Highly efficient whole-cell biosynthesis and cytotoxicity of esculin esters

Esculin is a polyphenol with multiple bioactivities and poor lipophilicity. Therefore, a whole-cell catalytic strategy for esculin acylation was developed to improve its lipophilicity. A total of 12 strains were tested, among which Pseudomonas stutzeri exhibited the highest catalytic activity and mono-acylated regioselectivity. The conversion reached the highest level of 92.7 % at 24 h under the optimal conditions, when vinyl acetate was used as an acyl donor. The catalytic ability of P. stutzeri remained above 60 % after three cycles. Subsequently, five esculin esters with different lengths of fatty chains were synthesized and structurally identified. Of them, esculin-6'-O-octanoate, esculin-6'-O-laurate, and esculin-6'-O-myristate exhibited cytotoxicity on LO2 cells by inducing apoptosis and necrosis. The cytotoxicity of these three esters may attribute to their membrane-disrupting properties. This study provides a novel whole-cell biocatalytic strategy for the acylation of esculin and insight for application of esculin esters as a food additive or drug.