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ABSTRACT: Tyrosine ammonia-lyase (TAL) is a recently described member of the aromatic amino acid lyase family, which also includes phenylalanine (PAL) and histidine ammonia-lyases (HAL). TAL is highly selective for L-tyrosine, and synthesizes 4-coumaric acid as a protein cofactor or antibiotic precursor in microorganisms. In this report, we identify a single active site residue important for substrate selection in this enzyme family. Replacing the active site residue His89 with Phe in TAL completely switched its substrate selectivity from tyrosine to phenylalanine, thereby converting it into a highly active PAL. When a corresponding mutation was made in PAL, the enzyme lost PAL activity and gained TAL activity. The discovered substrate selectivity switch is a rare example of a complete alteration of substrate specificity by a single point mutation. We also show that the identity of the amino acid at the switch position can serve as a guide to predict substrate specificities of annotated aromatic amino acid lyases in genome sequences.
Chemistry & Biology 01/2007; 13(12):1317-26. · 5.83 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Phenylpropanoids are the precursors to a range of important plant metabolites such as the cell wall constituent lignin and the secondary metabolites belonging to the flavonoid/stilbene class of compounds. The latter class of plant natural products has been shown to function in a wide range of biological activities. During the last few years an increasing number of health benefits have been associated with these compounds. In particular, they demonstrate potent antioxidant activity and the ability to selectively inhibit certain tyrosine kinases. Biosynthesis of many medicinally important plant secondary metabolites, including stilbenes, is frequently not very well understood and under tight spatial and temporal control, limiting their availability from plant sources. As an alternative, we sought to develop an approach for the biosynthesis of diverse stilbenes by engineered recombinant microbial cells.
A pathway for stilbene biosynthesis was constructed in Escherichia coli with 4-coumaroyl CoA ligase 1 4CL1) from Arabidopsis thaliana and stilbene synthase (STS) cloned from Arachis hypogaea. E. coli cultures expressing these enzymes together converted the phenylpropionic acid precursor 4-coumaric acid, added to the growth medium, to the stilbene resveratrol (>100 mg/L). Caffeic acid, added in the same way, resulted in the production of the expected dihydroxylated stilbene, piceatannol (>10 mg/L). Ferulic acid, however, was not converted to the expected stilbene product, isorhapontigenin. Substitution of 4CL1 with a homologous enzyme, 4CL4, with a preference for ferulic acid over 4-coumaric acid, had no effect on the conversion of ferulic acid. Accumulation of tri- and tetraketide lactones from ferulic acid, regardless of the CoA-ligase expressed in E. coli, suggests that STS cannot properly accommodate and fold the tetraketide intermediate to the corresponding stilbene structure.
Phenylpropionic acids, such as 4-coumaric acid and caffeic acid, can be efficiently converted to stilbene compounds by recombinant E. coli cells expressing plant biosynthetic genes. Optimization of precursor conversion and cyclization of the bulky ferulic acid precursor by host metabolic engineering and protein engineering may afford the synthesis of even more structurally diverse stilbene compounds.
BMC Biotechnology 01/2006; 6:22. · 2.35 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Microorganisms and plants synthesize a tremendous diversity of chemical compounds. For centuries, these compounds have been used as medicines, foods and other useful materials. The still largely unexplored structural and chemical diversity of natural products is unmatched by synthetic methodology and continues to be the most successful source for the discovery of novel scaffolds with important biological activities. Thus, exploiting the selectivity and specificity of the biosynthetic machineries that make these complex compounds can provide ways of synthesizing diverse natural products or their core scaffolds for further synthetic modification. Microbial cells can be fitted with new biosynthetic abilities using metabolic and genetic engineering strategies to overproduce desired compounds. Efforts in genome sequencing give access to an incredible number of genes from microorganisms and, more recently, from plants that can be in silico screened for new biosynthetic functions allowing tapping into the synthetic potential of microorganisms, and especially plants. In addition, by exploiting natural biodiversity by using traditional screening methods or metagenomics approaches, novel biosynthetic pathways and genes can be discovered for the synthesis of additional structures in engineered microbial cells. In this review, we will describe some of the recent developments in natural product biosynthesis, and also describe some of the emerging approaches to harness the chemical diversity that lies hidden in nature.
Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis 05/2005; 347(7‐8):927 - 940. · 6.05 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Directed evolution of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP, C15) synthase (IspA) of Escherichia coli was carried out by error-prone PCR with a color complementation screen utilizing C40 carotenoid pathway enzymes. This allowed IspA mutants with enhanced production of the C40 carotenoid precursor geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP, C20) to be readily identified. Analysis of these mutants was carried out in order to better understand the mechanisms of product chain length specificity in this enzyme. The 12 evolved clones having enhanced C20 GGPP production have characteristic mutations in the conserved regions of prenyl diphosphate synthases (designated regions I through VII). Some of these mutations (I76T, Y79S, Y79H, C75Y, H83Y, and H83Q) are found near or before the conserved first aspartate rich motif (FARM), which is involved in the mechanism for chain elongation reaction of all prenyl synthases. Molecular modeling suggested a mechanism for chain length determination for these mutations including substitutions at the 1st and 9th amino acids upstream of the FARM that have not been reported previously. In addition, a mutation on a helix adjacent to the FARM within the substrate-binding pocket (D115G) suggests a novel mechanism for chain length determination. One mutant IspA clone carries a mutation of C155G at the 2nd amino acid upstream of conserved region IV (GQxxDL), which was recently found to be an important region controlling the chain elongation of a Type III GGPP synthase. One IspA clone carries mutations (T234A and T249I) near the conserved second aspartate rich motif (SARM). As a verification of the in vivo activity of the mutant clones (represented as C40 carotenoid formation), we confirmed the product distribution of wild-type and mutant IspA using an in vitro assay.
Metabolic Engineering 02/2005; 7(1):18-26. · 5.61 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Directed evolution of the C25 farnesylgeranyl diphosphate synthase of Aeropyrum pernix (Fgs) was carried out by error-prone PCR with an in vivo color complementation screen utilizing carotenoid biosynthetic pathway enzymes. Screening yielded 12 evolved clones with C20 geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase activity which were isolated and characterized in order to understand better the chain elongation mechanism of this enzyme. Analysis of these mutants revealed three different mechanisms of product chain length specificity. Two mutants (A64T and A64V) have a single mutation at the 8th amino acid upstream of a conserved first aspartate-rich motif (FARM), which is involved in the mechanism for chain elongation reaction of all prenyl diphosphate synthases. One mutant (A135T) carries a single mutation at the 7th amino acid upstream of another conserved region (141GQ142), which was recently found to be another important region controlling chain elongation of a type III C20 geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase and Escherichia coli C15 farnesyl diphosphate synthase. Finally, one mutant carrying four mutations (V84I, H88R, I177 M and M191V) is of interest. Molecular modeling, site-directed mutagenesis and in vitro assays of this mutant suggest that product chain-length distribution can be also controlled by a structural change provoked by a cooperative interaction of amino acids.
Protein Engineering Design and Selection 12/2004; 17(11):771-7. · 2.94 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Flavonoids are important plant-specific secondary metabolites synthesized from 4-coumaroyl coenzyme A (CoA), derived from the general phenylpropanoid pathway, and three malonyl-CoAs. The synthesis involves a plant type III polyketide synthase, chalcone synthase. We report the cloning and coexpression in Escherichia coli of phenylalanine ammonia lyase, cinnamate-4-hydroxylase, 4-coumarate:CoA ligase, and chalcone synthase from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Simultaneous expression of all four genes resulted in a blockage after the first enzymatic step caused by the presence of nonfunctional cinnamate-4-hydroxylase. To overcome this problem we fed exogenous 4-coumaric acid to induced cultures. We observed high-level production of the flavanone naringenin as a result. We were also able to produce phloretin by feeding cultures with 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid. Feeding with ferulic or caffeic acid did not yield the corresponding flavanones. We have also cloned and partially characterized a new tyrosine ammonia lyase from Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Tyrosine ammonia lyase was substituted for phenylalanine ammonia lyase and cinnamate-4-hydroxylase in our E. coli clones and three different growth media were tested. After 48 h induction, high-level production (20.8 mg L(-1)) of naringenin in metabolically engineered E. coli was observed for the first time.
ChemBioChem 05/2004; 5(4):500-7. · 3.94 Impact Factor
