Engineering of artificial plant cytochrome P450 enzymes for synthesis of isoflavones by Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Engineered microbes are becoming increasingly important as recombinant production platforms. However, the nonfunctionality of membrane-bound cytochrome P450 enzymes precludes the use of industrially relevant prokaryotes such as Escherichia coli for high-level in vivo synthesis of many functional plant-derived compounds. We describe the design of a series of artificial isoflavone synthases that allowed the robust production of plant estrogen pharmaceuticals by E. coli. Through this methodology, a plant P450 construct was assembled to mimic the architecture of a self-sufficient bacterial P450 and contained tailor-made membrane recognition signals. The specific in vivo production catalyzed by one identified chimera was up to 20-fold higher than that achieved by the native enzyme expressed in

SUBMITTER: Leonard E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2168208 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature