Engineering of two thiamine diphosphate-dependent enzymes for the regioselective condensation of C1-formaldehyde into C4-erythrulose

Jun Hong Kim, Huijin Cheon, Hye Jin Jo, Ji Won Kim, Ga Young Kim, Hye Rim Seo, Pil Won Seo, Jeong Sun Kim, Jin Byung Park

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

A number of carboligases, which catalyze condensation of C1- and/or C2-aldehydes into multi-carbon products, have been reported. However, their catalytic activities and/or regioselectivities remained rather low. Thereby, this study has focused on engineering of C1 and C2 carboligases for the regioselective condensation of C1-formaldehyde into C4-erythrulose via C2-glycolaldehyde. The crystal structure of the glyoxylate carboligase from Escherichia coli (EcGCL) was elucidated in complex with glycolaldehyde. A structure-guided rationale generated several mutants, one of whose catalytic activity reached 15.6 M−1·s−1, almost 10 times greater than the wild-type enzyme. Another variant (i.e., EcGCL_R484M/N283Q/L478M/M488L/R284K) has shown significantly increased stability to the glycolaldehyde toxicity, enabling production of glycolaldehyde to 31 mM from 75 mM formaldehyde (conversion: 83 %). Besides, the E1 subunit of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex from Vibrio vulnificus (VvSucA) was engineered as a regiospecific C2 carboligase for condensation of glycolaldehyde into erythrulose. The combination of EcGCL_R484M/N283Q/L478M/M488L/R284K and VvSucA_K228L led to the cascade production of erythrulose to 8 mM from 90 mM formaldehyde via glycolaldehyde without byproduct formation. This study will contribute to valorization of C1 gases into industrially relevant multi-carbon products in an environment-friendly way.

Original languageEnglish
Article number127674
JournalInternational Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Volume253
DOIs
StatePublished - 31 Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • C2-glycolaldehyde
  • C4-erythrulose
  • Glyoxylate carboligase
  • Regioselective condensation of C1-formaldehyde
  • α-Ketoglutarate dehydrogenase

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