Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2026

In Vitro Directed Evolution of a Restriction Endonuclease with More Stringent Specificity
Published on: March 25, 2020
Highly enantioselective mutant carbonyl reductases created via structure-based site-saturation mutagenesis
Hongmei Li1, Yan Yang, Dunming Zhu
1State Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.
Abstract:
A carbonyl reductase from Sporobolomyces salmonicolor reduced para-substituted acetophenones with low enantioselectivity. Enzyme-substrate docking studies revealed that residues M242 and Q245 were in close proximity to the para-substituent of acetophenones in the substrate binding site. Site-saturation mutagenesis of M242 or Q245, and double mutation of M242 and Q245 were performed in order to enhance the enzyme's enantioselectivity toward the reduction of para-substituted acetophenones. Three Q245 mutants were obtained, which inverted the enantiopreference of product alcohols from (R)- to (S)-configuration with high ee values (Org. Lett. 2008, 10, 525-528). Four M242 mutant enzymes also showed greater preference for the formation of (S)-enantiomeric alcohols than the wild-type enzyme, but to a much less extent than Q245 mutants. M242/Q245 double variations not only greatly affect the enantiomeric purity of the product alcohols, but also invert the enantiopreference, demonstrating that these residues play a critical role in determining the enantioselectivity of these ketone reductions. The kinetic parameters of these mutant enzymes indicated that residues 242 and 245 also exert an effect on the catalytic activity of this carbonyl reductase. Highly enantioselective mutant carbonyl reductases were created by site-saturation mutagenesis, among which the one bearing double mutations, M242L/Q245P, showed the highest enantioselectivity that catalyzed the reduction of the tested para-substituted acetophenones to give (S)-enantiomeric products in ≥99% ee with only one exception of p-fluoroacetophenone (92% ee).
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
Allosteric Proteins-ATCase
Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of L-aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate to N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate. This reaction is the first step in pyrimidine biosynthesis. UTP and CTP, the end products of the pyrimidine synthesis pathway,...
Regioselective Formation of Enolates
Ligand Binding and Linkage
Reduction of Alkenes: Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...
Synthesis of α-Substituted Carbonyl Compounds: The Stork Enamine Reaction

