AbstractEnzymes are attractive catalysts for chemical industries, and their use has become a mature alternative to conventional chemical methods. However, biocatalytic approaches are often restricted to metabolic and less complex reactivities, given the limited amount of functional groups present. This drawback can be addressed by incorporating non‐canonical amino acids (ncAAs) harboring new‐to‐nature chemical groups. Inspired by organocatalysis, we report the design, synthesis and characterization of a panel of ncAAs harboring functional secondary amines and their cellular incorporation into different protein scaffolds. D/L‐pyrrolidine‐ and D/L‐piperidine‐based ncAAs were successfully site‐specifically incorporated into proteins via stop codon suppression methodology. To demonstrate the utility of these ncAAs, the catalytic performance of the obtained artificial enzymes was investigated in a model Michael addition reaction. The incorporation of pyrrolidine‐ and piperidine‐ based ncAAs significantly expands the available toolbox for protein engineering and chemical biology applications.
摘要酶是
化学工业中极具吸引力的催化剂,其使用已成为传统
化学方法的成熟替代品。然而,由于存在的官能团数量有限,
生物催化方法往往局限于新陈代谢和不太复杂的反应。通过加入含有新自然
化学基团的非典型
氨基酸(nc
AAs),可以解决这一缺点。受有机催化的启发,我们报告了一组含有功能性仲胺的 nc
AAs 的设计、合成和表征,以及它们在细胞中与不同蛋白质支架的结合。通过终止密码子抑制方法,D/L-
吡咯烷和 D/L-
哌啶基 nc
AAs 成功地定点整合到了蛋白质中。为了证明这些 nc
AAs 的实用性,研究人员在迈克尔加成反应模型中考察了所获得人工酶的催化性能。基于
吡咯烷和
哌啶的 nc
AAs 的加入大大扩展了蛋白质工程和
化学生物学应用的可用工具箱。