This review describes the most recent developments in the biotechnological applications of penicillin acylases. This group of enzymes is involved mainly in the industrial production of 6-aminopenicillanic acid and the synthesis of semisynthetic beta-lactam antibiotics. In addition, penicillin acylases can also be employed in other useful biotransformations, such as peptide synthesis and the resolution of racemic mixtures of chiral compounds. Particular emphasis is placed on advances in detection of new enzyme specificities towards other natural penicillins, enzyme immobilization, and optimization of enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis and synthesis in the presence of organic solvents.

A novel type II nucleoside 2-deoxyribosyltransferase from Lactobacillus reuteri (LrNDT) has been cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant LrNDT has been structural and functionally characterized. Sedimentation equilibrium analysis revealed a homohexameric molecule of 114 kDa. Circular dichroism studies have showed a secondary structure containing 55% ␣-helix, 10% ␤-strand, 16% ␤-sheet, and 19% random coil. LrNDT was thermostable with a melting temperature (T m ) of 64°C determined by fluorescence, circular dichroism, and differential scanning calorimetric studies. The enzyme showed high activity in a broad pH range (4.6 to 7.9) and was also very stable between pH 4 and 7.9. The optimal temperature for activity was 40°C. The recombinant LrNDT was able to synthesize natural and nonnatural nucleoside analogues, improving activities described in the literature, and remarkably, exhibited unexpected new arabinosyltransferase activity, which had not been described so far in this kind of enzyme. Furthermore, synthesis of new arabinonucleosides and 2-fluorodeoxyribonucleosides was carried out.Nucleoside 2Ј-deoxyribosyltransferases (NDTs) (EC 2.4.2.6) catalyze the exchange between the purine or pyrimidine base of 2Ј-deoxyribonucleosides and free pyrimidine or purine bases (10, 25). These enzymes are specific for 2Ј-deoxyribonucleosides, regioselective (N-1 glycosylation in pyrimidine and N-9 in purine), and stereoselective (␤-anomers are exclusively formed) (26) (Fig. 1).Deoxyribosyltransferases are classified into two classes depending on their substrate specificity: type I (NDT I), specific for purines (Pur 7 Pur), and type II (NDT II), which catalyzes the transfer between purines and/or pyrimidines (Pur 7 Pur, Pur 7 Pyr, Pyr 7 Pyr) (10, 25). These enzymes were initially described for lactobacilli (27,28), and they are involved in the nucleoside salvage pathway for DNA synthesis (23), although this remains unclear in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (36). NDTs have been also found in some species of Streptococcus (11), in parasitic unicellular eukaryotic organisms such as Crithidia luciliae (49, 50), in Trypanosoma brucei (6), and in Borrelia burgdorferi (33). NDTs from Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus leichmannii have been well studied (2,25,26,28,29), and their kinetic mechanisms as well as their catalytic and substrate binding sites have been characterized. The transferase reaction proceeds via a ping-pong bi-bi mechanism by formation of a covalent deoxyribosyl enzyme intermediate (3,15,16). Likewise, a glutamyl residue (Glu98) has been proven essential for activity (40,41,46). Enzymatic natural and nonnatural nucleoside synthesis in a one-pot reaction by NDTs provides an interesting alternative to traditional multistep chemical methods (13,34). Indeed, chemical glycosylation includes several protection-deprotection steps and the use of chemical reagents and organic solvents that are expensive and environmentally harmful. Whereas previously described NDTs accept different nucleosides fr...

Nucleoside 2'-deoxyribosyltransferase (NDT) from the psychrophilic bacterium Bacillus psychrosaccharolyticus CECT 4074 has been cloned and produced for the first time. A preliminary characterization of the recombinant protein indicates that the enzyme is an NDT type II since it catalyzes the transfer of 2'-deoxyribose between purines and pyrimidines. The enzyme (BpNDT) displays a high activity and stability in a broad range of pH and temperature. In addition, different approaches for the immobilization of BpNDT onto several supports have been studied in order to prepare a suitable biocatalyst for the one-step industrial enzymatic synthesis of different therapeutic nucleosides. Best results were obtained by adsorbing the enzyme on PEI-functionalized agarose and subsequent cross-linking with aldehyde-dextran (20 kDa and 70% oxidation degree). The immobilized OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2014, 19 11232 enzyme could be recycled for at least 30 consecutive cycles in the synthesis of 2'-deoxyadenosine from 2'-deoxyuridine and adenine at 37 °C and pH 8.0, with a 25% loss of activity. High conversion yield of trifluridine (64.4%) was achieved in 2 h when 20 mM of 2'-deoxyuridine and 10 mM 5-trifluorothymine were employed in the transglycosylation reaction catalyzed by immobilized BpNDT at 37 °C and pH 7.5.

Endoglucanase III (EG III) was purified to homogeneity from the culture medium of Trichoderma reesei QM 9414. It has a molecular mass of 48 kDa, and an isoelectric point of 5.1. Maximal activity was observed between pH4 and 5. Celloligosaccharides and their chromophoric derivatives were used as substrates, and the reaction products were analysed by quantitative h.p.l.c. Nucleophilic competition experiments (between methanol and water) allowed unequivocal assessment of cleavage sites. EG III preferentially released cellobiose (or the corresponding glycoside) from the reducing end of the higher cellodextrins. A putative binding model containing five subsites is proposed. The pH-dependence of 4'-methylumbelliferyl beta-cellotrioside hydrolysis indicates the presence of a protonated group with a pK 5.5 in the reaction mechanism, and the possible involvement of a carboxy group is corroborated by a temperature study (delta Hion = -15.9 J/mol). This, together with independent evidence from affinity-labelling experiments [Tomme, Macarrón and Claeyssens (1991) Cellulose '91, New Orleans, Abstr. 32] and n.m.r. studies [Gebbler, Gilkes, Claeyssens, Wilson, Béguin, Wakarchuk, Kilburn, Miller, Warren and Withers (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 12559-12561], favours the assumption of a lysozyme-type (retention of configuration, two essential carboxy groups) mechanism for this family A cellulase.

Many Gram-negative bacteria produce N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs), quorum sensing (QS) molecules that can be enzymatically inactivated by quorum quenching (QQ) processes; this approach is considered an emerging antimicrobial alternative. In this study, kinetic parameters of several AHLs hydrolyzed by penicillin acylase from Streptomyces lavendulae (SlPA) and aculeacin A acylase from Actinoplanes utahensis (AuAAC) have been determined. Both enzymes catalyze efficiently the amide bond hydrolysis in AHLs with different acyl chain moieties (with or without 3-oxo modification) and exhibit a clear preference for AHLs with long acyl chains (C12-HSL > C14-HSL > C10-HSL > C8-HSL for SlPA, whereas C14-HSL > C12-HSL > C10-HSL > C8-HSL for AuAAC). Involvement of SlPA and AuAAC in QQ processes was demonstrated by Chromobacterium violaceum CV026-based bioassays and inhibition of biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a process controlled by QS molecules, suggesting the application of these multifunctional enzymes as quorum quenching agents, this being the first time that quorum quenching activity was shown by an aculeacin A acylase. In addition, a phylogenetic study suggests that SlPA and AuAAC could be part of a new family of actinomycete acylases, with a preference for substrates with long aliphatic acyl chains, and likely involved in QQ processes.

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Aculeacin A acylase from Actinoplanes utahensis produced by Streptomyces lividans revealed acylase activities that are able to hydrolyze penicillin V and several natural aliphatic penicillins. Penicillin K was the best substrate, showing a catalytic efficiency of 34.79 mM ؊1 s ؊1 . Furthermore, aculeacin A acylase was highly thermostable, with a midpoint transition temperature of 81.5°C.

bThe pva gene from Streptomyces lavendulae ATCC 13664, encoding a novel penicillin V acylase (SlPVA), has been isolated and characterized. The gene encodes an inactive precursor protein containing a secretion signal peptide that is activated by two internal autoproteolytic cleavages that release a 25-amino-acid linker peptide and two large domains of 18.79 kDa (␣-subunit) and 60.09 kDa (␤-subunit). Based on sequence alignments and the three-dimensional model of SlPVA, the enzyme contains a hydrophobic pocket involved in catalytic activity, including Ser␤1, His␤23, Val␤70, and Asn␤272, which were confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis studies. The heterologous expression of pva in S. lividans led to the production of an extracellularly homogeneous heterodimeric enzyme at a 5-fold higher concentration (959 IU/liter) than in the original host and in a considerably shorter time. According to the catalytic properties of SlPVA, the enzyme must be classified as a new member of the Ntn-hydrolase superfamily, which belongs to a novel subfamily of acylases that recognize substrates with long hydrophobic acyl chains and have biotechnological applications in semisynthetic antifungal production. P enicillin acylase (PA; penicillin amidohydrolase; EC 3.5.1.11) catalyzes the hydrolysis of penicillins into 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) and the corresponding organic acid. The classification of PAs is based on their substrate specificity, i.e., penicillin G acylases (PGA) or penicillin V acylases (PVA), that preferentially cleave phenylacetyl penicillin (penicillin G [PG]) or phenoxymethyl penicillin (penicillin V [PV]), respectively (1, 2). The relevance of these enzymes lies in the fact that semisynthetic penicillins currently are industrially produced by the enzymatic hydrolysis of PG or PV.PVA is widely distributed among several microorganisms, being intra-and extracellularly produced (2-6). PVA from Streptomyces lavendulae ATCC 13664 (SlPVA) is an extracellular enzyme which has been exhaustively characterized (7-10) and immobilized (11, 12) due to its ability to hydrolyze very efficiently PV and other natural aliphatic penicillins that contaminate PV and usually reduce 6-APA yield at the end of the process. The broad substrate specificity of SlPVA allows this enzyme to hydrolyze several penicillins with aliphatic acyl chains, e.g., 3-hexenoyl-penicillin (penicillin F [PF]), hexanoyl-penicillin (penicillin dihydro-F [PdF]), and octanoyl-penicillin (penicillin K [PK]), as the catalytic constant for PK was even higher than that for PV (13). These observations indicate SlPVA is an effective industrial enzyme, provided that it can be obtained in large amounts.Here, we describe the heterologous overproduction of SlPVA in Streptomyces lividans and the characterization of its catalytic residues by site-directed mutagenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials.Penicillin V (potassium salt), penicillin G (potassium salt), phenoxyacetic acid, phenylacetic acid, aculeacin A, and fluorescamine were from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO). 6-AP...