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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Biosynthesis of a Flavonol from a Flavanone by Establishing a One-pot Bienzymatic Cascade
Published on: August 14, 2019
Constitutive expression of nitrilase from Rhodococcus zopfii for efficient biosynthesis of 2-chloronicotinic acid
An-Di Dai1,2, Zhe-Ming Wu1,2, Ren-Chao Zheng1,2
1Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Synthesis of Zhejiang Province, College of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014 People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
2-chloronicotinic acid (2-CA) is a key precursor for the synthesis of a series of pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Nitrilase-catalyzed bioprocess is a promising method for 2-CA production from 2-chloronicotinonitrile (2-CN). In this study, a mutant of nitrilase from Rhodococcus zopfii (RzNIT/W167G) was constitutively overexpressed with Escherichia coli as host, which exhibited a onefold increase in enzymatic activity compared with inducible expression. Biosynthesis of 2-CA using whole cells harboring nitrilase as biocatalysts were investigated and 318.5 mM 2-CA was produced, which was the highest level for 2-CA production catalyzed by nitrilase to date. 2-CA was recovered from the reaction mixture through a simple acidification step with a recovery yield of 90%. This study developed an efficient bioprocess for 2-CA with great potential for industrial application.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-022-03119-0.
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