A recyclable biotransformation system for l-2-aminobutyric acid production based on immobilized enzyme technology

Engineering a Novel Acetyl-CoA Pathway for Efficient Biosynthesis of Acetyl-CoA-Derived Compounds

Acetyl-CoA is an essential central metabolite in living organisms and a key precursor for various value-added products as well. However, the intracellular availability of acetyl-CoA limits the efficient production of these target products due to complex and strict regulation. Here, we proposed a new acetyl-CoA pathway, relying on two enzymes, threonine aldolase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (acetylating), which can convert one l-threonine into one acetyl-CoA, one glycine, and generate one NADH, without carbon loss. Introducing the acetyl-CoA pathway could increase the intracellular concentration of acetyl-CoA by 8.6-fold compared with the wild-type strain. To develop a cost-competitive and genetically stable acetyl-CoA platform strain, the new acetyl-CoA pathway, driven by the constitutive strong promoter, was integrated into the chromosome of Escherichia coli. We demonstrated the practical application of this new acetyl-CoA pathway by high titer production of β-alanine, mevalonate, and N-acetylglucosamine. At the same time, this pathway achieved a high-yield production of glycine, a value-added commodity chemical for the synthesis of glyphosate and thiamphenicol. This work shows the potential of this new acetyl-CoA pathway for the industrial production of acetyl-CoA-derived compounds.

Roles of Surfactants in Oriented Immobilization of Cellulase on Nanocarriers and Multiphase Hydrolysis System

Surfactants, especially non-ionic surfactants, play an important role in the preparation of nanocarriers and can also promote the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose. A broad overview of the current status of surfactants on the immobilization of cellulase is provided in this review. In addition, the restricting factors in cellulase immobilization in the complex multiphase hydrolysis system are discussed, including the carrier structure characteristics, solid-solid contact obstacles, external diffusion resistance, limited recycling frequency, and nonproductive combination of enzyme active centers. Furthermore, promising prospects of cellulase-oriented immobilization are proposed, including the hydrophilic-hydrophobic interaction of surfactants and cellulase in the oil-water reaction system, the reversed micelle system of surfactants, and the possible oriented immobilization mechanism.

Cascaded Biocatalysis and Bioelectrocatalysis: Overview and Recent Advances

Enzyme cascades are plentiful in nature, but they also have potential in artificial applications due to the possibility of using the target substrate in biofuel cells, electrosynthesis, and biosensors. Cascade reactions from enzymes or hybrid bioorganic catalyst systems exhibit extended substrate range, reaction depth, and increased overall performance. This review addresses the strategies of cascade biocatalysis and bioelectrocatalysis for ( a) CO2 fixation, ( b) high value-added product formation, ( c) sustainable energy sources via deep oxidation, and ( d) cascaded electrochemical enzymatic biosensors. These recent updates in the field provide fundamental concepts, designs of artificial electrocatalytic oxidation-reduction pathways (using a flexible setup involving organic catalysts and engineered enzymes), and advances in hybrid cascaded sensors for sensitive analyte detection.

Efficient single whole-cell biotransformation for L-2-aminobutyric acid production through engineering of leucine dehydrogenase combined with expression regulation

Leucine dehydrogenase (LDH) is widely used in the preparation of L-2-aminobutyric acid (L-2-ABA), however its wide application is limited by 2-ketobutyric acid (2-OBA) inhibition. Firstly, a novel high-throughput screening method of LDH was established, specific enzyme activity and 2-OBA tolerance of Lys72Ala mutant were 33.3% higher than those of the wild type. Subsequently, we constructed a single cell comprised of ivlA, Esldh_K72A, fdh and optimized expression through fine-tuning RBS intensity, so that the yield of E. coli BL21/pET28a-R3ivlA-Esldh_K72A-fdh was 2.6 times higher than that of the original strain. As a result, 150 g L-threonine was transformed to 121 g L-2-ABA in 5 L fermenter with 95% molar conversion rate, and a productivity of 5.04 g·L^-1·h^-1, which is the highest productivity of L-2-ABA currently reported by single-cell biotransformation. In summary, our research provided a green synthesis for L-2-ABA, which has potential for industrial production of drug precursors.

Enzymatic asymmetric synthesis of chiral amino acids

This review summarizes the progress achieved in the enzymatic asymmetric synthesis of chiral amino acids from prochiral substrates.

Highly stable and reusable immobilized formate dehydrogenases: Promising biocatalysts for in situ regeneration of NADH

This study aimed to prepare robust immobilized formate dehydrogenase (FDH) preparations which can be used as effective biocatalysts along with functional oxidoreductases, in which in situ regeneration of NADH is required. For this purpose, Candida methylica FDH was covalently immobilized onto Immobead 150 support (FDHI150), Immobead 150 support modified with ethylenediamine and then activated with glutaraldehyde (FDHIGLU), and Immobead 150 support functionalized with aldehyde groups (FDHIALD). The highest immobilization yield and activity yield were obtained as 90% and 132%, respectively when Immobead 150 functionalized with aldehyde groups was used as support. The half-life times (t_1/2) of free FDH, FDHI150, FDHIGLU and FDHIALD were calculated as 10.6, 28.9, 22.4 and 38.5 h, respectively at 35 °C. FDHI150, FDHIGLU and FDHIALD retained 69, 38 and 51% of their initial activities, respectively after 10 reuses. The results show that the FDHI150, FDHIGLU and FDHIALD offer feasible potentials for in situ regeneration of NADH.