Artificial Biocatalysis: Quo Vadis?

Astonishing progress has been achieved in unlocking new-to-nature biocatalysis in the past decades. The progress in protein engineering enabled research to efficiently incorporate artificial structural elements into enzyme design. Recent trends include cofactor mimetics, artificial metalloenzymes and non-canonical amino acids. In this...

Novel oleate hydratases and potential biotechnological applications

Oleate hydratase catalyses the addition of water to the CC double bond of oleic acid to produce (R)-10-hydroxystearic acid. The enzyme requires an FAD cofactor that functions to optimise the active site structure. A wide range of unsaturated fatty acids can be hydrated at the C10 and in some cases the C13 position. The substrate scope can be...

Catalytic performance of a class III Old yellow enzyme and its cysteine variants

Class III old yellow enzymes (OYEs) contain a conserved cysteine in their active sites. To address the role of this cysteine in OYE-mediated asymmetric synthesis, we have studied the biocatalytic properties of OYERo2a from Rhodococcus opacus 1CP (WT) as well as its engineered variants C25A, C25S and C25G. OYERo2a in its redox resting state ...