Structure-Guided Triple-Code Saturation Mutagenesis: Efficient Tuning of the Stereoselectivity of an Epoxide Hydrolase

Abstract Background Epoxide hydrolase can regioselectively catalyze the oxirane ring-opening hydrolysis of rac-epoxides producing the corresponding chiral diols. In our laboratory, a gene named pveh1 encoding an EH from Phaseolus vulgaris was cloned. Although the directed modification of PvEH1 was carried out, the mutant PvEH1Y3 showed a limited degree of enantioconvergence towards racemic (rac-) m-chlorostyrene oxide (mCSO). Results PvEH1 and PvEH1Y3 were combinatively subjected to laboratory evolution to further enhance the enantioconvergence of PvEH1Y3 towards rac-mCSO. Firstly, the substrate-binding pocket of PvEH1 was identified using a CAVER 3.0 software, and divided into three zones. After all residues in zones 1 and 3 were subjected to leucine scanning, two E. coli transformants, E. coli/pveh1Y149L and /pveh1P184L, were selected, by which rac-mCSO was transformed into (R)-m-chlorophenyl-1,2-ethanediol (mCPED) having 55.1% and 27.2% eep. Secondly, two saturation mutagenesis libraries, E. coli/pveh1Y149X and /pveh1P184X (X: any one of 20 residues) were created at sites Y149 and P184 of PvEH1. Among all transformants, both E. coli/pveh1Y149L (65.8% αS and 55.1% eep) and /pveh1P184W (66.6% αS and 59.8% eep) possessed the highest enantioconvergences. Finally, the combinatorial mutagenesis was conducted by replacements of both Y149L and P184W in PvEH1Y3, constructing E. coli/pveh1Y3Z2, whose αS reached 97.5%, higher than that (75.3%) of E. coli/pveh1Y3. In addition, the enantioconvergent hydrolysis of 20 mM rac-mCSO was performed by E. coli/pveh1Y3Z2, giving (R)-mCPED with 95.2% eep and 97.2% yield. Conclusions In summary, the enantioconvergence of PvEH1Y3Z2 was successfully improved by laboratory evolution, which was based on the study of substrate-binding pocket by leucine scanning. Our present work introduced an effective strategy for the directed modification of enantioconvergence of PvEH1.

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Protein Engineering of Epoxide Hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 for Enhanced Activity and Enantioselective Production of (R)-1-Phenylethane-1,2-Diol

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.71.7.3995-4003.2005 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 71 (7) ◽

pp. 3995-4003 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

Lingyun Rui ◽

Li Cao ◽

Wilfred Chen ◽

Kenneth F. Reardon ◽

Thomas K. Wood

Keyword(s):

Active Site ◽

Epoxide Hydrolase ◽

Styrene Oxide ◽

Saturation Mutagenesis ◽

Dna Shuffling ◽

Wild Type ◽

Wild Type Enzyme ◽

Agrobacterium Radiobacter ◽

Enantiomeric Ratio ◽

Enhanced Activity

ABSTRACT DNA shuffling and saturation mutagenesis of positions F108, L190, I219, D235, and C248 were used to generate variants of the epoxide hydrolase of Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 (EchA) with enhanced enantioselectivity and activity for styrene oxide and enhanced activity for 1,2-epoxyhexane and epoxypropane. EchA variant I219F has more than fivefold-enhanced enantioselectivity toward racemic styrene oxide, with the enantiomeric ratio value (E value) for the production of (R)-1-phenylethane-1,2-diol increased from 17 for the wild-type enzyme to 91, as well as twofold-improved activity for the production of (R)-1-phenylethane-1,2-diol (1.96 ± 0.09 versus 1.04 ± 0.07 μmol/min/mg for wild-type EchA). Computer modeling indicated that this mutation significantly alters (R)-styrene oxide binding in the active site. Another three variants from EchA active-site engineering, F108L/C248I, I219L/C248I, and F108L/I219L/C248I, also exhibited improved enantioselectivity toward racemic styrene oxide in favor of production of the corresponding diol in the (R) configuration (twofold enhancement in their E values). Variant F108L/I219L/C248I also demonstrated 10-fold- and 2-fold-increased activity on 5 mM epoxypropane (24 ± 2 versus 2.4 ± 0.3 μmol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme) and 5 mM 1,2-epoxyhexane (5.2 ± 0.5 versus 2.6 ± 0.0 μmol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme). Both variants L190F (isolated from a DNA shuffling library) and L190Y (created from subsequent saturation mutagenesis) showed significantly enhanced activity for racemic styrene oxide hydrolysis, with 4.8-fold (8.6 ± 0.3 versus 1.8 ± 0.2 μmol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme) and 2.7-fold (4.8 ± 0.8 versus 1.8 ± 0.2 μmol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme) improvements, respectively. L190Y also hydrolyzed 1,2-epoxyhexane 2.5 times faster than the wild-type enzyme.

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