PCR-based amplification and heterologous expression of Pseudomonas alcohol dehydrogenase genes from the soil metagenome for biocatalysis.

The amplification of useful genes from metagenomes offers great biotechnological potential. We employed this approach to isolate alcohol dehydrogenase (adh) genes from Pseudomonas to aid in the synthesis of optically pure alcohols from various ketones. A PCR primer combination synthesized by reference to the adh sequences of known Pseudomonas genes was used to amplify full-length adh genes directly from 17 samples of DNA extracted from soil.

Development of an improved phenylacetaldehyde reductase mutant by an efficient selection procedure.

Chiral alcohols are valuable as diverse chemicals and synthetic intermediate materials. Phenylacetaldehyde reductase (PAR) is an enzyme that converts a wide variety of ketones into chiral alcohols with high optical purity. When an alcohol such as 2-propanol is used as a hydrogen donor, PAR itself will also mediate the regeneration of the coenzyme NADH in situ.

Efficient synthesis of optically pure alcohols by asymmetric hydrogen-transfer biocatalysis: application of engineered enzymes in a 2-propanol-water medium.

We describe an efficient method for producing both enantiomers of chiral alcohols by asymmetric hydrogen-transfer bioreduction of ketones in a 2-propanol (IPA)-water medium with E. coli biocatalysts expressing phenylacetaldehyde reductase (PAR: wild-type and mutant enzymes) from Rhodococcus sp. ST-10 and alcohol dehydrogenase from Leifsonia sp.

Gene cloning and characterization of dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase from Microbacterium luteolum: A useful enzymatic regeneration system of NAD+ from NADH.

Dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (LPD), a useful biocatalyst for regenerating NAD(+), was purified from Microbacterium luteolum JCM 9174, and the gene encoding LPD was cloned from the genomic DNA. The gene contained an opening reading frame consisting of 1395 nucleotides encoding 465 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 49912.1 Da, which displayed 36-78% homology to known LPDs.

A knowledge-based structure-discriminating function that requires only main-chain atom coordinates.

Background: The use of knowledge-based potential function is a powerful method for protein structure evaluation. A variety of formulations that evaluate single or multiple structural features of proteins have been developed and studied. The performance of functions is often evaluated by discrimination ability using decoy structures of target proteins.

Engineering the phenylacetaldehyde reductase mutant for improved substrate conversion in the presence of concentrated 2-propanol.

Phenylacetaldehyde reductase (PAR) from Rhodococcus sp. ST-10 is useful for chiral alcohol production because of its broad substrate specificity and high stereoselectivity. The conversion of ketones into alcohols by PAR requires the coenzyme NADH.

Continuous production of chiral 1,3-butanediol using immobilized biocatalysts in a packed bed reactor: promising biocatalysis method with an asymmetric hydrogen-transfer bioreduction.

An asymmetric hydrogen-transfer biocatalyst consisting of mutated Rhodococcus phenylacetaldehyde reductase (PAR) or Leifsonia alcohol dehydrogenase (LSADH) was applied for some water-soluble ketone substrates. Among them, 4-hydroxy-2-butanone was reduced to (S)/(R)-1,3-butanediol, a useful intermediate for pharmaceuticals, with a high yield and stereoselectivity. Intact Escherichia coli cells overexpressing mutated PAR (Sar268) or LSADH were directly immobilized with polyethyleneimine or 1,6-diaminehexane and glutaraldehyde and evaluated in a batch reaction.

Gene cloning and expression of Leifsonia alcohol dehydrogenase (LSADH) involved in asymmetric hydrogen-transfer bioreduction to produce (R)-form chiral alcohols.

The gene encoding Leifsonia alcohol dehydrogenase (LSADH), a useful biocatalyst for producing (R)-chiral alcohols, was cloned from the genomic DNA of Leifsonia sp. S749. The gene contained an opening reading frame consisting of 756 nucleotides corresponding to 251 amino acid residues.

Engineering of phenylacetaldehyde reductase for efficient substrate conversion in concentrated 2-propanol.

Phenylacetaldehyde reductase (PAR) is suitable for the conversion of various aryl ketones and 2-alkanones to corresponding chiral alcohols. 2-Propanol acts as a substrate solvent and hydrogen donor of coupled cofactor regeneration during the conversion of substrates catalyzed by PAR. To improve the conversion efficiency in high concentrations of substrate and 2-propanol, selection of a PAR mutant library and the subsequent rearrangement of mutations were attempted.

Purification and characterization of a novel alcohol dehydrogenase from Leifsonia sp. strain S749: a promising biocatalyst for an asymmetric hydrogen transfer bioreduction.

To find microorganisms that could reduce phenyl trifluoromethyl ketone (PTK) to (S)-1-phenyltrifluoroethanol [(S)-PTE], styrene-assimilating bacteria (ca. 900 strains) isolated from soil samples were screened. We found that Leifsonia sp.

Can an arbitrary sequence evolve towards acquiring a biological function?

To explore the possibility that an arbitrary sequence can evolve towards acquiring functional role when fused with other pre-existing protein modules, we replaced the D2 domain of the fd-tet phage genome with the soluble random polypeptide RP3-42. The replacement yielded an fd-RP defective phage that is six-order magnitude lower infectivity than the wild-type fd-tet phage. The evolvability of RP3-42 was investigated through iterative mutation and selection.