Enzymatic synthesis of two fucose-containing glycolipids with fucosyltransferases of human serum.

Lacto-N-neotetraosylceramide incubated with human serum fucosyltransferase preparations gave rise to two fucoglycolipids. The faster migrating fucoglycolipid I on the basis of its thin-layer chromatographic mobility, susceptibility to alpha(1 leads to 2) fucosidase from Trichomonas foetus, radio-immunoprecipitation with Ulex europeus lectin and studies with Oh (Bombay) sera was identified as H-active glycolipid (H-I). The most probable structure of fucoglycolipid II should be that with fucose linked alpha(1 leads to 3) to N-acetylglucosamine. Lactosylceramide, ceramide trihexoside and globoside were not substrates for human serum fucosyltransferases. Lacto-N-neotetraosyl ceramide served as a fucose acceptor for all serum preparations tested while asialoganglioside was a substrate only when serum preparations containing H-gene dependent alpha-2-L-fucosyltransferase were used. With asialoganglioside only one radioactive reaction product was formed.     

Enzymatic synthesis of malonaldehyde.

Malonaldehyde was prepared from 1,3-propanediol by alcohol dehydrogenase. The K_m for 1,3-propanediol was about 1.7 mM. The reaction proceeded best at low ionic strength and at pH 9. The reaction was unaffected by pyrophosphate, phosphate, bicarbonate, or N-ethylmorpholine buffers, or by Mg⁺², Ca⁺², EDTA, or citrate. However, the reaction was inhibited 50% by 1.5 mM borate, 1 mM cyanide, and 5 mM azide. Thiols, such as dithioerythritol, inhibited the reaction 50% at 50–100 μM, while others, such as mercaptoacetate, inhibited 50% at concentrations over 1 mM. Malonaldehyde was removed from the reaction mixture by evaporation at pH 3 and condensation at ?78°C. No other products associated with lipid peroxidation were produced. The method was useful for preparation of radiolabeled malonaldehyde.     

Enzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharides by two glycosyl hydrolases of Sulfolobus solfataricus

The importance of carbohydrates in a variety of biological functions is the reason that interest has recently increased in these compounds as possible components of therapeutic agents. Thus, the need for a technique allowing the easy synthesis of carbohydrates and glucoconjugates is an emerging challenge for chemists and biologists involved in this field. At present, enzymatic synthesis has resulted in the most promising approach for the production of complex oligosaccharides. In this respect, the enzymological characteristics of the catalysts, in term of regioselectivity, substrate specificity, and operational stability, are of fundamental importance to improve the yields of the process and to widen the repertoire of the available products. Here, two methods of oligosaccharide synthesis performed by a glycosynthase and by an alpha-xylosidase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus are briefly reviewed. The approaches used and the biodiversity of the catalysts together are key features for their possible utilization in the synthesis of oligosaccharides.     

Enzymatic synthesis of blood-group Lewis-specific glycolipids.

A blood-group Lewis precursor glycolipid was isolated from the plasma of a Lewis-negative individual [Le(a--b--)] and treated with fucosyltransferases from human gastric mucosa and GDP-fucose. Subsequently the glycolipid was adsorbed onto Le(a--b--) erythrocytes and the presence of blood-group Lewis antigens was assessed by passive hemagglutination with anti-Lewis sera. It was shown that the precursor glycolipid was enzymatically transformed to blood-group Lewis a (Lea) and Lewis b (Leb) specific glycolipids. Leb-glycolipid was also synthesized by fucosylation of an isolated Lea-glycolipid. Moreover Le(a--b--) erythrocytes were shown to develop Lea and Leb activities when subjected to enzymatic fucosylation, thus showing that Lewis-negative cells carry blood-group Lewis precursor glycolipid on the surface of their membrane. Le(a + b--) erthrocytes, upon enzymatic fucosylation, acquired Leb activity.     

Sialic acids. Enzymatic synthesis of Tay-Sachs ganglioside.

A particulate preparation from embryonic chicken brain catalyzed the transfer of N-acetylgalactosamine from uridine diphospho-N-acetylgalactosamine to the ganglioside GM3 (hematoside, sialyllactosylceramide). The kinetic properties of the transferase were determined. The product was isolated and on the basis of chemical analysis and chromatographic behavior was shown to be Tay-Sachs ganglioside (GM2). The particulate preparation also utilized N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and some of its derivatives as acceptors, but partial heat inactivation and substrate competition experiments indicated that the two classes of acceptors, hematoside and N-acetylglucosamine, were substrates for different N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferases. The enzyme that utilized hematoside showed low but detectable activity with analogues such as lactosylceramide and sialyllactose, but no activity with a wide range of other beta-galactosides and glycosphingolipids. These results are in accord with a proposed pathway for the biosynthesis of the gangliosides and for the patterns of these substances in different cell types and tissues.     

Enzymatic synthesis of deoxyribo-oligonucleotides of defined sequence. Deoxyribo-oligonucleotide synthesis*

An enzyme, which is probably identical with polynucleotide phosphorylase, was prepared from Escherichiacoli B. In the presence of Mn(2+) it catalyzes the addition of one (and to a slight extent more) residue of deoxyribonucleotide residue from the diphosphate to an oligodeoxyribonucleotide primer. The shortest effective primers contained three phosphate residues. Ribodinucleotides were effective as primers and accepted two or three deoxyribonucleotide residues under these conditions. The application of the procedures to the convenient synthesis of certain defined oligodeoxyribonucleotides up to nine residues long is discussed.     

Enzymatic synthesis of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate in Zoogloea ramigera.

The enzyme activity synthesizing poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) was mainly localized in the PHB-containing particulate fraction of Zoogloea ramigera I-16-M, when it grew flocculatedly in a medium supplemented with glucose. On the other hand, the enzyme activity remained in the soluble fraction when the bacterium grew dispersedly in a glucose-starved medium. The soluble PHB synthase activity became associated with the particulate fraction as PHB synthesis was initiated on the addition of glucose to the dispersed culture. Conversely, the enzyme activity was released from the PHB-containing granules to the soluble fraction when the flocculated culture was kept incubated without supplementing the medium with glucose. PHB synthase was also incorporated into the newly formed PHB fraction when partially purified soluble PHB synthase was incubated with D(-)-beta-hydroxybutyryl CoA in vitro. Although attempts to solubilize the particulate enzyme were unsuccessful, and the soluble enzyme became extremely unstable in advanced stages of purification, both PHB synthases had the same strict substrate specificity for D(-)-beta-hydroxybutyryl CoA, and showed the same pH optimum at 7.0.     

Enzymatic synthesis of polymers containing nicotinamide mononucleotide.

Nicotinamide mononucleoside 5'-diphosphate in its reduced form is an excellent substrate for polynucleotide phosphorylase from Micrococcus luteus both in de novo polymerization reactions and in primer extension reactions. The oxidized form of the diphosphate is a much less efficient substrate; it can be used to extend primers but does not oligomerize in the absence of a primer. The cyanide adduct of the oxidized substrate, like the reduced substrate, polymerizes efficiently. Loss of cyanide yields high molecular weight polymers of the oxidized form. Terminal transferase from calf thymus accepts nicotinamide mononucleoside 5'-triphosphate as a substrate and efficiently adds one residue to the 3'-end of an oligodeoxynucleotide. T4 polynucleotide kinase accepts oligomers of nicotinamide mononucleotide as substrates. However, RNA polymerases do not incorporate nicotinamide mononucleoside 5'-triphosphate into products on any of the templates that we used.     

Enzymatic synthesis of alkyds

Lipases were used as catalysts in the synthesis of "all-trans" polyester oligomers in organic solvents. Esters of fumaric acid and 1,4-butane diol served as the substrates in the enzyme-catalyzed polytransesterification. No isomerization of the double bond was found under the mild conditions of enzymatic catalysis used by us, as opposed to the extensive isomerization found during chemical polycondensation. The alkoxy leaving group of the ester fumarate was found to be responsible for the rate of transesterification. Low (M(w) approximately 600-800) and high (M(w) = 1250) molecular weight alkyds were synthesized depending on whether tetrahedrofuran or acetonitrile, respectively, was used as the solvent.     

Enzymatic synthesis of L-cysteine

O-Acetylserine sulfhydrase in the form of a crude extract from Salmonella typhimurium LT2 was used for the production of L-cysteine from L-O-acetylserine and sodium hydrosulfide at pH 7.0 and 25 degrees C. The two substrates have quite different pH stability relationships. O-Acetylserine readily rearranges to N-acetylserine and the rate of this O --> N acyl transfer reaction increases at higher pH, temperature, and concentration of O-acetylserine. On the other hand, sodium hydrosulfide is more soluble at a higher pH. A stirred-tank bioreactor with a continuous substrate feed was employed to overcome this problem. The O-acetylserine feed was stored at its saturation level (2.05M) at pH 5.0, and the sodium hydrosulfide feed was dissolved at 2.05-2.3M without pH adjustment (pH >/= 11.5). Both substrates were simultaneously introduced into the bioreactor. The performance of the bioreactor was optimized by employing an automatic feedback control system to regulate the concentration of O-acetylserine in the bioreactor. This feedback control system was based on the fact that as the bioconversion proceeds, protons are produced along with cysteine. A pH controller thus detected the decrease in pH and activated the substrate pumps. After mixing in the bioreactor, these two substrate solutions behaved as a base due to the high alkalinity of sodium hydrosulfide. Thus, substrate infusion started when the pH was lower than the set point, i.e., the reaction pH, and stopped when the pH was raised higher than the set point. The amount of substrate introduced was determined by the alkalinity of the mixture of the two substrates, which in turn was controlled by the concentration of sodium hydrosulfide. After optimizing the sodium hydrosulfide concentration and the substrate feed rate, the bioconversion gave a productivity of 3.6 g L-cysteine/h/g dry cell weight S. typhimurium, an L-cysteine titer of 83 g/L and a molar yield based on O-acetylserine of 94%.     

Enzymatic synthesis of aza-l-tyrosines

Tyrosine phenol-lyase from Citrobacter freundii synthesizes 2-aza-L-tyrosine and 3-aza-L-tyrosine from 3-hydroxypyridine and 2-hydroxypyridine, respectively, and ammonium pyruvate.