Abstract:Biocatalysis reproduce nature's synthetic strategies in order to synthesize different organic compounds. Natural metabolic pathways usually involve complex networks to support cellular growth and survival. In this regard, multi-enzymatic systems are valuable tools for the production of a wide variety of organic compounds. Methods: The production of different purine nucleosides and nucleoside-5 -monophosphates has been performed for first time, catalyzed by the sequential action of 2 -deoxyribosyltransferase from Lactobacillus delbrueckii (LdNDT) and hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase from Thermus themophilus HB8 (TtHGXPRT). Results: The biochemical characterization of LdNDT reveals that the enzyme is active and stable in a broad range of pH, temperature, and ionic strength. Substrate specificity studies showed a high promiscuity in the recognition of purine analogues. Finally, the enzymatic production of different purine derivatives was performed to evaluate the efficiency of multi-enzymatic system LdNDT/TtHGXPRT. Conclusions: The production of different therapeutic purine nucleosides was efficiently catalyzed by LdNDT/TtHGXPRT. In addition, the resulting by-products were converted to IMP and GMP. Taking all of these features, this bioprocess entails an efficient, sustainable, and economical alternative to chemical synthetic methods.

Traditionally, enzymatic synthesis of nucleoside-5'-monophosphates (5'-NMPs) using low water-soluble purine bases has been described as less efficient due to their low solubility in aqueous media. The use of enzymes from extremophiles, such as thermophiles or alkaliphiles, offers the potential to increase solubilisation of these bases by employing high temperatures or alkaline pH. This study describes the cloning, expression and purification of hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase from Thermus thermophilus (TtHGXPRT). Biochemical characterization indicates TtHGXPRT as a homotetramer with excellent activity and stability across a broad range of temperatures (50-90°C) and ionic strengths (0-500mMNaCl), but it also reveals an unusually high activity and stability under alkaline conditions (pH range 8-11). In order to explore the potential of TtHGXPRT as an industrial biocatalyst, enzymatic production of several dietary 5'-NMPs, such as 5'-GMP and 5'-IMP, was carried out at high concentrations of guanine and hypoxanthine.

Despite the great potential of PRTs as biocatalysts for industrial synthesis of NMPs, several drawbacks must be overcome before reaching a suitable industrial application. In this sense, multi-enzyme systems provide an appropriate framework for this purpose. Moreover, future advances in different disciplines as protein engineering, bioinformatics and -omics will help to reach this goal.

In our search for thermophilic and acid-tolerant nucleoside 2'-deoxyribosyltransferases (NDTs), we found a good candidate in an enzyme encoded by Chroococcidiopsis thermalis PCC 7203 (CtNDT). Biophysical and biochemical characterization revealed CtNDT as a homotetramer endowed with good activity and stability at both high temperatures (50-100 °C) and a wide range of pH values (from 3 to 7). CtNDT recognizes purine bases and their corresponding 2'-deoxynucleosides but is also proficient using cytosine and 2'-deoxycytidine as substrates. These unusual features preclude the strict classification of CtNDT as either a type I or a type II NDT and further suggest that this simple subdivision may need to be updated in the future. Our findings also hint at a possible link between oligomeric state and NDT's substrate specificity. Interestingly from a practical perspective, CtNDT displays high activity (80-100%) in the presence of several water-miscible co-solvents in a proportion of up to 20% and was successfully employed in the enzymatic production of several therapeutic nucleosides such as didanosine, vidarabine, and cytarabine.

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Profiling RNA expression in a cell-specific manner continues to be a grand challenge in biochemical research. Bioorthogonal nucleosides can be utilized to track RNA expression; however, these methods currently have limitations due to background and incorporation of analogs into undesired cells. Herein, we design and demonstrate that uracil phosphoribosyltransferase can be engineered to match 5-vinyluracil for cell-specific metabolic labeling of RNA with exceptional specificity and stringency.

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