Paradisi Research

@paradisireslab.bsky.social

Discovery Evolution Application #biocatalysis #enzymes #flow #enzymeimmobilization in beautiful Bern🇨🇭 www.paradisiresearch.com

Ho ho ho! Early Christmas present with this paper hot off the press! Well done to Bea, Jeremie, Arina, and the collaborators Omar and Ivano! Highly Efficient One-Pot Bi-Enzymatic Cascade to 5-MeO-Tryptamine | ACS Catalysis pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Highly Efficient One-Pot Bi-Enzymatic Cascade to 5-MeO-Tryptamine

Biocatalytic routes to tryptamine analogues are attractive for sustainable synthesis because they rely on renewable catalysts and can operate under mild aqueous conditions. However, their application is often limited by the enzyme substrate scope and process limitations. We developed a one-pot tandem two-enzyme cascade for the synthesis of 5-MeO-tryptamine from inexpensive substituted indole under mild and aqueous conditions. Exploiting its ability to work in the synthetic direction, we engineered Escherichia coli tryptophanase A (EcTnaA) to catalyze the synthesis of 5-MeO-tryptophan starting from the corresponding indole and l-serine. Previously reported Ruminococcus gnavus l-tryptophan decarboxylase (RgnTDC) was also engineered and combined with EcTnaA to obtain the final product of the cascade with yields up to 95% in 23 h. The cascade could be operated with 5-MeO-indole as a solid suspension (beyond its solubility limit) in pure aqueous buffer, which improved decarboxylase performance, with a yield of 88% in just 4 h, and a space–time yield (STY) of 2.1 g L–1 h–1, corresponding to a 35-fold increase in STY compared to previously reported methods. Enhanced-sampling computational techniques indicated that the selected RgnTDC W349Y increases gating-loop flexibility and open-state occupancy, providing a mechanistic rationale for the improved binding and release of bulkier substrates. These results establish an efficient and scalable biocatalytic route to 5-MeO-tryptamine and show how rational mutagenesis and solid-substrate, organic solvent-free setup can be combined to enable greener, low-cost production of tryptamine analogues.

pubs.acs.org

Well done to Stefy and Arpita on this great review published in Nature Chemical Biology where we collected examples in which microbial systems (whole cells) have been combined with other forms of catalysis Read here for free: rdcu.be/eLiT0

Advances in integrating microbial metabolism with catalytic systems

Nature Chemical Biology - This Review discusses recent strategies for integrating microbial metabolism with chemocatalysis, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis and biocatalysis to enable sustainable...

rdcu.be

‼️We are hiring!! 📣 Please share widely! This is a similar position (fully funded) to the one I advertised about a year ago, but the project is progressing. Very exciting times to join the group! Description and instructions below 👇🏻

Bild

Have a read at this perspective co-authored with David Lim where we look at the progress in hybrid catalytic systems. Well done Davey, I could not have made the deadline without you! Hybrid Catalytic Systems: Integrating Biocatalysis in the Chemical Space | ACS Catalysis pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Hybrid Catalytic Systems: Integrating Biocatalysis in the Chemical Space

Achieving stereocontrol in chemical transformations remains one of the cornerstones of synthesis. Traditional methods to achieve stereoselectivity are based on organo- or metal catalysts, which may ra...

pubs.acs.org