Production of Salvianic Acid A from l-DOPA via Biocatalytic Cascade Reactions.

Salvianic acid A (SAA), as the main bioactive component of the traditional Chinese herb , has important application value in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, a two-step bioprocess for the preparation of SAA from l-DOPA was developed. In the first step, l-DOPA was transformed to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DHPPA) using engineered cells expressing membrane-bound L-amino acid deaminase from After that, the unpurified DHPPA was directly converted into SAA by permeabilized recombinant cells co-expressing d-lactate dehydrogenase from and formate dehydrogenase from N10. Under optimized conditions, 48.3 mM of SAA could be prepared from 50 mM of l-DOPA, with a yield of 96.6%. Therefore, the bioprocess developed here was not only environmentally friendly, but also exhibited excellent production efficiency and, thus, is promising for industrial SAA production.