Roelfes, G.

ChemBioChem 2020, 21, 3077-3081, 10.1002/cbic.202000306

We have examined the potential of the noncanonical amino acid (8-hydroxyquinolin-3-yl)alanine (HQAla) for the design of artificial metalloenzymes. HQAla, a versatile chelator of late transition metals, was introduced into the lactococcal multidrug-resistance regulator (LmrR) by stop codon suppression methodology. LmrR_HQAla was shown to complex efficiently with three different metal ions, CuII, ZnII and RhIII to form unique artificial metalloenzymes. The catalytic potential of the CuII-bound LmrR_HQAla enzyme was shown through its ability to catalyse asymmetric Friedel-Craft alkylation and water addition, whereas the ZnII-coupled enzyme was shown to mimic natural Zn hydrolase activity.

Roelfes, G.

Dalton Trans. 2017, 46, 4325-4330, 10.1039/C7DT00533D

An artificial metalloenzyme containing both a regulatory and a catalytic domain is selectively activated in presence of Fe2+ ions.

Roelfes, G.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 7785-7789, 10.1002/anie.201802946

An artificial heme enzyme was created through self‐assembly from hemin and the lactococcal multidrug resistance regulator (LmrR). The crystal structure shows the heme bound inside the hydrophobic pore of the protein, where it appears inaccessible for substrates. However, good catalytic activity and moderate enantioselectivity was observed in an abiological cyclopropanation reaction. We propose that the dynamic nature of the structure of the LmrR protein is key to the observed activity. This was supported by molecular dynamics simulations, which showed transient formation of opened conformations that allow the binding of substrates and the formation of pre‐catalytic structures.

Roelfes, G.

Chem. Sci. 2013, 4, 3578, 10.1039/c3sc51449h

Direct addition of water to alkenes to generate important chiral alcohols as key motif in a variety of natural products still remains a challenge in organic chemistry. Here, we report the first enantioselective artificial metallo-hydratase, based on the transcription factor LmrR, which catalyses the conjugate addition of water to generate chiral β-hydroxy ketones with enantioselectivities up to 84% ee. A mutagenesis study revealed that an aspartic acid and a phenylalanine located in the active site play a key role in achieving efficient catalysis and high enantioselectivities.

Shaw, W.J.

Organometallics 2020, 39, 1532-1544, 10.1021/acs.organomet.9b00843

The protein scaffold around the active site of enzymes is known to influence catalytic activity, but specific scaffold features responsible for favorable influences are often not known. This study focuses on using an artificial metalloenzyme to probe one specific feature of the scaffold, the position of a positive charge in the outer coordination sphere around the active site. Previous work showed that a small molecular complex, [Rh(PEt2NglycinePEt2)2]−, immobilized covalently within a protein scaffold was activated for CO2 hydrogenation. Here, using an iterative design where the effect of arginine, histidine, or lysine residues placed in the outer coordination sphere of the catalytic active site were evaluated, we tested the hypothesis that positively charged groups facilitate CO2 hydrogenation with seven unique constructs. Single-, double-, and triple-point mutations were introduced to directly compare catalytic activity, as monitored by turnover frequencies (TOFs) measured in real time with 1H NMR spectroscopy, and evaluate related structural and electronic properties. Two of the seven constructs showed a 2- and 3-fold increase relative to the wild type, with overall rates ranging from 0.2 to 0.7 h–1, and a crystal structure of the fastest of these shows the positive charge positioned next to the active site. A crystal structure of the arginine-containing complex shows that the arginines are positioned near the metal. Molecular dynamics (MD) studies also suggest that the positive charge is oriented next to the active site in the two constructs with faster rates but not in the others and that the positive charge near the active site holds the CO2 near the metal, all consistent with a positive charge appropriately positioned in the scaffold benefiting catalysis. The MD studies also suggest that changes in the water distribution around the active site may contribute to catalytic activity, while modest structural changes and movement of the complex within the scaffold do not.

Roelfes, G.

ChemCatChem 2020, 12, 3190-3194, 10.1002/cctc.202000245

The supramolecular approach is among the most convenient methodologies for creating artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs). Usually this approach involves the binding of a transition metal ion complex to a biomolecular scaffold via its ligand, which also modulates the catalytic properties of the metal ion. Herein, we report ArMs based on the proteins CgmR, RamR and QacR from the TetR family of multidrug resistance regulators (MDRs) and Cu2+ ions, assembled without the need of a ligand. These ArMs catalyze the enantioselective vinylogous Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction with up to 75 % ee. Competition experiments with ethidium and rhodamine 6G confirm that the reactions occur in the chiral environment of the hydrophobic pocket. It is proposed that the Cu2+-substrate complex is bound via a combination of electrostatic and π-stacking interactions provided by the second coordination sphere. This approach constitutes a fast and straightforward way to assemble metalloenzymes and may facilitate future optimization of the protein scaffolds via mutagenesis or directed evolution approaches.

Maréchal, J.-D.; Roelfes, G.

Chem. Sci. 2017, 8, 7228-7235, 10.1039/C7SC03477F

The design of artificial metalloenzymes is a challenging, yet ultimately highly rewarding objective because of the potential for accessing new-to-nature reactions. One of the main challenges is identifying catalytically active substrate–metal cofactor–host geometries. The advent of expanded genetic code methods for the in vivo incorporation of non-canonical metal-binding amino acids into proteins allow to address an important aspect of this challenge: the creation of a stable, well-defined metal-binding site. Here, we report a designed artificial metallohydratase, based on the transcriptional repressor lactococcal multidrug resistance regulator (LmrR), in which the non-canonical amino acid (2,2′-bipyridin-5yl)alanine is used to bind the catalytic Cu(II) ion. Starting from a set of empirical pre-conditions, a combination of cluster model calculations (QM), protein–ligand docking and molecular dynamics simulations was used to propose metallohydratase variants, that were experimentally verified. The agreement observed between the computationally predicted and experimentally observed catalysis results demonstrates the power of the artificial metalloenzyme design approach presented here.

Roelfes, G.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 7472-7475, 10.1002/anie.201202070

A game of two halves: Artificial metalloenzymes are generated by forming a novel active site on the dimer interface of the transcription factor LmrR. Two copper centers are incorporated by binding to ligands in each half of the dimer. With this system up to 97 % ee was obtained in the benchmark CuII catalyzed Diels–Alder reaction (see scheme).

Roelfes, G.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 5913-5920, 10.1002/anie.202014771

We report the supramolecular assembly of artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs), based on the Lactococcal multidrug resistance regulator (LmrR) and an exogeneous copper(II)–phenanthroline complex, in the cytoplasm of E. coli cells. A combination of catalysis, cell-fractionation, and inhibitor experiments, supplemented with in-cell solid-state NMR spectroscopy, confirmed the in-cell assembly. The ArM-containing whole cells were active in the catalysis of the enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indoles and the Diels–Alder reaction of azachalcone with cyclopentadiene. Directed evolution resulted in two different improved mutants for both reactions, LmrR_A92E_M8D and LmrR_A92E_V15A, respectively. The whole-cell ArM system required no engineering of the microbial host, the protein scaffold, or the cofactor to achieve ArM assembly and catalysis. We consider this a key step towards integrating abiological catalysis with biosynthesis to generate a hybrid metabolism.

Roelfes, G.

Chem. Sci. 2015, 6, 770-776, 10.1039/c4sc01525h

Artificial metalloenzymes have emerged as an attractive new approach to enantioselective catalysis. Herein, we introduce a novel strategy for preparation of artificial metalloenzymes utilizing amber stop codon suppression methodology for the in vivo incorporation of metal-binding unnatural amino acids. The resulting artificial metalloenzymes were applied in catalytic asymmetric Friedel–Crafts alkylation reactions and up to 83% ee for the product was achieved.

Roelfes, G.

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 9796-9799, 10.1021/jacs.5b05790

Supramolecular anchoring of transition metal complexes to a protein scaffold is an attractive approach to the construction of artificial metalloenzymes since this is conveniently achieved by self-assembly. Here, we report a novel design for supramolecular artificial metalloenzymes that exploits the promiscuity of the central hydrophobic cavity of the transcription factor Lactococcal multidrug resistance Regulator (LmrR) as a generic binding site for planar coordination complexes that do not provide specific protein binding interactions. The success of this approach is manifested in the excellent enantioselectivities that are achieved in the Cu(II) catalyzed enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indoles.

Roelfes, G.

Nat. Catal. 2020, 3, 289-294, 10.1038/s41929-019-0420-6

Artificial enzymes, which are hybrids of proteins with abiological catalytic groups, have emerged as a powerful approach towards the creation of enzymes for new-to-nature reactions. Typically, only a single abiological catalytic moiety is incorporated. Here we introduce a design of an artificial enzyme that comprises two different abiological catalytic moieties and show that these can act synergistically to achieve high activity and enantioselectivity (up to >99% e.e.) in the catalysed Michael addition reaction. The design is based on the lactococcal multidrug resistance regulator as the protein scaffold and combines a genetically encoded unnatural p-aminophenylalanine residue (which activates an enal through iminium ion formation) and a supramolecularly bound Lewis acidic Cu(ii) complex (which activates the Michael donor by enolization and delivers it to one preferred prochiral face of the activated enal). This study demonstrates that synergistic combination of abiological catalytic groups is a robust way to achieve catalysis that is normally outside of the realm of artificial enzymes.