Structural and Biochemical Studies of a Biocatalyst for the Enzymatic Production of Wax Esters.

ABSTRACT: Wax esters are high-value products whose enzymatic synthesis is of increasing biotechnological interest. The fabrication of cell factories that mass-produce wax esters may provide a facile route towards a sustainable, and environment-friendly approach to a large-scale process for this commodity chemical. An expedient route for wax-ester biocatalysis may be facilitated by the action of enzymes termed wax ester synthases/diacylglycerol acyltransferases (WS/DGAT), which produce wax esters using fatty acids and alcohols as a precursor. In this work, we report the structure for a member of the WS/DGAT superfamily. The structural data in conjunction with bioinformatics and mutational analyses allowed us to identify the substrate binding pockets, and residues that may be important for catalysis.

SUBMITTER: Petronikolou N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6761989 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature