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Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are ancient and ubiquitous protein cofactors and play irreplaceable roles in many metabolic and regulatory processes. Fe-S clusters are built and distributed to Fe-S enzymes by dedicated protein networks. The core components of these networks are widely conserved and highly versatile. However, Fe-S proteins and enzymes are often inactive outside their native host species. We sought to systematically investigate the compatibility of Fe-S networks with non-native Fe-S enzymes. By using collections of Fe-S enzyme orthologs representative of the entire range of prokaryotic diversity, we uncovered a striking correlation between phylogenetic distance and probability of functional expression. Moreover, coexpression of a heterologous Fe-S biogenesis pathway increases the phylogenetic range of orthologs that can be supported by the foreign host. We also find that Fe-S enzymes that require specific electron carrier proteins are rarely functionally expressed unless their taxon-specific reducing partners are identified and co-expressed. We demonstrate how these principles can be applied to improve the activity of a radical S-adenosyl methionine(rSAM) enzyme from a Streptomyces antibiotic biosynthesis pathway in Escherichia coli. Our results clarify how oxygen sensitivity and incompatibilities with foreign Fe-S and electron transfer networks each impede heterologous activity. In particular, identifying compatible electron transfer proteins and heterologous Fe-S biogenesis pathways may prove essential for engineering functional Fe-S enzyme-dependent pathways.

9 p.-8 fig.-2 tab., Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) are fungal secreted counterparts of the cytochrome P450 monooxygenases present in most living cells. Both enzyme types share the ability to perform selective oxygenation reactions. Moreover, the Marasmius rotula UPO (MroUPO) catalyzes reactions of interest compared with the previously described UPOs, including formation of reactive epoxy fatty acids. To investigate substrate epoxidation, the most frequent positions of oleic acid at the MroUPO heme channel were predicted using binding and molecular dynamics simulations. Then, mutations in neighbor residues were designed aiming at modulating the enzyme epoxidation vs hydroxylation ratio. Both the native (wild-type recombinant) MroUPO and the mutated variants were expressed in Escherichia coli as active enzymes, and their action on oleic and other fatty acids was investigated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in combination with kinetic analyses. Interestingly, a small modification of the channel shape in the I153T variant increased the ratio between epoxidized oleic acid and its additionally hydroxylated derivatives. A fully opposite effect was attained with the double I153F/S156F variant that completely abolished the ability of the MroUPO to epoxidize oleic acid (while no activity was detected for the I153V variant). The rationale for these results was revealed by the substrate positioning in the above computational simulations, which predict a shorter distance between the oleic acid double bond and the oxygen atom of the peroxide-activated heme (compound I) in the I153T variant than in the native enzyme, promoting epoxidation. In contrast, the I153F/S156F double mutation fully prevents the approach of oleic acid in the bent conformation required for double-bond epoxidation, although its (sub)terminal hydroxylation was predicted and experimentally confirmed. The I153T mutation also increased the UPO selectivity on polyunsaturated fatty acid epoxidation, strongly reducing the ratio between simple epoxides and their hydroxylated derivatives, with respect to the native UPO., This work has been funded by the BBI-JU (www.bbi-europe.eu) project SusBind (on “Sustainable biobinders”; H2020-BBI-JTI-2017-792063; https://susbind.eu), together with the CTQ2016-79138-R and BIO2017-86559-R (GENOBIOREF) projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, cofinanced by FEDER funds., We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

The selective oxidation of trans-2-hexen-1-ol to the corresponding aldehyde using a recombinant aryl alcohol oxidase from Pleurotus eryngii (PeAAOx) is reported. Especially using the two liquid phase system to overcome solubility and product inhibition issues enabled to achieve more than 2.200.000 catalytic turnovers for the production enzyme as well as molar product concentrations, pointing towards an economic feasible reaction.

1 páginas., The authors regret that, due to a re-estimation of the molar extinction coefficient of the enzyme here described, the values of several calculations presented in the paper must be amended. Such amendments concern the enzyme concentrations used in different parts of the manuscript that, due to the erroneous coefficient value initially used, were actually several times higher, and kcat values were therefore overestimated (for clarity the correct extinction coefficient is provided in the list of amendments below). The required amendments are the following:Page 719: • Right col., 4th line: 0.25 μM should be 1.4 μM • Right col., 13th line: 0.25–0.4 μM should be 1.4–2.3 μM • Right col., 31st line: 75 nM should be to 4.3 μM Page 720: • Fig. 2 caption, 4th line: 0.25–0.4 μM should be 1.4–2.3 μM Page 721: • Left col., 3rd line: 1 μM should be 6 μM • Right col., 26th line: “despite the higher turnover number of the C. virescens enzyme” should be replaced by “for the latter enzyme” • Fig. 4 caption, 4th line: 75 nM should be 4.3 μM Page 722: • Table 1: values of kcat and kcat/Km for CviUPO and F88L should read as: CviUPO kcat: 2.2 ± 0.05 (instead of 12.6 ± 0.3); CviUPO kcat/Km: 37.4 ± 3.9 (instead of 214 ± 23) F88L kcat: 1.2 ± 0.03 (instead of 7.0 ± 0.2); F88L kcat/Km: 39.2 ± 4.8 (instead of 224 ± 27) • Footnote of Table 2: 0.25–0.4 μM should be 1.4–2.3 μM Apart from the abovementioned amendments, the authors would like to add the following sentence, which was not present in the published article, providing the correct extinction coefficient of the enzyme: • Page 718, right col., 47th line (after the last sentence of UPO purification sub-section): The molar extinction coefficient of the enzyme was estimated (ε420 nm 114 mM−1 cm−1). Finally, it is important to mention that the above changes do not affect the conclusions of the paper that (as stated in the last sentence of the Abstract) basically concern: i) the possibility to enlarge the repertoire of UPOs available by E. coli expression of putative upo genes from genomes, etc. (a qualitative observation remaining valid after the changes); and ii) the effect of heme-channel mutations on the oxygenation pattern of unsaturated fatty acids by the enzyme (with the activity ratios between mutated and wild-type enzymes remaining unchanged after the correction, as shown in Table 2, etc.). The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers. © 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

7 p.-1 schem.-3 fig.-1 tab., The biocatalytic preparation of trans-hex-2-enal from trans-hex-2-enol using a novel aryl alcohol oxidase from Pleurotus eryngii (PeAAOx) is reported. As O2-dependent enzyme PeAAOx-dependent reactions are generally plagued by the poor solubility of O2 in aqueous media and mass transfer limitations resulting in poor reaction rates. These limitations were efficiently overcome by conducting the reaction in a flow-reactor setup reaching unpreceded catalytic activities for the enzyme in terms of turnover frequency (up to 38 s-1) and turnover numbers (more than 300000) pointing towards preparative usefulness of the proposed reaction scheme., We thank the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research for financial support through a VICI grant (no. 724.014.003).

11p.-5 fig.-1 tab. + 13 p.- Supporting Information, Peroxidases are considered essential agents of lignin degradation by white-rot basidiomycetes. However, low-molecular-weight oxidants likely have a primary role in lignin breakdown because many of these fungi delignify wood before its porosity has sufficiently increased for enzymes to infiltrate. It has been proposed that lignin peroxidases (LPs, EC 1.11.1.14) fulfill this role by oxidizing the secreted fungal metabolite veratryl alcohol (VA) to its aryl cation radical (VA+•), releasing it to act as a one-electron lignin oxidant within woody plant cell walls. Here, we attached the fluorescent oxidant sensor BODIPY 581/591 throughout beads with a nominal porosity of 6 kDa and assessed whether peroxidase-generated aryl cation radical systems could oxidize the beads. As positive control, we used the 1,2,4,5-tetramethoxybenzene (TMB) cation radical, generated from TMB by horseradish peroxidase. This control oxidized the beads to depths that increased with the amount of oxidant supplied, ultimately resulting in completely oxidized beads. A reaction-diffusion computer model yielded oxidation profiles that were within the 95% confidence intervals for the data. By contrast, bead oxidation caused by VA and the LPA isozyme of Phanerochaete chrysosporium was confined to a shallow shell of LP-accessible volume at the bead surface, regardless of how much oxidant was supplied. This finding contrasted with the modeling results, which showed that if the LP/VA system were to release VA+•, it would oxidize the bead interiors. We conclude that LPA releases insignificant quantities of VA+• and that a different mechanism produces small ligninolytic oxidants during white rot., This work was supported by United States Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research Grant DE-SC0006929 (to K. E. H.,C. J. H.,and C. G. H.)

Selektive Oxyfunktionalisierungen von inerten C-H-Bindungen konnen unter milden Bedingungen durch den Einsatz von Peroxygenasen erreicht werden. Dieser Ansatz wird jedoch durch die schlechte Stabilitat der Enzyme in Anwesenheit stochiometrischer Mengen des Oxidationsmittels Wasserstoffperoxid erschwert. Hier zeigen wir, dass sich anorganische Photokatalysatoren wie goldbeladenes Titandioxid zur effizienten Bereitstellung geeigneter Mengen an H2O2 durch reduktive Aktivierung von Umgebungssauerstoff und simultaner Oxidation von Methanol eignen und gleichzeitig eine hohe Reaktivitat und Stabilitat des Enzyms gewahrleisten. Mithilfe dieses Ansatzes konnte die stereoselektive Hydroxylierung von Ethylbenzol zu (R)-1-Phenylethanol in hoher Enantioselektivitat (>98 % ee) und sehr hoher katalytischer Produktivitat (TON>71.000) erreicht werden.

[EN] There is an increasing interest in the application of peroxygenases in biocatalysis, because of their ability to catalyse the oxyfunctionalisation reaction in a stereoselective fashion and with high catalytic efficiencies, while using hydrogen peroxide or organic peroxides as oxidant. However, enzymes belonging to this class exhibit a very low stability in the presence of peroxides. With the aim of bypassing this fast and irreversible inactivation, we study the use of a gradual supply of hydrogen peroxide to maintain its concentration at stoichiometric levels. In this contribution, we report a multienzymatic cascade for in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide. In the first step, in the presence of NAD+ cofactor, formate dehydrogenase from Candida boidinii (FDH) catalysed the oxidation of formate yielding CO2. Reduced NADH was reoxidised by the reduction of the flavin mononucleotide cofactor bound to an old yellow enzyme homologue from Bacillus subtilis (YqjM), which subsequently reacts with molecular oxygen yielding hydrogen peroxide. Finally, this system was coupled to the hydroxylation of ethylbenzene reaction catalysed by an evolved peroxygenase from Agrocybe aegerita (rAaeUPO). Additionally, we studied the influence of different reaction parameters on the performance of the cascade with the aim of improving the turnover of the hydroxylation reaction., Financial support by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant No. 648026) is gratefully acknowledged.

[EN] The E-factor has become an important measure for the environmental impact of (bio)chemical reactions. However, summing up the obvious wastes generated in the laboratory neglects energy-related wastes (mostly greenhouse gases) which are generated elsewhere. To estimate these wastes, we propose to extend the E-factor by an energy-term (E-factor). At the example of a lab-scale enzyme fermentation, we demonstrate that the E-factor can constitute a multiple of the classical E-factor and therefore must not be neglected striving for a holistic estimation of the environmental impact., This workwas supported by the European Union Project H2020-BBI-PPP-2015-2-720297-ENZOX2 and F.H. gratefully acknowledges funding by European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant No. 648026) and the for financial support through a Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research VICI grant (no. 724.014.003). J.M.R, B.R and A.S.B. gratefully acknowledge support from the United States National Science Foundation grant IIP-1540017.

[EN] Peroxygenases require a controlled supply of HO to operate efficiently. Here, we propose a photocatalytic system for the reductive activation of ambient O to produce HO which uses the energy provided by visible light more efficiently based on the combination of wavelength-complementary photosensitizers. This approach was coupled to an enzymatic system to make formate available as a sacrificial electron donor. The scope and current limitations of this approach are reported and discussed., We thank The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research for financial support through a VICI grant (No. 724.014.003).

Background 2,5-Furandicarboxylic acid is a renewable building block for the production of polyfurandicarboxylates, which are biodegradable polyesters expected to substitute their classical counterparts derived from fossil resources. It may be produced from bio-based 5-hydroxymethylfurfural or 5-methoxymethylfurfural, both obtained by the acidic dehydration of biomass-derived fructose. 5-Methoxymethylfurfural, which is produced in the presence of methanol, generates less by-products and exhibits better storage stability than 5-hydroxymethylfurfural being, therefore, the industrial substrate of choice. Results In this work, an enzymatic cascade involving three fungal oxidoreductases has been developed for the production of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid from 5-methoxymethylfurfural. Aryl-alcohol oxidase and unspecific peroxygenase act on 5-methoxymethylfurfural and its partially oxidized derivatives yielding 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, as well as methanol as a by-product. Methanol oxidase takes advantage of the methanol released for in situ producing H2O2 that, along with that produced by aryl-alcohol oxidase, fuels the peroxygenase reactions. In this way, the enzymatic cascade proceeds independently, with the only input of atmospheric O2, to attain a 70% conversion of initial 5-methoxymethylfurfural. The addition of some exogenous methanol to the reaction further improves the yield to attain an almost complete conversion of 5-methoxymethylfurfural into 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid. Conclusions The synergistic action of aryl-alcohol oxidase and unspecific peroxygenase in the presence of 5-methoxymethylfurfural and O2 is sufficient for the production of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid. The addition of methanol oxidase to the enzymatic cascade increases the 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid yields by oxidizing a reaction by-product to fuel the peroxygenase reactions., This work has been funded by the H2020 BBI-JU (http://www.bbi-europe.eu) project EnzOx2 (H2020-BBI-PPP-2015-2-720297) together with the INDOX EU project (FP7-KBBE-2013-7-613549) and the NOESIS (BIO2014-56388-R) and GENOBIOREF (BIO2017-86559-R) projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, co-fnanced by FEDER funds., We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

Oxidation chemistry using enzymes is approaching maturity and practical applicability in organic synthesis. Oxidoreductases (enzymes catalysing redox reactions) enable chemists to perform highly selective and efficient transformations ranging from simple alcohol oxidations to stereoselective halogenations of non‐activated C−H bonds. For many of these reactions, no “classical” chemical counterpart is known. Hence oxidoreductases open up shorter synthesis routes based on a more direct access to the target products. The generally very mild reaction conditions may also reduce the environmental impact of biocatalytic reactions compared to classical counterparts. In this Review, we critically summarise the most important recent developments in the field of biocatalytic oxidation chemistry and identify the most pressing bottlenecks as well as promising solutions.

A photoenzymatic NADH regeneration system was established. The combination of deazariboflavin as a photocatalyst with putidaredoxin reductase enabled the selective reduction of NAD+ into the enzyme-active 1,4-NADH to promote an alcohol dehydrogenase catalysed stereospecific reduction reaction. The catalytic turnover of all the reaction components was demonstrated. Factors influencing the efficiency of the overall system were identified.

Peroxygenasen katalysieren eine Vielzahl stereoselektiver Oxyfunktionalisierungen unter Verwendung von Wasserstoffperoxid als einzigem Oxidationsmittel. Allerdings werden Peroxygenasen auch durch H2O2 irreversibel inaktiviert. Fur robuste Peroxygenase-Reaktionen ist also eine effiziente In-situ-Bereitstellung von H2O2 unabdingbar. Hier beschreiben wir eine neuartige Enzymkaskade zur reduktiven Aktivierung von Luftsauerstoff unter Verwendung von Methanol als stochiometrischem Reduktionsmittel. Am Beispiel der stereoselektiven Hydroxylierung von Ethylbenzol zu (R)-1-Phenylethanol zeigen wir die effiziente Nutzung aller in Methanol gespeicherten Reduktionsaquivalente zur reduktiven Aktivierung von O2.

The biocatalytic preparation of trans-hex-2-enal from trans-hex-2-enol using a novel aryl alcohol oxidase from Pleurotus eryngii (PeAAOx) is reported. As O2-dependent enzyme PeAAOx-dependent reactions are generally plagued by the poor solubility of O2 in aqueous media and mass transfer limitations resulting in poor reaction rates. These limitations were efficiently overcome by conducting the reaction in a flow-reactor setup reaching unpreceded catalytic activities for the enzyme in terms of turnover frequency (up to 38 s−1) and turnover numbers (more than 300000) pointing towards preparative usefulness of the proposed reaction scheme.

The vanadium-dependent chloroperoxidase from Curvularia inaequalis is a stable and efficient biocatalyst for the hydroxyhalogenation of a broad range of alkenes into halohydrins. Up to 1 200 000 TON with 69 s−1 TOF were observed for the biocatalyst. A bienzymatic cascade to yield epoxides as reaction products is presented.

Peroxygenases are very promising catalysts for oxyfunctionalization reactions. Their practical applicability, however, is hampered by their sensitivity against the oxidant (H2O2), therefore necessitating in situ generation of H2O2. Here, we report a photoelectrochemical approach to provide peroxygenases with suitable amounts of H2O2 while reducing the electrochemical overpotential needed for the reduction of molecular oxygen to H2O2. When tethered on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) under illumination, flavins allowed for a marked anodic shift of the oxygen reduction potential in comparison to pristine SWNT and/or nonilluminated electrodes. This flavin-SWNT-based photoelectrochemical platform enabled peroxygenases-catalyzed, selective hydroxylation reactions.

The variable C-terminal tail of manganese peroxidases, a group of enzymes involved in lignin degradation, is implicated in their catalytic and stability properties, as shown by new crystal structures, molecular-simulation and directed-mutagenesis data. Based on this structural–functional evaluation, short and long/extralong manganese peroxidase subfamilies have been accepted; the latter are characterized by exceptional stability, while it is shown for the first time that the former are able to oxidize other substrates at the same site where manganese(II) is oxidized., The genome of Ceriporiopsis subvermispora includes 13 manganese peroxidase (MnP) genes representative of the three subfamilies described in ligninolytic fungi, which share an Mn2+-oxidation site and have varying lengths of the C-terminal tail. Short, long and extralong MnPs were heterologously expressed and biochemically characterized, and the first structure of an extralong MnP was solved. Its C-terminal tail surrounds the haem-propionate access channel, contributing to Mn2+ oxidation by the internal propionate, but prevents the oxidation of 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), which is only oxidized by short MnPs and by shortened-tail variants from site-directed mutagenesis. The tail, which is anchored by numerous contacts, not only affects the catalytic properties of long/extralong MnPs but is also associated with their high acidic stability. Cd2+ binds at the Mn2+-oxidation site and competitively inhibits oxidation of both Mn2+ and ABTS. Moreover, mutations blocking the haem-propionate channel prevent substrate oxidation. This agrees with molecular simulations that position ABTS at an electron-transfer distance from the haem propionates of an in silico shortened-tail form, while it cannot reach this position in the extralong MnP crystal structure. Only small differences exist between the long and the extralong MnPs, which do not justify their classification as two different subfamilies, but they significantly differ from the short MnPs, with the presence/absence of the C-terminal tail extension being implicated in these differences.

LiP (lignin peroxidase) from Trametopsis cervina has an exposed catalytic tyrosine residue (Tyr181) instead of the tryptophan conserved in other lignin-degrading peroxidases. Pristine LiP showed a lag period in VA (veratryl alcohol) oxidation. However, VA-LiP (LiP after treatment with H2O2 and VA) lacked this lag, and H2O2-LiP (H2O2-treated LiP) was inactive. MS analyses revealed that VA-LiP includes one VA molecule covalently bound to the side chain of Tyr181, whereas H2O2-LiP contains a hydroxylated Tyr181. No adduct is formed in the Y171N variant. Molecular docking showed that VA binding is favoured by sandwich π stacking with Tyr181 and Phe89. EPR spectroscopy after peroxide activation of the pre-treated LiPs showed protein radicals other than the tyrosine radical found in pristine LiP, which were assigned to a tyrosine–VA adduct radical in VA-LiP and a dihydroxyphenyalanine radical in H2O2-LiP. Both radicals are able to oxidize large low-redox-potential substrates, but H2O2-LiP is unable to oxidize high-redox-potential substrates. Transient-state kinetics showed that the tyrosine–VA adduct strongly promotes (>100-fold) substrate oxidation by compound II, the rate-limiting step in catalysis. The novel activation mechanism is involved in ligninolysis, as demonstrated using lignin model substrates. The present paper is the first report on autocatalytic modification, resulting in functional alteration, among class II peroxidases.

A catalytic, enzyme-initiated (aza-) Achmatowicz reaction is presented. The involvement of a robust vanadium-dependent peroxidase from Curvularia inaequalis allows the simple use of H2O2 and catalytic amounts of bromide.

Nitrile reductases catalyse a two-step reduction of nitriles to amines. This requires the binding of two NADPH molecules during one catalytic cycle. For the nitrile reductase from E. coli (EcoNR) mass spectrometry studies of the catalytic mechanism were performed. EcoNR is dimeric and has no Rossman fold. It was demonstrated that during catalysis each active site binds one substrate molecule. NADPH binds independent of the substrate. The PreQ0 binding pocket of the active site is not involved in the binding of NADPH; this is in conflict with an earlier hypothesis.

18 p.-8 fig., [Background]: Pleurotus ostreatus is the second edible mushroom worldwide, and a model fungus for delignification applications, with the advantage of growing on woody and nonwoody feedstocks. Its sequenced genome is available, and this gave us the opportunity to perform proteomic studies to identify the enzymes overproduced in lignocellulose cultures., [Results]: Monokaryotic P. ostreatus (PC9) was grown with poplar wood or wheat straw as the sole C/N source and the extracellular proteins were analyzed, together with those from glucose medium. Using nano-liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry of whole-protein hydrolyzate, over five-hundred proteins were identified. Thirty-four percent were unique of the straw cultures, while only 15 and 6 % were unique of the glucose and poplar cultures, respectively (20 % were produced under the three conditions, and additional 19 % were shared by the two lignocellulose cultures). Semi-quantitative analysis showed oxidoreductases as the main protein type both in the poplar (39 % total abundance) and straw (31 %) secretomes, while carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZys) were only slightly overproduced (14–16 %). Laccase 10 (LACC10) was the main protein in the two lignocellulose secretomes (10–14 %) and, together with LACC2, LACC9, LACC6, versatile peroxidase 1 (VP1), and manganese peroxidase 3 (MnP3), were strongly overproduced in the lignocellulose cultures. Seven CAZys were also among the top-50 proteins, but only CE16 acetylesterase was overproduced on lignocellulose. When the woody and nonwoody secretomes were compared, GH1 and GH3 β-glycosidases were more abundant on poplar and straw, respectively and, among less abundant proteins, VP2 was overproduced on straw, while VP3 was only found on poplar. The treated lignocellulosic substrates were analyzed by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2D NMR), and a decrease of lignin relative to carbohydrate signals was observed, together with the disappearance of some minor lignin substructures, and an increase of sugar reducing ends., [Conclusions]: Oxidoreductases are strongly induced when P. ostreatus grows on woody and nonwoody lignocellulosic substrates. One laccase occupied the first position in both secretomes, and three more were overproduced together with one VP and one MnP, suggesting an important role in lignocellulose degradation. Preferential removal of lignin vs carbohydrates was shown by 2D NMR, in agreement with the above secretomic results., This work was supported by the INDOX (KBBE-2013-613549) EU project, the BIO2014-56388-R, AGL2014-53730-R, and AGL2011-30495 projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) co-financed by FEDER funds, and the ProteoRed platform of the Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). The work conducted by the US DOE JGI is supported by the Office of Science of the US DOE under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231. FJR-D thanks a Ramón y Cajal contract of the Spanish MINECO, and JR thanks a contract of the CSIC project 201440E097., We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

Peroxygenases catalyze a broad range of (stereo)selective oxyfunctionalization reactions. However, to access their full catalytic potential, peroxygenases need a balanced provision of hydrogen peroxide to achieve high catalytic activity while minimizing oxidative inactivation. Herein, we report an enzymatic cascade process that employs methanol as a sacrificial electron donor for the reductive activation of molecular oxygen. Full oxidation of methanol is achieved, generating three equivalents of hydrogen peroxide that can be used completely for the stereoselective hydroxylation of ethylbenzene as a model reaction. Overall we propose and demonstrate an atom-efficient and easily applicable alternative to established hydrogen peroxide generation methods, which enables the efficient use of peroxygenases for oxyfunctionalization reactions.

16 p.-8 fig.-1 tab., The white-rot fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora delignifies lignocellulose with high selectivity, but until now it has appeared to lack the specialized peroxidases, termed lignin peroxidases (LiPs) and versatile peroxidases (VPs), that are generally thought important for ligninolysis. We screened the recently sequenced C. subvermispora genome for genes that encode peroxidases with a potential ligninolytic role. A total of 26 peroxidase genes was apparent after a structural-functional classification based on homology modeling and a search for diagnostic catalytic amino acid residues. In addition to revealing the presence of nine heme-thiolate peroxidase superfamily members and the unexpected absence of the dye-decolorizing peroxidase superfamily, the search showed that the C. subvermispora genome encodes 16 class II enzymes in the plant-fungal-bacterial peroxidase superfamily, where LiPs and VPs are classified. The 16 encoded enzymes include 13 putative manganese peroxidases and one generic peroxidase but most notably two peroxidases containing the catalytic tryptophan characteristic of LiPs and VPs. We expressed these two enzymes in Escherichia coli and determined their substrate specificities on typical LiP/VP substrates, including nonphenolic lignin model monomers and dimers, as well as synthetic lignin. The results show that the two newly discovered C. subvermispora peroxidases are functionally competent LiPs and also suggest that they are phylogenetically and catalytically intermediate between classical LiPs and VPs. These results offer new insight into selective lignin degradation by C. subvermispora., Supported by a Junta para Ampliación de Estudios fellowship of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, co-funded by the European Social Fund. Supported by a Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) Ramón y Cajal contract. This work was supported by the RAPERO Grant BIO2008-01533 and HIPOP Grant BIO2011-26694 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (to A. T. M. and F. J. R.-D., respectively), by PEROXICATS European Project Grant KBBE-2010-4-265397 (to A. T. M.), and by United States Department of Energy Grant DE-AI02-07ER64480 (to K. E. H.)

The vanadium-​dependent chloroperoxidase from Curvularia inaequalis is an efficient biocatalyst for the in situ generation of hypohalous acids and subsequent electrophilic oxidn.​/halogenation reactions. Esp., its superb activity and stability under operational conditions make it an attractive catalyst for org. synthesis. Herein, the efficient bromination of thymol was investigated, and turnover nos. of the enzyme were found to exceed 2 000 000. The major novelty of the work is that vanadium chloroperoxidase is more useful as a brominating enzyme than vanadium bromoperoxidase in terms of operational stability, besides being far more stable than heme-​contg. peroxidases.

12 p.-2 tab.-5 fig., [Background] Ligninolytic peroxidases are divided into three families: manganese peroxidases (MnPs), lignin peroxidases (LiPs), and versatile peroxidases (VPs). The latter two are able to degrade intact lignins, as shown using nonphenolic lignin model compounds, with VP oxidizing the widest range of recalcitrant substrates. One of the main limiting issues for the use of these two enzymes in lignocellulose biorefineries (for delignification and production of cellulose-based products or modification of industrial lignins to added-value products) is their progressive inactivation under acidic pH conditions, where they exhibit the highest oxidative activities., [Results] In the screening of peroxidases from basidiomycete genomes, one MnP from Ceriporiopsis subvermispora was found to have a remarkable acidic stability. The crystal structure of this enzyme recently became available and, after comparison with Pleurotus ostreatus VP and Phanerochaete chrysosporium LiP structures, it was used as a robust scaffold to engineer a stable VP by introducing an exposed catalytic tryptophan, with different protein environments. The variants obtained largely maintain the acidic stability and strong Mn2+-oxidizing activity of the parent enzyme, and the ability to oxidize veratryl alcohol and Reactive Black 5 (two simple VP substrates) was introduced. The engineered peroxidases present more acidic optimal pH than the best VP from P. ostreatus, enabling higher catalytic efficiency oxidizing lignins, by lowering the reaction pH, as shown using a nonphenolic model dimer., [Conclusion]: A peroxidase that degrades lignin at very acidic pH could be obtained by engineering an exposed catalytic site, able to oxidize the bulky and recalcitrant lignin polymers, in a different peroxidase type selected because of its high stability at acidic pH. The potential of this type of engineered peroxidases as industrial biocatalysts in lignocellulose biorefineries is strongly enhanced by the possibility to perform the delignification (or lignin modification) reactions under extremely acidic pH conditions (below pH 2), resulting in enhanced oxidative power of the enzymes., This work was supported by the HIPOP (BIO2011-26694) Spanish project, and the European projects INDOX (KBBE-2013-7-613549) and PEROXICATS (KBBE-2010-4-265397). EF-F acknowledges a Junta de Ampliación de Estudios fellowship of CSIC, co-funded by the European Social Fund, and FJR-D acknowledges a Ramón y Cajal contract of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

28 p.-5 fig.-3 tab., Pleurotus ostreatus is an important edible mushroom and a model lignin degrading organism, whose genome contains nine genes of ligninolytic peroxidases, characteristic of white-rot fungi. These genes encode six manganese peroxidase (MnP) and three versatile peroxidase (VP) isoenzymes. Using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, secretion of four of these peroxidase isoenzymes (VP1, VP2, MnP2 and MnP6) was confirmed when P. ostreatus grows in a lignocellulose medium at 25 °C (three more isoenzymes were identified by only one unique peptide). Then, the effect of environmental parameters on the expression of the above nine genes was studied by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR by changing the incubation temperature and medium pH of P. ostreatus cultures pre-grown under the above conditions (using specific primers and two reference genes for result normalization). The cultures maintained at 25 °C (without pH adjustment) provided the highest levels of peroxidase transcripts and the highest total activity on Mn2+ (a substrate of both MnP and VP) and Reactive Black 5 (a VP specific substrate). The global analysis of the expression patterns divides peroxidase genes into three main groups according to the level of expression at optimal conditions (vp1/mnp3 > vp2/vp3/mnp1/mnp2/mnp6 > mnp4/mnp5). Decreasing or increasing the incubation temperature (to 10 °C or 37 °C) and adjusting the culture pH to acidic or alkaline conditions (pH 3 and 8) generally led to downregulation of most of the peroxidase genes (and decrease of the enzymatic activity), as shown when the transcription levels were referred to those found in the cultures maintained at the initial conditions. Temperature modification produced less dramatic effects than pH modification, with most genes being downregulated during the whole 10 °C treatment, while many of them were alternatively upregulated (often 6 h after the thermal shock) and downregulated (12 h) at 37 °C. Interestingly, mnp4 and mnp5 were the only peroxidase genes upregulated under alkaline pH conditions. The differences in the transcription levels of the peroxidase genes when the culture temperature and pH parameters were changed suggest an adaptive expression according to environmental conditions. Finally, the intracellular proteome was analyzed, under the same conditions used in the secretomic analysis, and the protein product of the highly-transcribed gene mnp3 was detected. Therefore, it was concluded that the absence of MnP3 from the secretome of the P. ostreatus lignocellulose cultures was related to impaired secretion., This work was supported by the PEROXICATS (KBBE-2010-4-265397; www.peroxicats.org) and INDOX (KBBE-2013-7-613549; www.indoxproject.eu) EU projects, and by the BIO2011-26694 and AGL2011-30495 projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). EF-F acknowledges a Junta de Ampliación de Estudios fellowship of the CSIC, co-funded by the European Social Fund, and FJR-D acknowledges a MINECO Ramón y Cajal contract.

[Background] The genome of Pleurotus ostreatus, an important edible mushroom and a model ligninolytic organism of interest in lignocellulose biorefineries due to its ability to delignify agricultural wastes, was sequenced with the purpose of identifying and characterizing the enzymes responsible for lignin degradation., [Results] Heterologous expression of the class II peroxidase genes, followed by kinetic studies, enabled their functional classification. The resulting inventory revealed the absence of lignin peroxidases (LiPs) and the presence of three versatile peroxidases (VPs) and six manganese peroxidases (MnPs), the crystal structures of two of them (VP1 and MnP4) were solved at 1.0 to 1.1 Å showing significant structural differences. Gene expansion supports the importance of both peroxidase types in the white-rot lifestyle of this fungus. Using a lignin model dimer and synthetic lignin, we showed that VP is able to degrade lignin. Moreover, the dual Mn-mediated and Mn-independent activity of P. ostreatus MnPs justifies their inclusion in a new peroxidase subfamily. The availability of the whole POD repertoire enabled investigation, at a biochemical level, of the existence of duplicated genes. Differences between isoenzymes are not limited to their kinetic constants. Surprising differences in their activity T50 and residual activity at both acidic and alkaline pH were observed. Directed mutagenesis and spectroscopic/structural information were combined to explain the catalytic and stability properties of the most interesting isoenzymes, and their evolutionary history was analyzed in the context of over 200 basidiomycete peroxidase sequences., [Conclusions] The analysis of the P. ostreatus genome shows a lignin-degrading system where the role generally played by LiP has been assumed by VP. Moreover, it enabled the first characterization of the complete set of peroxidase isoenzymes in a basidiomycete, revealing strong differences in stability properties and providing enzymes of biotechnological interest., This work was supported by the PEROXICATS (KBBE-2010-4-265397) and INDOX (KBBE-2013-7-613549) grants of the European Union (to ATM), by grants BIO2011-26694 (to FJR-D) and BFU2011-24615 (to AR) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), and by US DOE grant DE-AI02-07ER64480 (to KEH). The work conducted by the US DOE JGI is supported by the Office of Science of the US DOE under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231. AG Pisabarro (Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain) is acknowledged for coordinating the P. ostreatus genome project. We thank Michael D Mozuch for assistance with the lignin depolymerization studies. EF-F acknowledges a Junta de Ampliación de Estudios fellowship of the CSIC, co-funded by the European Social Fund, and FJR-D acknowledges a MINECO Ramón y Cajal contract.

9 p.-7 fig.-2 tab.+ 7 fig. supl., Enzyme-driven oxygenation reactions are in the spotlight for organic synthesis. In this regard, a hemethiolate unspecific peroxygenase (UPO) from the fungus Chaetomium globosum has recently proven to be a suitable catalyst for selective epoxidation of unsaturated fatty acids in the context of the bio-based industry, but this enzyme could not be expressed in Escherichia coli for directed mutagenesis studies. Here, a previously unknown UPO from the related Collariella virescens (synonym: Chaetomium virescens) was obtained by E. coli expression of a putative upo gene. The activity of the purified enzyme on unsaturated fatty acids with different lengths and unsaturation degrees was tested. The ability of C. virescens UPO to epoxidize these compounds increases in the order myristoleic acid (C14:1) < palmitoleic acid (C16:1) < oleic acid (C18:1) differing from that observed for the C. globosum UPO, which also forms less hydroxylated derivatives. Given the possibility to produce the C. virescens UPO in E. coli as a recombinant enzyme and its oxyfunctionalization ability, some mutated variants were obtained mimicking the active-site of C. globosum UPO and evaluated on 18-carbon unsaturated fatty acids. Results revealed that widening the heme-access channel of C. virescens UPO by substituting a phenylalanine residue (in a F88L variant) maintains the enzyme epoxidation activity, and reduces undesired hydroxylation side-reactions (from 34% to only 7% of linoleic acid products) approaching the oxyfunctionalization pattern obtained with C. globosum UPO, although maintaining the absence of diepoxides. Conversely, its partial occlusion by introducing a second phenylalanine residue (in a T158F variant) resulted in partial selective epoxidation of linoleic acid (C18:2), while the oleic acid epoxidation was prevented. The above results show how E. coli expression can speed up the availability of new UPOs, and the design of ad hoc variants of these self-sufficient monooxygenases., This work has been funded by the SusBind (“Sustainable biobinders”; H2020-BBI-JTI-2017-792063; https://susbind.eu) project of the European BBI-JU (www.bbi-europe.eu) in the frame of EU Horizon 2020.

The peroxygenase from Agrocybe aegerita (AaeUPO) has been evaluated for stereoselective oxyfunctionalization chemistry under non-aqueous reaction conditions. The stereoselective hydroxylation of ethylbenzene to (R)-1-phenylethanol was performed in neat substrate as reaction medium together with the immobilized biocatalyst and tertBuOOH as oxidant. Stability and activity issues still have to be addressed. Nevertheless, gram-scale production of enantiopure (R)-1-phenylethanol was achieved with respectable 90,000 turnovers of the biocatalyst., Financial support by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant No. 648026) is gratefully acknowledged.

Old Yellow Enzymes (OYEs) have become practical catalysts for the stereoselective trans-hydrogenation of conjugated C=C-double bonds. Despite their importance, in-depth characterization of their kinetic parameters and factors influencing their activity and stability have largely been neglected in the past years. In this study, we close this gap for one of the most prominent OYEs, i. e. the OYE from Bacillus subtilis (YqjM).

9 p.-3 fig.-4 tab., Lignin peroxidase (LiP) and its natural substrate veratryl alcohol (VA) play a crucial role in lignin degradation by white-rot fungi. Understanding the molecular determinants for the interaction of this enzymewith its substrates is essential in the rational design of engineered peroxidases for biotechnological application. Here, we combine computational and experimental approaches to analyze the interaction of Phanerochaete chrysosporium LiP (isoenzyme H8)with VA and its radical cation (VA•+, resulting fromsubstrate oxidation by the enzyme). Interaction energy calculations at semiempirical quantum mechanical level (SQM) between LiP and VA/VA•+ enabled to identify those residues at the acidic environment of catalytic Trp171 involved in the main interactions. Then, a battery of variants, with single and multiple mutations at these residues (Glu168, Asp165, Glu250, Asp264,and Phe267), was generated by directed mutagenesis, and their kinetics parameters were estimated on VA and two additional substrates. The experimental results show that Glu168 and Glu250 are crucial for the binding of VA, with Glu250 also contributing to the turnover of the enzyme. The experimental resultswere further rationalized through new calculations of interaction energies between VA/VA•+ and LiP with each of the single mutations.Finally, the delocalization of spin density was determined with quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations (QM/MM), further supporting the contribution of Glu250 to VA oxidation at Trp171., J.A.M. and F.A.S. acknowledge the financial support from FONDECYT projects 1140618 and 3170909, respectively. R.R. and J.O.R acknowledge support from the doctoral fellowships CONICYT-PFCHA/Folios 21130949, and 21160905, respectively. A.T.M. thanks the financial support of the EnzOx2 (H2020-BBI-PPP-2015-2-720297, https://www.enzox2.eu) EU project.

30 p.-9 fig.-2 tab.-10 fig. supl.-3 tab. supl., A dye-decolorizing peroxidase (DyP) from Pleurotus ostreatus (PosDyP4) catalyzes the oxidation of Mn2+ to Mn3+, in the presence of H2O2, with an efficiency similar to the well-known manganese peroxidases and versatile peroxidases from this and other white-rot fungi. PosDyP4 has been overexpressed in Escherichia coli as an active enzyme, and its crystal structure has been solved at 1.56 Å resolution. A combination of substrate diffusion simulations on the solved structure using the PELE software, electron paramagnetic resonance, and site-directed mutagenesis led to identification of the residues involved in Mn2+ oxidation. The oxidation site in PosDyP4 is different than the conserved site in the other Mn-oxidizing peroxidases mentioned above, and it includes four acidic residues (three aspartates and one glutamate) located at the surface of the protein. Moreover, since the Mn2+ ion is not in direct contact with the heme propionates, a tyrosine residue participates in the electron transfer to the cofactor, being the only essential individual residue for PosDyP4 oxidation of the metal ion. The four acidic residues contribute to Mn2+ binding in different extents, with the glutamate also involved in the initial electron transfer to the key tyrosine, as confirmed by the >50-fold decreased kcat after removing its side-chain carboxylic group. A second electron transfer pathway operates in PosDyP4 for the oxidation of aromatics and dyes starting at a surface tryptophan, as reported in other fungal and prokaryotic DyPs, and connecting with the final part of the Mn2+ oxidation route. Both tryptophanyl and tyrosyl radicals, potentially involved in catalysis, were detected by electron paramagnetic resonance of the native enzyme and its tryptophan-less variant, respectively., This work has been funded by the H2020 BBIJU (www.bbi-europe.eu) project EnzOx2 (BBIPPP-2015-2-720297; www.enzox2.eu) and the FP7 project INDOX (KBBE 2013-7-613549; www.indoxproject.eu), together with the BIO2014-56388-R (NOESIS), BFU2016-77835-R, CTQ2016-79138-R and (BIO2017-86559-R (GENOBIOREF) projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, cofinanced by FEDER funds.The sequencing of P. ostreatus genome at JGI was supported by the DOE Office of Science, under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. We thank the staff of the ID30B beamline at ESRF(Grenoble, France) for assistance. CSGI (Florence, Italy) FFABR 2017 (Legge 232/2016 Comma 295, and Legge di Bilancio 2017) and MIUR (Dipartimento di Eccellenza, 2018-2022) grants are acknowledged for financial support.

Peroxygenases offer an attractive means to address challenges in selective oxyfunctionalization chemistry. Despite this, their application in synthetic chemistry remains challenging due to their facile inactivation by the stoichiometric oxidant H2O2. Often atom-inefficient peroxide generation systems are required, which show little potential for large-scale implementation. Here, we show that visible-light-driven, catalytic water oxidation can be used for in situ generation of H2O2 from water, rendering the peroxygenase catalytically active. In this way, the stereoselective oxyfunctionalization of hydrocarbons can be achieved by simply using the catalytic system, water and visible light., Financial support by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator grant no. 648026) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank B. Norder for XRD, W. H. Evers for TEM and F. Hagen for EPR measurements. The authors also thank S. Schmidt for the preparation of benzaldehyde lyase, M. Pesic for the preparation of YqjM and T. Knaus for the preparation of ω-transaminases. F.G.M. received funding as an ERC Starting Grant Fellow (grant agreement 638271).

Two phylogenetically divergent genes of the new family of dye-decolorizing peroxidases (DyPs) were found during comparison of the four DyP genes identified in the Pleurotus ostreatus genome with over 200 DyP genes from other basidiomycete genomes. The heterologously expressed enzymes (Pleos-DyP1 and Pleos-DyP4, following the genome nomenclature) efficiently oxidize anthraquinoid dyes (such as Reactive Blue 19), which are characteristic DyP substrates, as well as low redox-potential dyes (such as 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) and substituted phenols. However, only Pleos-DyP4 oxidizes the high redox-potential dye Reactive Black 5, at the same time that it displays high thermal and pH stability. Unexpectedly, both enzymes also oxidize Mn2+ to Mn3+, albeit with very different catalytic efficiencies. Pleos-DyP4 presents a Mn2+ turnover (56 s−1) nearly in the same order of the two other Mn2+-oxidizing peroxidase families identified in the P. ostreatus genome: manganese peroxidases (100 s−1 average turnover) and versatile peroxidases (145 s−1 average turnover), whose genes were also heterologously expressed. Oxidation of Mn2+ has been reported for an Amycolatopsis DyP (24 s−1) and claimed for other bacterial DyPs, albeit with lower activities, but this is the first time that Mn2+ oxidation is reported for a fungal DyP. Interestingly, Pleos-DyP4 (together with ligninolytic peroxidases) is detected in the secretome of P. ostreatus grown on different lignocellulosic substrates. It is suggested that generation of Mn3+ oxidizers plays a role in the P. ostreatus white-rot lifestyle since three different families of Mn2+-oxidizing peroxidase genes are present in its genome being expressed during lignocellulose degradation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00253-015-6665-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

17 páginas.-- 13 figuras.-- 104 referencias.-- . Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2017.06.003, Fungi produce heme-containing peroxidases and peroxygenases, flavin-containing oxidases and dehydrogenases, and different copper-containing oxidoreductases involved in the biodegradation of lignin and other recalcitrant compounds. Heme peroxidases comprise the classical ligninolytic peroxidases and the new dye-decolorizing peroxidases, while heme peroxygenases belong to a still largely unexplored superfamily of heme-thiolate proteins. Nevertheless, basidiomycete unspecific peroxygenases have the highest biotechnological interest due to their ability to catalyze a variety of regio- and stereo-selective monooxygenation reactions with H2O2 as the source of oxygen and final electron acceptor. Flavo-oxidases are involved in both lignin and cellulose decay generating H2O2 that activates peroxidases and generates hydroxyl radical. The group of copper oxidoreductases also includes other H2O2 generating enzymes - copper-radical oxidases - together with classical laccases that are the oxidoreductases with the largest number of reported applications to date. However, the recently described lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases have attracted the highest attention among copper oxidoreductases, since they are capable of oxidatively breaking down crystalline cellulose, the disintegration of which is still a major bottleneck in lignocellulose biorefineries, along with lignin degradation. Interestingly, some flavin-containing dehydrogenases also play a key role in cellulose breakdown by directly/indirectly “fueling” electrons for polysaccharide monooxygenase activation. Many of the above oxidoreductases have been engineered, combining rational and computational design with directed evolution, to attain the selectivity, catalytic efficiency and stability properties required for their industrial utilization. Indeed, using ad hoc software and current computational capabilities, it is now possible to predict substrate access to the active site in biophysical simulations, and electron transfer efficiency in biochemical simulations, reducing in orders of magnitude the time of experimental work in oxidoreductase screening and engineering. What has been set out above is illustrated by a series of remarkable oxyfunctionalization and oxidation reactions developed in the frame of an intersectorial and multidisciplinary European RTD project. The optimized reactions include enzymatic synthesis of 1-naphthol, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, drug metabolites, furandicarboxylic acid, indigo and other dyes, and conductive polyaniline, terminal oxygenation of alkanes, biomass delignification and lignin oxidation, among others. These successful case stories demonstrate the unexploited potential of oxidoreductases in medium and large-scale biotransformations., This work has been funded by the INDOX European project (KBBE-2013-7-613549), together with the BIO2014-56388-R and AGL2014-53730-R projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) co-financed by FEDER funds, and the BBI JU project EnzOx2 (H2020-BBI-PPP-2015-2-720297). The work conducted by the US DOE JGI was supported by the Office of Science of the US DOE under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Due to its importance in the pharmaceutical industry, ligand dynamic simulations have experienced a great expansion. Using all-atom models and cutting edge hardware, one can perform non-biased ligand migration, active site search and binding studies. In this letter we demonstrate (and validate by PCR mutagenesis) how these techniques, when combined with quantum mechanics, open new possibilities in enzyme engineering. We provide a complete analysis where: 1) biophysical simulations produce ligand diffusion and, 2) biochemical modeling samples the chemical event. Using such broad analysis we engineer a highly stable peroxidase activating the enzyme for new substrate oxidation after rational mutation of two non-conserved surface residues. In particular, we create a new surface-binding site, quantitatively predicting the in vitro change in oxidation rate obtained by mutagenic PCR and achieving a comparable specificity constant to active peroxidases. This work was supported by the INDOX (KBBE-2013-7-613549 to ATM) European project, and the CTQ2013-48287 (to VG) and BIO2014-56388-R (to FJR-D) projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). FJR-D acknowledges a MINECO Ramón&Cajal contract.

16 p.-6 fig., The first enzyme with dye-decolorizing peroxidase (DyP) activity was described in 1999 from an arthroconidial culture of the fungus Bjerkandera adusta. However, the first DyP sequence had been deposited three years before, as a peroxidase gene from a culture of an unidentified fungus of the family Polyporaceae (probably Irpex lacteus). Since the first description, fewer than ten basidiomycete DyPs have been purified and characterized, but a large number of sequences are available from genomes. DyPs share a general fold and heme location with chlorite dismutases and other DyP-type related proteins (such as Escherichia coli EfeB), forming the CDE superfamily. Taking into account the lack of an evolutionary relationship with the catalase-peroxidase superfamily, the observed heme pocket similarities must be considered as a convergent type of evolution to provide similar reactivity to the enzyme cofactor. Studies on the Auricularia auricula-judae DyP showed that high-turnover oxidation of anthraquinone type and other DyP substrates occurs via long-range electron transfer from an exposed tryptophan (Trp377, conserved in most basidiomycete DyPs), whose catalytic radical was identified in the H2O2-activated enzyme. The existence of accessory oxidation sites in DyP is suggested by the residual activity observed after site-directed mutagenesis of the above tryptophan. DyP degradation of substituted anthraquinone dyes (such as Reactive Blue 5) most probably proceeds via typical one-electron peroxidase oxidations and product breakdown without a DyP-catalyzed hydrolase reaction. Although various DyPs are able to break down phenolic lignin model dimers, and basidiomycete DyPs also present marginal activity on nonphenolic dimers, a significant contribution to lignin degradation is unlikely because of the low activity on high redox-potential substrates., This work was supported by the INDOX (KBBE-2013-7-613549; www.indoxproject.eu) European project, the BIO2011-26694 (HIPOP) and CTQ2013-48287 projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), and the PRIN 2009-STNWX3 project of the Italian Ministry of Education,Universities and Research (MIUR). FJR-D thanks a Ramón y Cajal contract of MINECO.