The development of effective strategies for modulating the reactivity and selectivity of cytochrome P450 enzymes represents a key step toward expediting the use of these biocatalysts for synthetic applications. In this work, we investigated the potential of unnatural amino acid mutagenesis to aid efforts in this direction. To this end, four unnatural amino acids comprising a diverse set of aromatic side-chain groups were incorporated into eleven active site positions of a substrate-promiscuous CYP102A1 variant. The resulting ‘uP450s’ were then tested for their catalytic activity and regioselectivity in the oxidation of two representative substrates consisting of a small-molecule drug and a natural product. Large shifts in regioselectivity were obtained as a result of these single mutations and, in particular, via para-acetyl-Phe substitutions at positions in close proximity to the heme cofactor. Notably, screening of this mini library of uP450s enabled the rapid identification of P450 catalysts for the selective hydroxylation of four aliphatic positions in the target substrates, including a C(sp3)—H site not oxidized by the parent enzyme. Furthermore, our studies led to the discovery of a general activity-enhancing effect of active site substitutions involving the unnatural amino acid para-amino-Phe, resulting in P450 catalysts capable of supporting the highest total turnover number reported to date on a complex molecule (34,650 turnovers). The functional changes induced by the unnatural amino acids could not be recapitulated by any of the twenty natural amino acids. This study thus demonstrates that unnatural amino acid mutagenesis constitutes a promising, new strategy for improving the catalytic activity and regioselectivity of P450 oxidation catalysts.
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