Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases: an update on perspectives for synthetic application

• Published in: Trends in biotechnology (Regular ed.) Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 26 - 36
• Main Authors: Urlacher, Vlada B, Girhard, Marco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, MA Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2012; Cell Press; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Animals; Biocatalysis; biocatalysts; Bioconversions. Hemisynthesis; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Biotechnology - methods; Cytochrome; cytochrome P-450; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System - chemistry; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System - genetics; cytochrome P450; Cytochromes P450; engineering; Enzymes; Evolution; Fatty acids; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genomes; Humans; Hydrocarbons; Internal Medicine; Metabolites; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; Pools; Protein Engineering; Protein Stability; Proteins; Recombinant; Recombinant Proteins - chemistry; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Stability; Substrate Specificity; Tasks; Zebrafish; Protein engineering; Biocatalysis; Biotransformation; Review; Recombinant protein; Application; Biocatalyst
• ISSN: 0167-7799; 1879-3096
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2011.06.012

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) are versatile biocatalysts that catalyze the regio- and stereospecific oxidation of non-activated hydrocarbons under mild conditions, which is a challenging task for chemical catalysts. Over the past decade impressive advances have been achieved via protein engineering with regard to activity, stability and specificity of P450s. In addition, a large pool of newly annotated P450s has attracted much attention as a source for novel biocatalysts for oxidation. In this review we give a short up-to-date overview of recent results on P450 engineering for technical applications including aspects of whole-cell biocatalysis with engineered recombinant enzymes. Furthermore, we focus on recently identified P450s with novel biotechnologically relevant properties.