Efficient Synthesis of Simvastatin by Use of Whole-Cell Biocatalysis

Simvastatin is a semisynthetic derivative of the fungal polyketide lovastatin and is an important drug for lowering cholesterol levels in adults. We have developed a one-step, whole-cell biocatalytic process for the synthesis of simvastatin from monacolin J. By using an Escherichia coli strain overexpressing the previously discovered acyltransferase LovD (X. Xie, K. Watanabe, W. A. Wojcicki, C. C. Wang, and Y. Tang, Chem. Biol. 13:1161-1169, 2006), we were able to achieve >99% conversion of monacolin J to simvastatin without the use of any chemical protection steps. The key finding was a membrane-permeable substrate, α-dimethylbutyryl-S-methyl-mercaptopropionate, that was efficiently utilized by LovD as the acyl donor. The process was scaled up for gram-scale synthesis of simvastatin. We also demonstrated that simvastatin synthesized via this method can be readily purified from the fermentation broth with >90% recovery and >98% purity as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Bioconversion using high-cell-density, fed-batch fermentation was also examined. The whole-cell biocatalysis can therefore be an attractive alternative to currently used multistep semisynthetic transformations.     

Rational improvement of simvastatin synthase solubility in Escherichia coli leads to higher whole-cell biocatalytic activity

Simvastatin is the active pharmaceutical ingredient of the blockbuster cholesterol lowering drug Zocor. We have previously developed an Escherichia coli based whole-cell biocatalytic platform towards the synthesis of simvastatin sodium salt (SS) starting from the precursor monacolin J sodium salt (MJSS). The centerpiece of the biocatalytic approach is the simvastatin synthase LovD, which is highly prone to misfolding and aggregation when overexpressed from E. coli. Increasing the solubility of LovD without decreasing its catalytic activity can therefore elevate the performance of the whole-cell biocatalyst. Using a combination of homology structural prediction and site-directed mutagenesis, we identified two cysteine residues in LovD that are responsible for nonspecific intermolecular crosslinking, which leads to oligomer formation and protein aggregation. Replacement of Cys40 and Cys60 with alanine residues resulted in marked gain in both protein solubility and whole-cell biocatalytic activities. Further mutagenesis experiments converting these two residues to small or polar natural amino acids showed that C40A and C60N are the most beneficial, affording 27% and 26% increase in whole cell activities, respectively. The double mutant C40A/C60N combines the individual improvements and displayed approximately 50% increase in protein solubility and whole-cell activity. Optimized fed-batch high-cell-density fermentation of the double mutant in an E. coli strain engineered for simvastatin production quantitatively (>99%) converted 45 mM MJSS to SS within 18 h, which represents a significant improvement over the performance of wild-type LovD under identical conditions. The high efficiency of the improved whole-cell platform renders the biocatalytic synthesis of SS an attractive substitute over the existing semisynthetic routes.     

辛伐他汀的生物合成

辛伐他汀是洛伐他汀的半合成衍生物, 传统的生产工艺是以洛伐他汀为原料, 经化学合成得到辛伐他汀。洛伐他汀的直接甲基化方法已成为目前生产上使用最多的工艺路线。化学合成工艺的不足之处乃在于化学法合成过程中, 反应条件苛刻, 副反应多, 产品分离纯化难度大以及来自环保和劳动保护的压力。近年来, 随着洛伐他汀生物合成途径研究的深入, 人们已经将更多的注意力转向辛伐他汀的生物合成。就辛伐他汀侧链的化学水解路线和洛伐他汀的生物合成途径的国内外研究结果进行了分析比较, 进一步阐述了辛伐他汀生产中可实现生物催化的反应步骤以及用于辛伐他汀直接发酵生产的基因工程菌构建。     

Biotechnological production and applications of statins

Statins are a group of extremely successful drugs that lower cholesterol levels in blood; decreasing the risk of heath attack or stroke. In recent years, statins have also been reported to have other biological activities and numerous potential therapeutic uses. Natural statins are lovastatin and compactin, while pravastatin is derived from the latter by biotransformation. Simvastatin, the second leading statin in the market, is a lovastatin semisynthetic derivative. Lovastatin is mainly produced by Aspergillus terreus strains, and compactin by Penicillium citrinum. Lovastatin and compactin are produced industrially by liquid submerged fermentation, but can also be produced by the emerging technology of solid-state fermentation, that displays some advantages. Advances in the biochemistry and genetics of lovastatin have allowed the development of new methods for the production of simvastatin. This lovastatin derivative can be efficiently synthesized from monacolin J (lovastatin without the side chain) by a process that uses the Aspergillus terreus enzyme acyltransferase LovD. In a different approach, A. terreus was engineered, using combinational biosynthesis on gene lovF, so that the resulting hybrid polyketide synthase is able to in vivo synthesize 2,2-dimethylbutyrate (the side chain of simvastatin). The resulting transformant strains can produce simvastatin (instead of lovastatin) by direct fermentation.     

RNAi沉默lovF基因实现土曲霉一步法发酵生产辛伐他汀

辛伐他汀是重要的降胆固醇处方药物。莫那可林J是辛伐他汀合成过程的关键中间体,也是洛伐他汀生物合成的中间产物。为获得莫那可林J并通过一步法发酵生成辛伐他汀,构建了洛伐他汀生物合成关键基因lov F基因的RNAi载体p MHJ137,通过农杆菌介导的方法转化土曲霉F001,筛选整合到染色体的阳性菌,并在阳性菌株MJ1-24的发酵过程中加入了DMB-S-MMP验证其直接合成辛伐他汀的效率。结果显示MJ1-24不再产生洛伐他汀,产物中仅有莫那可林J累积。如果在发酵过程中加入前体物质,可得到产物辛伐他汀。综上,RNAi技术能够有效实现土曲霉基因沉默。此项技术推进了一步法发酵生产辛伐他汀的工艺开发。     

Improving simvastatin bioconversion in Escherichia coli by deletion of bioH

Simvastatin is an important cholesterol lowering compound and is currently synthesized from the natural product lovastatin via multistep chemical synthesis. We have previously reported the use of an Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE3)/pAW31 as the host for whole-cell biocatalytic conversion of monacolin J acid to simvastatin acid. During fermentation and bioconversion, unknown E. coli enzyme(s) hydrolyzed the membrane permeable thioester substrate dimethylbutyryl-S-methyl mercaptopropionate (DMB-S-MMP) to the free acid, significantly decreased the efficiencies of the whole-cell bioconversion and the downstream purification steps. Using the Keio K-12 Singe-Gene Knockout collection, we identified BioH as the sole enzyme responsible for the observed substrate hydrolysis. Purification and reconstitution of E. coli BioH activity in vitro confirmed its function. BioH catalyzed the rapid hydrolysis of DMB-S-MMP with kcat and Km values of 260+/-45 s(-1) and 229+/-26 microM, respectively. This is in agreement with previous reports that BioH can function as a carboxylesterase towards fatty acid esters. YT2, which is a delta bioH mutant of BL21(DE3), did not hydrolyze DMB-S-MMP during prolonged fermentation and was used as an alternative host for whole-cell biocatalysis. The rate of simvastatin acid synthesis in YT2 was significantly faster than in BL21(DE3) and 99% conversion of 15 mM simvastatin acid in less than 12 h was achieved. Furthermore, the engineered host required significantly less DMB-S-MMP to be added to accomplish complete conversion. Finally, simvastatin acid synthesized using YT2 can be readily purified from fermentation broth and no additional steps to remove the hydrolyzed dimethylbutyryl-S-mercaptopropionic acid is required. Together, the proteomic and metabolic engineering approaches render the whole-cell biocatalytic process more robust and economically attractive.     

生物法合成辛伐他汀

通过提高E.coli BL21(DE3)/pAW31菌株中的酰基转移酶LovD的表达,并以Monacolin J为底物,催化合成辛伐他汀。考察发酵培养基和发酵条件对酰基转移酶LovD表达的影响;采用SDS-PAGE凝胶电泳法检测酰基转移酶LovD表达情况;并建立酶活测定方法,测定酰基转移酶LovD的实际酶活。通过实验确定酰基转移酶LovD摇瓶发酵的最佳条件:发酵培养基为TB培养基,接种量为4%,诱导初始菌密度为0.7(OD600)I,PTG浓度为0.2 mmol/L,在20℃下诱导20 h。在最佳条件下,酰基转移酶LovD的表达水平为100 mg/L,辛伐他汀的产量为1.2 g/L。     

乙酸钠、烟酸对红曲菌白色变种产Monacolin K的影响

[背景]红曲是由红曲菌寄生在大米发酵而成的一种食用米曲,含有胆固醇抑制剂Monacolin K,但市售红曲中酸式Monacolin K含量低且普遍呈红色,其应用存在局限性.红曲菌白色变种3001-18具有不产色素和桔霉素而高产酸式Monacolin K的优点.[目的]研究微量营养物对红曲菌固态发酵Monacolin K...     

种间双亲灭活原生质体融合选育高产Monacolin K红曲菌

为获得高产MonacolinK的红曲菌菌株,将经农杆菌介导转化获得的携带潮霉素抗性基因且以甘油为原料液态发酵高产MonacolinK的发白红曲菌H2和以大米为原料固态发酵产Monaco-1inK的烟色红曲菌9908作为亲本,对其原生质体分别进行热灭活及紫外灭活,然后对灭活双亲用PEG作融合剂进行原生质体融合。从融合子中选出有潮霉素抗性的突变株,通过发酵与亲本对比,筛选得到一株以大米为原料固态发酵高产MonacolinK的融合株F12．11,其MonacolinK产量达到8．73mg／g;较发白红曲菌H2与烟色红曲菌9908分别提高了100．23％和48．98％;一株以甘油为原料液态发酵高产MonacolinK的融合株F13-2,其MonacolinK的产量达到1752．46mg／L,较发白红曲菌H2与烟色红曲菌9908分别提高了32．98％和1979．33％。     

Aspects of the biosynthesis of non-aromatic fungal polyketides by iterative polyketide synthases

Lovastatin biosynthesis in Aspergillus terreus involves two unusual type I multifunctional polyketide syntheses (PKSs). Lovastatin nonaketide synthase (LNKS), the product of the lovB gene, is an iterative PKS that interacts with LovC, a putative enoyl reductase, to catalyze the 35 separate reactions in the biosynthesis of dihydromonacolin L, a lovastatin precursor. LNKS also displays Diels-Alderase activity in vitro. Lovastatin diketide synthase (LDKS) made by lovF, in contrast, acts non-iteratively like the bacterial modular PKSs to make (2R)-2–methylbutyric acid. Then, like LNKS, LDKS interacts closely with another protein, the LovD transesterase enzyme that catalyzes attachment of the 2–methylbutyric acid to monacolin J in the final step of the lovastatin pathway. Key features of the genes for these four enzymes and others, plus the regulatory and self-resistance factors involved in lovastatin production, are also described.     

Production of the secondary metabolites γ-aminobutyric acid and monacolin K by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Monascus</Emphasis>

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a hypotensive agent, and monacolin K, a cholesterol-lowering drug, can be produced by Monascus spp. Under optimal culture conditions, the products of fermentation using Monascus spp. may serve as a multi-functional dietary supplement and can prevent heart disease. In this study, Monascus purpureus CCRC 31615, the strain with the highest amount of monacolin K, was identified from 16 strains using solid fermentation. Its GABA productivity was particularly high. Addition of sodium nitrate during solid-state fermentation of M. purpureus CCRC 31615 improved the productivity of monacolin K and GABA to 378 mg/kg and 1,267.6 mg/kg, respectively. GABA productivity increased further to 1,493.6 mg/kg when dipotassium hydrophosphate was added to the medium. Electronic Publication     

The presence and the content of Monacolins in Red Yeast rice prepared from Thai glutinous rice

Red yeast rice which is a product of solid fermentation was prepared from several kinds of Thai glutinous rice (Oryza sativa L.) cv. Korkor 6 (RD6), Kam (Kam), and Sanpatong1 (SPT1). Monascus purpureus CMU001 isolated from available Chinese red yeast rice was used as the fermentation starter. The analysis for the presence and the content of monacolins, the cholesterol-lowering compounds, were carried out using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The presence of the monacolins was confirmed by the retention time of the reference compounds and LC-MS. The results were compared to those obtained from the Chinese red yeast rice and Thai non-glutinous rice (O. sativa L. cv. Mali105). The chromatograms show the presence of monacolin K acid form (MKA), compactin (P1), monacolin M acid form (MMA), monacolin K (MK), monacolin M (MM), and dehydromonacolin K (DMK). A large peak of a compound with the molecular weight of 358 was also detected but could not be identified. The amount of two important monacolins, compactin, and monacolin K, were determined. It was found that the highest amount of compactin and monacolin K were 21.98 and 33.79 mg/g, respectively, when using Thai rice varity O. sativa L. cv. RD6 which was fermented without adding soybean milk.     

Elevated yield of monacolin K in Monascus purpureus by fungal elicitor and mutagenesis of UV and LiCl

In China, Monascus spp., a traditional fungus used in fermentation, is used as a natural food additive. Monascus spp. can produce a secondary metabolite, monacolin K namely, which is proven to be a cholesterol-lowering and hypotensive agent. Hence, recently, many researchers have begun focusing on how to increase the production of monacolin K by Monascus purpureus. In the present study, we investigated the effect of the fungal elicitor and the mutagenesis of UV & LiCl on the amount of monacolin K produced by Monascus purpureus. The fugal elicitor, Sporobolomyces huaxiensis, was isolated from tea leaves and its filtrate was added into the culture filtrate of Monascus purpureus during growth to induct the production of monacolin K. The results showed that the highest amount of monacolin K produced by the liquid fermentation was 446.92 mg/mL, which was produced after the fungal elicitor was added to the culture filtrate of Monascus purpureus on the day 4; this amount was approximately 6 times greater than that of the control culture filtrate, whereas the highest amount of monacolin K produced by the mutated strain was 3 times greater than the control culture after the irradiation of UV light in the presence of 1.0 % LiCl in the medium.     

氨基酸对于Monascus ruber生物合成Monacolin K影响的研究

在Monacolin K发酵中添加氨基酸后发现较高质量浓度的氨基酸高度抑制了Monacolin K的产量。0.1 g.L-1的D-甲硫氨酸在发酵第4 d添加可以提高产量30%以上,而L-甲硫氨酸则没有此功能,D,L-甲硫氨酸因D-甲硫氨酸的关系也有一定的增产效果。以甲硫氨酸代替蛋白胨作为主要氮源,则抑制了polyketide途径的前期步骤,因此严重抑制了色素及Monacolin K的生产。另外,发现1 g.L-1的L-苯丙氨酸的添加时间越早越有利于Monacolin K的生产,在起始时添加发酵单位可达135.9 mg.L-1,可能是因为L-苯丙氨酸经过脱氨后,可以进入polyketide途径从而促进了Monacolin K的生产。     

Improvement of monacolin K, γ-aminobutyric acid and citrinin production ratio as a function of environmental conditions of<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Monascus purpureus</Emphasis> NTU 601

Monascus, a traditional Chinese fermentation fungus, is used as a natural dietary supplement. Its metabolic products monacolin K and -aminobutyric acid (GABA) have each been proven to be a cholesterol-lowering drug and a hypotensive agent. Citrinin, another secondary metabolite, is toxic to humans, thus lowering the acceptability of red mold rice to the general public. In this study, the influence of different carbon and nitrogen sources, and fatty acid or oils, on the production of monacolin K, citrinin and GABA by Monascus purpureus NTU 601 was studied. When 0.5% ethanol was added to the culture medium, the production of citrinin decreased from 813 ppb to 561 ppb while monacolin K increased from 136 mg/kg to 383 mg/kg and GABA increased from 1,060 mg/kg to 7,453 mg/kg. In addition, response surface methodology was used to optimize culture conditions for monacolin K, citrinin and GABA production, and data were collected according to a three-factor (temperature, ethanol concentration and amount of water supplemented), three-level central composite design. When 500 g rice was used as a solid substrate with 120 ml water and 0.3% ethanol, the production of monacolin K at 30°C increased from 136 mg/kg to 530 mg/kg, GABA production increased from 1,060 mg/kg to 5,004 mg/kg and citrinin decreased from 813 ppb to 460 ppb.     

Artificially designed routes for the conversion of starch to value-added mannosyl compounds through coupling in vitro and in vivo metabolic engineering strategies

Starch/cellulose has become the major feedstock for manufacturing biofuels and biochemicals because of their abundance and sustainability. In this study, we presented an artificially designed “starch-mannose-fermentation” biotransformation process through coupling the advantages of in vivo and in vitro metabolic engineering strategies together. Starch was initially converted into mannose via an in vitro metabolic engineering biosystem, and then mannose was fermented by engineered microorganisms for biomanufacturing valuable mannosyl compounds. The in vitro metabolic engineering biosystem based on phosphorylation/dephosphorylation reactions was thermodynamically favorable and the conversion rate reached 81%. The mannose production using whole-cell biocatalysts reached 75.4 g/L in a 30-L reactor, indicating the potential industrial application. Furthermore, the produced mannose in the reactor was directly served as feedstock for the fermentation process to bottom-up produced 19.2 g/L mannosyl-oligosaccharides (MOS) and 7.2 g/L mannosylglycerate (MG) using recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum strains. Notably, such a mannose fermentation process facilitated the synthesis of MOS, which has not been achieved under glucose fermentation and improved MG production by 2.6-fold than that using the same C-mole of glucose. This approach also allowed access to produce other kinds of mannosyl derivatives from starch.     

A Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant with echinocandin-resistant 1,3-beta-D-glucan synthase.

A novel, potent, semisynthetic pneumocandin, L-733,560, was used to isolate a resistant mutant in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This compound, like other pneumocandins and echinocandins, inhibits 1,3-beta-D-glucan synthase from Candida albicans (F.A. Bouffard, R.A. Zambias, J. F. Dropinski, J.M. Balkovec, M.L. Hammond, G.K. Abruzzo, K.F. Bartizal, J.A. Marrinan, M. B. Kurtz, D.C. McFadden, K.H. Nollstadt, M.A. Powles, and D.M. Schmatz, J. Med. Chem. 37:222-225, 1994). Glucan synthesis catalyzed by a crude membrane fraction prepared from the S. cerevisiae mutant R560-1C was resistant to inhibition by L-733,560. The nearly 50-fold increase in the 50% inhibitory concentration against glucan synthase was commensurate with the increase in whole-cell resistance. R560-1C was cross-resistant to other inhibitors of C. albicans 1,3-beta-D-glucan synthase (aculeacin A, dihydropapulacandin, and others) but not to compounds with different modes of action. Genetic analysis revealed that enzyme and whole-cell pneumocandin resistance was due to a single mutant gene, designated etg1-1 (echinocandin target gene 1), which was semidominant in heterozygous diploids. The etg1-1 mutation did not confer enhanced ability to metabolize L-733,560 and had no effect on the membrane-bound enzymes chitin synthase I and squalene synthase. Alkali-soluble beta-glucan synthesized by crude microsomes from R560-1C was indistinguishable from the wild-type product. 1,3-beta-D-Glucan synthase activity from R560-1C was fractionated with NaCl and Tergitol NP-40; reconstitution with fractions from wild-type membranes revealed that drug resistance is associated with the insoluble membrane fraction. We propose that the etg1-1 mutant gene encodes a subunit of the 1,3-beta-D-glucan synthase complex.     

Improved beta-lactam acylases and their use as industrial biocatalysts

Whereas the beta-lactam acylases are traditionally used for the hydrolytic processing of penicillin G and cephalosporin C, new and mutated acylases can be used for the hydrolysis of alternative fermentation products as well as for the synthesis of semisynthetic beta-lactam antibiotics. Three-dimensional structural analyses and site-directed mutagenesis studies have increased the understanding of the catalytic mechanism of these enzymes. The yield of hydrolysis and synthesis has been greatly improved by process design, including immobilization of the enzyme and the use of alternative reaction media. Significant advances have also been made in the resolution of racemic mixtures by means of stereoselective acylation/hydrolysis using beta-lactam acylases.     

固体发酵生产Monacolin K的动力学模型

对红曲霉菌株Monacus-3合成Monacolin K的发酵动力学进行了研究,建立了该菌株固体发酵合成Monacolin K的菌体生长、产物合成和底物消耗的动力学模型,并对模型参数进行了非线形回归。结果表明预测值与实验值有良好的拟和性,说明所建数学模型能较好地描述实际合成Monacolin K的固体发酵过程。     

Development of monacolin K-enriched ganghwayakssuk (Artemisia princeps Pamp.) by fermentation with Monascus pilosus

Monacolin K-enriched ganghwayakssuk (Artemisia princeps Pamp.) was developed by fermentation with Monascus sp. Among the 15 Monascus spp. isolated previously from Monascus fermentation products, Monascus pilosus KMU108 produced 2,219 mg/kg of monacolin K during ganghwayakssuk fermentation with no detectable citrinin. The optimum concentrations of ganghwayakssuk and glucose determined from the response surface methodology (RSM) design were 2.2% and 3.8%, respectively. By applying these conditions, the monacolin K productivity was increased to 3,007 mg/kg after 15 days of fermentation. On the other hand, other characteristics such as the total content of flavonoids and phenolic compounds, and the antioxidant activity were relatively unchanged. Therefore, Monascusfermented ganghwayakssuk is an excellent biomaterial for the development of functional foods because of its high level of monacolin K, known to lower cholesterol levels.