Jennifer Ann Littlechild

2-Phosphoglycerate kinase (2PGK) and cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate synthase (cDPGS) are key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (cDPG), an extremolyte known to stabilize proteins in hyperthermophilic Archaea. Using bioinformatics approaches, two candidate genes for each enzyme were identified from a range of thermophilic bacterial and archaeal genomes and metagenomes. Significantly, one gene pair derived from the Taman mud volcano metagenome represents the first indication of a bacterial cDPG biosynthesis pathway. The recombinant expression and purification of these enzymes paved the way to their biochemical and structural characterization. One 2PGK candidate displayed predominant ATPase activity, while the newly identified cDPGS variants demonstrated cDPG synthase activity. Moreover, one of the latter biocatalysts, Ts-cDPGS from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus sibiricus, demonstrated a notable thermostability and its 3D structure was resolved at a resolution of 2.2 Å. These findings broaden our understanding of extremophilic enzyme systems and lay the foundation for biotechnological applications involving extremolyte production.

The trematode liver fluke Fasciola hepatica causes the neglected tropical disease fascioliasis in humans and is associated with significant losses in agricultural industry due to reduced animal productivity. Triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) is a glycolytic enzyme that has been researched as a drug target for various parasites, including F. hepatica. The high-resolution crystal structure of F. hepatica TPI (FhTPI) has been solved at 1.51 Å resolution in its monoclinic form. The structure has been used to perform molecular-docking studies with the most successful fasciolocide triclabendazole (TCBZ), which has recently been suggested to target FhTPI. Two FhTPI residues, Lys50 and Asp51, are located at the dimer interface and are found in close proximity to the docked TCBZ. These residues are not conserved in mammalian hosts.

A ( S )-selective amine transaminase from a Streptomyces strain, Sbv333-ATA, is a biocatalyst showing both high thermostability with a melting temperature of 85 °C and broad substrate specificity for the amino acceptor. This enzyme was further characterized both biochemically and structurally. The Sbv333-ATA is stable in the presence of up to 20% ( v / v ) of the water-miscible cosolvents methanol, ethanol, acetonitrile, and dimethyl sulfoxide, and in biphasic systems with petroleum ether, toluene, and ethyl acetate as an organic phase. The enzyme showed also a good activity toward different amino donors, such as ( S )-methylbenzylamine and 2-phenylethylamine, aliphatic mono- and di-amines, like propylamine and cadaverine, and selected amino acids. However, more sterically hindered aromatic amines were not accepted. Based on the knowledge of the three-dimensional structures obtained, a rational approach to site specific mutagenesis was carried out to broaden the substrate specificity of Sbv333-ATA. The mutant W89A showed the highest activity toward bulky amines as substrates, such as the diaromatic compound 1,2-diphenylethylamine. The 3D structures of the holo and inhibitor gabaculine bound forms of native Sbv333-ATA, and holo W89A and F61C mutants were determined at high resolutions of 1.49, 1.24, and 1.31 (both mutants) Å, respectively. These structures were important for revealing further details of the active site binding pockets of the Sbv333-ATA and its mechanism. Key points: • Sbv333-ATA is a highly thermostable transaminase with a broad substrate scope. • Sbv333-ATA remains active in various organic cosolvents and biphasic systems. • Mutant W89A expands substrate range to accept bulky diaromatic amines. Graphical

Vanadium haloperoxidases have been studied to understand their mechanism and halide specificity. Crystal structures of vanadium bromoperoxidase enzyme complexes from Corallina piluifera, with vanadate and bromide and with phosphate and chloride, show significant displacement of loop residues 336–338 upon halogen binding. This shows a “closed position” of Leu337 locking the bromide ion in a hydrophobic environment favoring the vanadium peroxide reaction with the halogen by retaining the resulting hypobromite in the enzyme active site. The bound cofactor exists as a mixture of free vanadate and histidine553‐vanadate adduct. A mutant enzyme Arg397Trp also has been crystallized with bound phosphate and its structure determined with and without the bound bromide ion. The precise positions of the bromine have been determined using its anomalous signal. The bromide binding site in the mutant enzyme is displaced by 2.5 Å resulting in a mixed population of the “open” and the “closed” forms of Leu337. This allows additional chloroperoxidase activity due to re‐positioning of the halogen ion 0.6 Å closer to the vanadate ion. These studies support the application of vanadium haloperoxidase enzymes for selective halogenation of important drug molecules.

The enzyme cyclic di-phosphoglycerate synthetase that is involved in the production of the osmolyte cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate has been studied both biochemically and structurally. Cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate is found exclusively in the hyperthermophilic archaeal methanogens, such as Methanothermus fervidus, Methanopyrus kandleri, and Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus. Its presence increases the thermostability of archaeal proteins and protects the DNA against oxidative damage caused by hydroxyl radicals. The cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate synthetase enzyme has been crystallized and its structure solved to 1.7 Å resolution by experimental phasing. It has also been crystallized in complex with its substrate 2,3 diphosphoglycerate and the co-factor ADP and this structure has been solved to 2.2 Å resolution. The enzyme structure has two domains, the core domain shares some structural similarity with other NTP-dependent enzymes. A significant proportion of the structure, including a 127 amino acid N-terminal domain, has no structural similarity to other known enzyme structures. The structure of the complex shows a large conformational change that occurs in the enzyme during catalytic turnover. The reaction involves the transfer of the γ-phosphate group from ATP to the substrate 2,3 -diphosphoglycerate and the subsequent S_N2 attack to form a phosphoanhydride. This results in the production of the unusual extremolyte cyclic 2,3 -diphosphoglycerate which has important industrial applications.

Editorial: Systems biocatalysis for bioprocess design

A branched chain aminotransferase from Thermoproteus tenax has been identified, cloned, over-expressed and biochemically characterised. A molecular modelling approach has been used to predict the 3D structure allowing its comparison with other related enzymes. This enzyme has high similarity to a previously characterised aminotransferase from Thermoproteus uzoniensis however its substrate specificity shows key differences towards the substrate α-ketoglutarate. Examination of the active sites of the two related enzymes reveals a single amino acid substitution of a glycine residue to a serine residue which could be responsible for this difference. When Gly104 in T. tenax was mutated to a serine residue and the resultant enzyme characterised, this single amino acid change resulted in a dramatic reduction in activity towards α-ketoglutarate with an 18-fold reduction in Vmax and a 20-fold Km increase, resulting in a 370-fold lower catalytic efficiency. Structural comparisons between the two related Thermoproteus enzymes and another branched chain aminotransferase from Geoglobus acetivorans has revealed that the serine residue affects the flexibility of a key loop involved in catalysis. This subtle difference has provided further insight into our understanding of the substrate specificity of these industrially important enzymes.

The biosynthesis of metabolites from available starting materials is becoming an ever important area due to the increasing demands within the life science research area. Access to metabolites is making essential contributions to analytical, diagnostic, therapeutic and different industrial applications. These molecules can be synthesized by the enzymes of biological systems under sustainable process conditions. The facile synthetic access to the metabolite and metabolite-like molecular space is of fundamental importance. The increasing knowledge within molecular biology, enzyme discovery and production together with their biochemical and structural properties offers excellent opportunities for using modular cell-free biocatalytic systems. This reduces the complexity of synthesizing metabolites using biological whole-cell approaches or by classical chemical synthesis. A systems biocatalysis approach can provide a wealth of optimized enzymes for the biosynthesis of already identified and new metabolite molecules.

In their Editorial for the Special Issue on Biocatalysis as Key to Sustainable Industrial Chemistry, Guest Editors Andrés Alcántara, Pablo Domínguez de María, Jennifer Littlechild, and Roland Wohlgemuth and their co‐workers on the European Society of Applied Biocatalysis’ (ESAB) Working Group on Sustainable Chemistry Martin Schürmann and Roger Sheldon discuss the Special Issue and the importance of biocatalysis in carrying out cutting‐edge industrial chemistry in a sustainable way, as well as the future prospects for the field.

Osmolytes protect microbial cells against temperature, osmolarity and other stresses. The osmolyte cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, originally isolated from the thermophilic archaeon Methanothermus fervidus, naturally protects cellular proteins under extreme conditions. The biosynthetic pathway for cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate has been introduced into the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus. The two enzymes in this synthetic pathway, 2-phosphoglycerate kinase and cyclic diphosphoglycerate synthetase, were incorporated into a newly designed modular BioBricks vector. The expression of this two-enzyme cascade resulted in the whole cell production of cyclic 2,3 diphosphoglycerate. In vivo production of cyclic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate was confirmed by mass spectrometry to a concentration up to 650 µM. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using this well studied thermophilic bacterium as a host in a whole-cell factory approach to produce cyclic 2,3 diphosphoglycerate. This raises the potential for commercialisation of cDPG for cosmetic and healthcare applications. Our work demonstrates the application of Thermus thermophilus as an alternative host for other high value small organic molecules of industrial interest.