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Catching the structure of cytochrome P450 enzymes in flagrante is crucial for the development of P450 biocatalysts, as most structures collected are found trapped in a precatalytic conformation. At the heart of P450 catalysis lies Cpd I, a short-lived, highly reactive intermediate, whose recalcitrant nature has thwarted most attempts at capturing catalytically relevant poses of P450s. We report the crystal structure of P450BM3 mimicking the state in the precise moment preceding epoxidation, which is in perfect agreement with the experimentally observed stereoselectivity. This structure was attained by incorporation of the stable Cpd I mimic oxomolybdenum mesoporphyrin IX into P450BM3 in the presence of styrene. The orientation of styrene to the Mo-oxo species in the crystal structures sheds light onto the dynamics involved in the rotation of styrene to present its vinyl group to Cpd I. This method serves as a powerful tool for predicting and modelling the stereoselectivity of P450 reactions., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Using artificial hemes for the reconstruction of natural heme proteins represents a fascinating approach to enhance the bioactivity of the latter. We report the synthesis of various metal 5-oxaporphyrinium cations as cofactors, and a cobalt 5-oxaporphyrinium cation was successfully incorporated into the heme-acquisition protein (HasA) secreted by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We hypothesize that the oxaporphyrinium cation strongly binds to the HasA-specific outer membrane receptor (HasR) due to its cationic charge, which prevents the subsequent acquisition of heme. In fact, the reconstructed HasA inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and even of multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

We report an OmpF loop deletion mutant, which improves the cellular uptake of external additives into an Escherichia coli whole-cell biocatalyst. Through co-expression of the OmpF mutant with wild-type P450BM3 in the presence of decoy molecules, the yield of the whole-cell biotransformation of benzene could be considerably improved. Notably, with the decoy molecule C7AM-Pip-Phe the yield duodecupled from 5.7 % to 70 %, with 80 % phenol selectivity. The benzylic hydroxylation of alkyl- and cycloalkylbenzenes was also examined, and with the aid of decoy molecules, propylbenzene and tetralin were converted to 1-hydroxylated products with 78 % yield and 94 % (R) ee for propylbenzene and 92 % yield and 94 % (S) ee for tetralin. Our results suggest that both the decoy molecule and substrate traverse the artificial OmpF channel, synergistically boosting whole-cell bioconversions., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Despite CYP102A1 (P450BM3) representing one of the most extensively researched metalloenzymes, crystallisation of its haem domain upon modification can be a challenge. Crystal structures are indispensable for the efficient structure-based design of P450BM3 as a biocatalyst. The abietane diterpenoid derivative N-abietoyl-l-tryptophan (AbiATrp) is an outstanding crystallisation accelerator for the wild-type P450BM3 haem domain, with visible crystals forming within 2 hours and diffracting to a near-atomic resolution of 1.22 Å. Using these crystals as seeds in a cross-microseeding approach, an assortment of P450BM3 haem domain crystal structures, containing previously uncrystallisable decoy molecules and diverse artificial metalloporphyrins binding various ligand molecules, as well as heavily tagged haem-domain variants, could be determined. Some of the structures reported herein could be used as models of different stages of the P450BM3 catalytic cycle., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

An Escherichia coli whole-cell biocatalyst for the direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol has been developed. By adding amino acid derivatives as decoy molecules to the culture medium, wild-type cytochrome P450BM3 (P450BM3) expressed in E.coli can be activated and non-native substrates hydroxylated, without supplementing with NADPH. The yield of phenol reached 59 % when N-heptyl-l-prolyl-l-phenylalanine (C7-Pro-Phe) was employed as the decoy molecule. It was shown that decoy molecules, especially those lacking fluorination, reached the cytosol of E. coli, thus imparting in vivo catalytic activity for the oxyfunctionalisation of non-native substrates to intracellular P450BM3., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

We report a unique strategy for the development of a H 2 O 2 -dependent cytochrome P450BM3 system, which catalyzes the monooxygenation of non-native substrates with the assistance of dual-functional small molecules (DFSMs), such as N-(ω-imidazolyl fatty acyl)-l-amino acids. The acyl amino acid group of DFSM is responsible for bounding to enzyme as an anchoring group, while the imidazolyl group plays the role of general acid-base catalyst in the activation of H 2 O 2 . This system affords the best peroxygenase activity for the epoxidation of styrene, sulfoxidation of thioanisole, and hydroxylation of ethylbenzene among those P450-H 2 O 2 system previously reported. This work provides the first example of the activation of the normally H 2 O 2 -inert P450s through the introduction of an exogenous small molecule. This approach improves the potential use of P450s in organic synthesis as it avoids the expensive consumption of the reduced nicotinamide cofactor NAD(P)H and its dependent electron transport system. This introduces a promising approach for exploiting enzyme activity and function based on direct chemical intervention in the catalytic process., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Iron(III)-5,15-diphenylporphyrin and several derivatives were accommodated by HasA, a heme acquisition protein secreted by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, despite possessing bulky substituents at the meso position of the porphyrin. Crystal structure analysis revealed that the two phenyl groups at the meso positions of porphyrin extend outside HasA. It was shown that the growth of P. aeruginosa was inhibited in the presence of HasA coordinating the synthetic porphyrins under iron-limiting conditions, and that the structure of the synthetic porphyrins greatly affects the inhibition efficiency., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The selective hydroxylation of benzene to phenol, without the formation of side products resulting from overoxidation, is catalyzed by cytochrome P450BM3 with the assistance of amino acid derivatives as decoy molecules. The catalytic turnover rate and the total turnover number reached 259 min -1  P450BM3 -1 and 40 200 P450BM3 -1 when N-heptyl-l-proline modified with l-phenylalanine (C7-l-Pro-l-Phe) was used as the decoy molecule. This work shows that amino acid derivatives with a totally different structure from fatty acids can be used as decoy molecules for aromatic hydroxylation by wild-type P450BM3. This method for non-native substrate hydroxylation by wild-type P450BM3 has the potential to expand the utility of P450BM3 for biotransformations., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The heme acquisition system A protein secreted by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (HasA(p)) can capture several synthetic metal complexes other than heme. The crystal structures of HasA(p) harboring synthetic metal complexes revealed only small perturbation of the overall HasA(p) structure. An inhibitory effect upon heme acquisition by HasA(p) bearing synthetic metal complexes was examined by monitoring the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. HasA(p) bound to iron-phthalocyanine inhibits heme acquisition in the presence of heme-bound HasA(p) as an iron source., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)