Steric hindrance in the binding pocket of an alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) has a great impact on its activity and stereoselectivity simultaneously. Due to the subtle structural difference between two bulky phenyl substituents, the asymmetric synthesis of diaryl alcohols by bioreduction of diaryl ketones is often hindered by the low activity and stereoselectivity of ADHs. To engineer an ADH with practical properties and to investigate the molecular mechanism behind the asymmetric biocatalysis of diaryl ketones, we engineered an ADH from Lactobacillus kefiri (LkADH) to asymmetrically catalyse the reduction of 4-chlorodiphenylketones (CPPK), which are not catalysed by the wild type (WT) enzyme. Mutants seq1–seq5 with gradually increased activity and stereoselectivity were obtained through iterative “shrinking mutagenesis.” The final mutant seq5 (Y190P/I144V/L199V/E145C/M206F) demonstrated the highest activity and excellent stereoselectivity of >99% ee. Molecular simulation analyses revealed that mutations may enhance the activity by eliminating steric hindrance, inducing a more open binding loop and constructing more noncovalent interactions. The pro-R pose of CPPK with a halogen bond formed a pre-reaction conformation more easily than the pro-S pose, resulting in the high ee of (R)-CPPO in seq5. Moreover, different halogen bonds formed due to the different positions of chlorine substituents, resulting in opposite substrate binding orientation and stereoselectivity. Therefore, the stereoselectivity of seq5 was inverted toward ortho- rather than para-chlorine substituted ketones. These results indicate that the stereocontrol element of LkADH was changed to recognise diaryl ketones after steric hindrance was eliminated. This study provides novel insights into the role of steric hindrance and noncovalent bonds in the determination of the activity and stereoselectivity of enzymes, and presents an approach producing key intermediates of chiral drugs with practical potential.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by neuronal loss and dysfunction of dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra, which contain a variety of misfolded α-synuclein (α-syn). Medications that increase or substitute for dopamine can be used for the treatment of PD. Recently, numerous studies have shown gut microbiota plays a crucial role in regulating and maintaining multiple aspects of host physiology including host metabolism and neurodevelopment. In this review article, the role of gut microbiota in the etiological mechanism of PD will be reviewed. Furthermore, we discussed current pharmaceutical medicine-based methods to prevent and treat PD, followed by describing specific strains that affect the host brain function through the gut-brain axis. We explained in detail how gut microbiota directly produces neurotransmitters or regulate the host biosynthesis of neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters secreted by the intestinal lumen bacteria may induce epithelial cells to release molecules that, in turn, can regulate neural signaling in the enteric nervous system and subsequently control brain function and behavior through the brain-gut axis. Finally, we proved that the microbial regulation of the host neuronal system. Endogenous α-syn can be transmitted long distance and bidirectional between ENS and brain through the circulatory system which gives us a new option that the possibility of altering the community of gut microbiota in completely new medication option for treating PD.

Anidulafungin, which noncompetitively inhibits β-(1,3)- d -glucan synthase in fungal cell wall biosynthesis, is the newest antifungal drug to be developed. Echinocandin B deacylase from Actinoplanes utahensis NRRL 12052 catalyzes the cleavage of the linoleoyl group of echinocandin B, a key step in the process of manufacturing anidulafungin. Unfortunately, the natural yield of echinocandin B nucleus is low. In our study, the echinocandin B deacylase gene was systematically overexpressed by genetic engineering in its original producer, A. utahensis , and in the heterologous hosts Streptomyces lividans TK24 and Streptomyces albus . The introduction of additional copies of the gene, under the control of PermE * or its native promoter, into hosts showed significant increases in its transcription level and in the efficiency of the bioconversion of echinocandin B to its nucleus. The conditions for the cultivation and bioconversion of A. utahensis have been optimized further to improve production. As a result, while the wild-type strain initially produced 0.36 g/liter, a concentration of 4.21 g/liter was obtained after the generation of a strain with additional copies of the gene and further optimization of the reaction conditions. These results are useful for enhancing echinocandin B nucleus production in A. utahensis . Our study could enable the engineering of commercially useful echinocandin B nucleus-overproducing stains.