Published on Web 05/07/2010
Directed Evolution of an Enantioselective Lipase with Broad
Substrate Scope for Hydrolysis of r-Substituted Esters
Karin Engstro¨m, Jonas Nyhle´n, Anders G. Sandstro¨m, and Jan-E. Ba¨ckvall*
Department of Organic Chemistry, Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm UniVersity,
SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Received January 22, 2010; E-mail: jeb@organ.su.se
Abstract: A variant of Candida antarctica lipase A (CalA) was developed for the hydrolysis of R-substituted
p-nitrophenyl esters by directed evolution. The E values of this variant for 7 different esters was 45-276,
which is a large improvement compared to 2-20 for the wild type. The broad substrate scope of this enzyme
variant is of synthetic use, and hydrolysis of the tested substrates proceeded with an enantiomeric excess
between 95-99%. A 30-fold increase in activity was also observed for most substrates. The developed
enzyme variant shows (R)-selectivity, which is reversed compared to the wild type that is (S)-selective for
most substrates.
Introduction
We have previously demonstrated the advantage of using the
episomally replicating pBGP18 vector in Pichia pastoris for
heterologous expression in directed evolution experiments.9 The
latter technique was used to improve the enantioselectivity of
Candida antarctica lipase A (CalA) toward p-nitrophenyl
2-methylheptanoate. The enzyme variants obtained from this
screening showed a very narrow substrate scope, and we
therefore decided to screen for more interesting analogues such
as 2-arylpropionic acids (profens). In this paper we report on a
triple mutant with a remarkably broad substrate scope10 and
excellent enantioselectivity.
2-Arylpropionic acids are an important class of pharmaceu-
ticals that belong to the so-called “profens”, a group of
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).1 These drugs
are used to treat pain, fever, inflammation, and stiffness, and
examples of substances from this class are Naproxen, Ibuprofen,
and Flurbiprofen.2 Methods for the preparation of enantiomeri-
cally pure “profens” are highly desirable since FDA requires
that most chiral drugs are marketed as single enantiomers today.3
Enzymes are nature’s catalysts working with great efficiency
and selectivity. Unfortunately, the substrate scope of enzymes
is usually quite narrow. However, by applying the tools of
protein engineering, enzymes can be modified to accept un-
natural substrates and to evolve enantioselectivity. Directed
evolution is a strategy which mimics nature’s evolution in the
laboratory.4 This is achieved by performing iterative rounds of
(i) generation of a mutated gene library, (ii) expression of the
library of mutated proteins, and (iii) screening of the mutated
proteins for the desired property. The best protein variant found
in the first round is used as a template in the next round of
mutagenesis. Directed evolution has successfully been used to
improve specific qualities of enzymes.5-7
In the present study the aim was to improve the enantiose-
lectivity of CalA toward the R-substituted esters. CalA not only
shows a modest enantioselectivity toward these substrates (E
values 2-20) but also has a very low activity, and therefore
the enzyme is of limited use in synthetic applications. The first
objective was to improve the activity of the enzyme using
p-nitrophenyl 2-phenylpropanoate (1) as a model substrate.
Successful improvement of the activity of Pseudomonas aerugi-
nosa lipase toward R-methyl substituted carboxylic acids by the
use of combinatorial active-site saturation test (CAST) was
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7038 J. AM. CHEM. SOC. 2010, 132, 7038–7042
10.1021/ja100593j 2010 American Chemical Society