Biotransformation of steroids by the fission yeastSchizosaccharomyces pombe

Abstract

The fungal biotransformation of steroids is of applied interest due to the economic importance of such stereo‐ and regiospecific reactions and also in the context of ergosterol pathway engineering to produce vitamin D and steroidal products. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe no steroid hydroxylation as is found in filamentous fungi was observed, but a cytosolic NAD(H)/NADP(H)‐dependent hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity was identified. Progesterone was reduced at the Δ4 double bond (in vivo only) as well as at the C‐3 and C‐20 keto groups. Testosterone and 4‐androstene‐3,17‐dione were interconverted and 5α‐pregnane‐3,20‐dione and 5β‐pregnane‐3,20‐dione were reduced to 3‐hydroxy products. The reactions were sometimes reversible and showed regio‐ and stereo specificity. In S. pombe more than one steroid dehydrogenase homologue is likely to occur, as has been observed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our findings indicate that genes encoding soluble proteins should be examined as candidates for actual steroid dehydrogenase activity. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Human 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (AKR1C1)-dependent biotransformation with recombinant fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

“…A weak 20␣-HSD activity was also observed in the parental strain (Fig. 1, bottom) and is probably caused by an endogenous cytosolic NAD(P)H-dependent hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase that had been described previously (Pajic et al, 1999). Interestingly, out of eight further steroid compounds that were tested for biotransformation with JMN8 only dydrogesterone was found to be another AKR1C1 substrate (Fig.…”

5α-Reductase activity in Lycopersicon esculentum: Cloning and functional characterization of LeDET2 and evidence of the presence of two isoenzymes

“…17␤-HSD is well known and characterized in mammals, in which a family of twelve enzymes essential in the biosynthesis of estrogens and androgens as well as in the modulation of hormone action have been described [26,27]. 17␤-HSD was also found in bacteria [28], yeasts [29,30] and fungi [31,32]. The endogenous substrate/s and the role of plant 17␤-HSD are exciting issues that could deserve further elucidation.…”

Engineering Mycobacterium smegmatis for testosterone production

“…On the other hand, enzymatic reduction of AD to TS by 17b-HSD has also been described in different microorganisms , including bacteria (Schultz et al, 1977;Payne and Talalay, 1985;Sarmah et al, 1989;Liu et al, 1994;Egorova et al, 2002aEgorova et al, ,b, 2005, yeasts (Ward and Young, 1990;Singer et al, 1991;Długo nski and Wilma nska, 1998;Pajic et al, 1999), filamentous fungi (Kristan and Ri zner, 2012) and plants (Hamada and Kawabe, 1991). Moreover, a singlestep microbial transformation process has been reported for the production of TS from sterols using several Mycobacterium sp.…”