activity, since they would facilitate substrate positioning by aromatic-aromatic interactions. The only ascomycete UPO tested (that of C. globosum) turned out to have the most differing active site (distal side of heme cavity) and reactivity with stilbenes resulting in ethenyl epoxidation instead of aromatic hydroxylation. The above oxyfunctionalizations by fungal UPOs represent a novel and simple alternative to chemical synthesis for the production of DHS, RSV and oxyRSV.