23048-75-1

The myosin cross-reactive antigen (MCRA) protein family is highly conserved among different bacterial species ranging from Gram-positive to Gram-negative bacteria. Besides their ubiquitous occurrence, knowledge about the biochemical and physiological function of MCRA proteins is scarce. Here, we show that MCRA protein from Streptococcus pyogenes M49 is a FAD enzyme, which acts as hydratase on (9Z)- and (12Z)-double bonds of C-16, C-18 non-esterified fatty acids. Products are 10-hydroxy and 10,13-dihydroxy fatty acids. Kinetic analysis suggests that FAD rather stabilizes the active conformation of the enzyme and is not directly involved in catalysis. Analysis of S. pyogenes M49 grown in the presence of either oleic or linoleic acid showed that 10-hydroxy and 10,13-dihydroxy derivatives were the only products. No further metabolism of these hydroxy fatty acids was detected. Deletion of the hydratase gene caused a 2-fold decrease in minimum inhibitory concentration against oleic acid but increased survival of the mutant strain in whole blood. Adherence and internalization properties to human keratinocytes were reduced in comparison with the wild type. Based on these results, we conclude that the previously identified MCRA protein can be classified as a FAD-containing double bond hydratase, within the carbon-oxygen lyase family, that plays a role in virulence of at least S. pyogenes M49.

Recently, the enzyme family of oleate hydratases (OHs: EC 4.2.1.53) has gained increasing scientific and economic interest, as these FAD-binding bacterial enzymes do not require cofactor recycling and possess high thermal and pH stability. Their products, hydroxy fatty acids, are used in specialty chemical applications including surfactant and lubricant formulations. The “oleate hydratase engineering database”, established by Schmid et al. (2017), divides all OHs into 11 families (HFam1 to 11). To date, only two crystal structures of homodimeric OHs from the families HFam2 and HFam11 have been reported. In this study, we biophysically characterized an OH belonging to the HFam3 family, originating from the marine bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis, for the first time. The crystal structure revealed that this new OH (OhyRe) surprisingly is a monomer in its active form. This particular feature provides new avenues for enzyme engineering and recycling through immobilization.

Enzymatic conversion of fatty acids (FAs) by fatty acid hydratases (FAHs) presents a green and efficient route for high-value hydroxy fatty acid (HFA) production. However, limited diversity was achieved among HFAs, to date, with respect to chain length and hydroxy position. In this study, two highly similar FAHs from Lactobacillus acidophilus were compared: FA-HY2 has a narrow substrate scope and strict regioselectivity, whereas FA-HY1 utilizes longer chain substrates and hydrates various double-bond positions. It is revealed that three active-site residues play a remarkable role in directing substrate specificity and regioselectivity of hydration. If these residues on FA-HY2 are mutated to the corresponding ones in FA-HY1, a significant expansion of substrate scope and a distinct enhancement in hydration of double bonds towards the ω-end of FAs is observed. A three-residue mutant of FA-HY2 (TM-FA-HY2) displayed an impressive reversal of regioselectivity towards linoleic acid, shifting the ratio of the HFA regioisomers (10-OH/13-OH) from 99:1 to 12:88. Notable changes in regioselectivity were also observed for arachidonic acid and for C18 polyunsaturated fatty acid substrates. In addition, TM-FA-HY2 converted eicosapentaenoic acid into its 12-hydroxy product with high conversion at the preparative scale. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that microalgae are a source of diverse FAs for HFA production. This study paves the way for tailor-made FAH design to enable the production of diverse HFAs for various applications from the polymer industry to medical fields.

The direct hydration of C[dbnd]C bonds to yield alcohols or the reverse dehydration is chemically challenging but highly sought after. Recently, oleate hydratases (OAHs) gained attention as biocatalytic alternatives capable of hydrating isolated, non-activated C[dbnd]C bonds. Their natural reaction is the conversion of oleic acid to (R)-10-hydroxystearic acid. In this work, we report the first comparative study of several OAHs. Therefore we established the Hydratase Engineering Database (HyED) comprising 2046 putative OAHs from eleven homologous families and selected nine homologs for cloning in E. coli. The heterologously expressed enzymes were evaluated concerning activity and substrate specificity. The enzymes have a broad substrate scope ranging from oleic acid (C18) to the novel synthetic substrate (Z)-undec-9-enoic acid (C11). The OAHs from Elizabethkingia meningoseptica and Chryseobacterium gleum showed the best expression, highest stability and broadest substrate scope, making them interesting candidates for directed evolution to engineer them for the application as general hydratase catalysts.

This invention relates to modified hydroxylases. The invention further relates to cells expressing such modified hydroxylases and methods of producing hydroxylated alkanes by contacting a suitable substrate with such cells.

A putative fatty acid hydratase gene from Macrococcus caseolyticus was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant enzyme was a 68 kDa dimer with a molecular mass of 136 kDa. The enzymatic products formed from fatty acid substrates by the putative enzyme were isolated with high purity (>99%) by solvent fractional crystallization at low temperature. After the identification by GC-MS, the purified hydroxy fatty acids were used as standards to quantitatively determine specific activities and kinetic parameters for fatty acids as substrates. Among the fatty acids evaluated, specific activity and catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) were highest for oleic acid, indicating that the putative fatty acid hydratase was an oleate hydratase. Hydration occurred only for cis-9-double and cis-12-double bonds of unsaturated fatty acids without any trans-configurations. The maximum activity for oleate hydration was observed at pH 6.5 and 25 °C with 2% (v/v) ethanol and 0.2 mM FAD. Without FAD, all catalytic activity was abolished. Thus, the oleate hydratase is an FAD-dependent enzyme. The residues G29, G31, S34, E50, and E56, which are conserved in the FAD-binding motif of fatty acid hydratases (GXGXXG(A/S)X(15-21)E(D)), were selected by alignment, and the spectral properties and kinetic parameters of their alanine-substituted variants were analyzed. Among the five variants, G29A, G31A, and E56A showed no interaction with FAD and exhibited no activity. These results indicate that G29, G31, and E56 are essential for FAD-binding.

The first systematic study of the complete cytochrome P450 complement (CYPome) of Sorangium cellulosum So ce56, which is a producer of important secondary metabolites and has the largest bacterial genome sequenced to date, is presented. We describe the bioinformatic analysis of the So ce56 cytochrome P450 complement consisting of 21 putative P450 genes. Because fatty acids play a pivotal role during the complex life cycle of myxobacteria, we focused our studies on the characterization of fatty acid hydroxylases. Three novel potential fatty acid hydroxylases (CYP109D1, CYP264A1, and CYP266A1) were used for detailed characterization. One of them, CYP109D1 was able to perform subterminal hydroxylation of saturated fatty acids with the support of two autologous and one heterologous electron transfer system(s). The kinetic parameters for the product hydroxylation were derived.