Improving the activity and enantioselectivity of PvEH1, a Phaseolus vulgaris epoxide hydrolase, for o-methylphenyl glycidyl ether by multiple site-directed mutagenesis on the basis of rational design

Abstract

Substrate spectrum assay exhibited that PvEH1, which is an epoxide hydrolase from P. vulgaris, had the highest specific activity and enantiomeric ratio (E) for racemic o-methylphenyl glycidyl ether (rac-1) among tested aryl glycidyl ethers (1–5). To produce (R)-1 via kinetic resolution of rac-1 efficiently, the catalytic properties of PvEH1 were further improved on the basis of rational design. Firstly, the seven single-site variants of PvEH1-encoding gene (pveh1) were PCR-amplified as designed, and expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3). Among all expressed single-site mutants, PvEH1L105I and PvEH1V106I had the highest specific activities of 17.6 and 16.4 U/mg protein, respectively, while PvEH1L196D had an enhanced E value of 9.2. Secondly, to combine their respective merits, one triple-site variant, pveh1L105I/V106I/L196D, was also amplified, and expressed. The specific activity, E value, and catalytic efficiency of PvEH1L105I/V106I/L196D were 23.1 U/mg, 10.9, and 6.65 mM−1 s−1, respectively, which were 2.0-, 1.8- and 2.4-fold higher than those of wild-type PvEH1. The source of PvEH1L105I/V106I/L196D with enhanced E value for rac-1 was preliminarily analyzed by molecular docking simulation. Finally, the scale-up kinetic resolution of 100 mM rac-1 was conducted using 5 mg wet cells/mL E. coli/pveh1L105I/V106I/L196D at 25 °C for 1.5 h, producing (R)-1 with 95.0% ees, 32.1% yield and 3.52 g/L/h space-time yield.