화학공학소재연구정보센터
Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol.116, No.9, 2167-2177, 2019
Stabilization of cyclohexanone monooxygenase by computational and experimental library design
Enzymes often by far exceed the activity, selectivity, and sustainability achieved with chemical catalysts. One of the main reasons for the lack of biocatalysis in the chemical industry is the poor stability exhibited by many enzymes when exposed to process conditions. This dilemma is exemplified in the usually very temperature-sensitive enzymes catalyzing the Baeyer-Villiger reaction, which display excellent stereo- and regioselectivity and offer a green alternative to the commonly used, explosive peracids. Here we describe a protein engineering approach applied to cyclohexanone monooxygenase from Rhodococcus sp. HI-31, a substrate-promiscuous enzyme that efficiently catalyzes the production of the nylon-6 precursor epsilon-caprolactone. We used a framework for rapid enzyme stabilization by computational libraries (FRESCO), which predicts protein-stabilizing mutations. From 128 screened point mutants, approximately half had a stabilizing effect, albeit mostly to a small degree. To overcome incompatibility effects observed upon combining the best hits, an easy shuffled library design strategy was devised. The most stable and highly active mutant displayed an increase in unfolding temperature of 13 degrees C and an approximately 33x increase in half-life at 30 degrees C. In contrast to the wild-type enzyme, this thermostable 8x mutant is an attractive biocatalyst for biotechnological applications.