Biosynthesis of 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid (2-HIBA) from renewable carbon

Nowadays a growing demand for green chemicals and cleantech solutions is motivating the industry to strive for biobased building blocks. We have identified the tertiary carbon atom-containing 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid (2-HIBA) as an interesting building block for polymer synthesis. Starting from this carboxylic acid, practically all compounds possessing the isobutane structure are accessible by simple chemical conversions, e. g. the commodity methacrylic acid as well as isobutylene glycol and oxide. During recent years, biotechnological routes to 2-HIBA acid have been proposed and significant progress in elucidating the underlying biochemistry has been made. Besides biohydrolysis and biooxidation, now a bioisomerization reaction can be employed, converting the common metabolite 3-hydroxybutyric acid to 2-HIBA by a novel cobalamin-dependent CoA-carbonyl mutase. The latter reaction has recently been discovered in the course of elucidating the degradation pathway of the groundwater pollutant methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in the new bacterial species Aquincola tertiaricarbonis. This discovery opens the ground for developing a completely biotechnological process for producing 2-HIBA. The mutase enzyme has to be active in a suitable biological system producing 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA, which is the precursor of the well-known bacterial bioplastic polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). This connection to the PHB metabolism is a great advantage as its underlying biochemistry and physiology is well understood and can easily be adopted towards producing 2-HIBA. This review highlights the potential of these discoveries for a large-scale 2-HIBA biosynthesis from renewable carbon, replacing conventional chemistry as synthesis route and petrochemicals as carbon source

Actinobacterial Degradation of 2-Hydroxyisobutyric Acid Proceeds via Acetone and Formyl-CoA by Employing a Thiamine-Dependent Lyase Reaction

We would like to thank C. Dilßner and M. Neytschev (UFZ) for excellent technical assistance with CoA thioester synthesis, strain cultivation and HPLC analyses. In addition, we thank Birgit Würz (UFZ) for invaluable analytical advice and help with GC mass spectrometry. We are also indebted to L. von Wintzingerode, A. Grunwald, and J. Grabengießer (UFZ) for assistance in the cultivation and enzyme assay experiments. Many thanks to K. Eismann (UFZ) as well, for help with the proteome analysis and fruitful discussions regarding different protein extraction methods.The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00691/full#supplementary-materialThe tertiary branched short-chain 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid (2-HIBA) has been associated with several metabolic diseases and lysine 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation seems to be a common eukaryotic as well as prokaryotic post-translational modification in proteins. In contrast, the underlying 2-HIBA metabolism has thus far only been detected in a few microorganisms, such as the betaproteobacterium Aquincola tertiaricarbonis L108 and the Bacillus group bacterium Kyrpidia tusciae DSM 2912. In these strains, 2-HIBA can be specifically activated to the corresponding CoA thioester by the 2-HIBA-CoA ligase (HCL) and is then isomerized to 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA in a reversible and B12-dependent mutase reaction. Here, we demonstrate that the actinobacterial strain Actinomycetospora chiangmaiensis DSM 45062 degrades 2-HIBA and also its precursor 2-methylpropane-1,2-diol via acetone and formic acid by employing a thiamine pyrophosphate-dependent lyase. The corresponding gene is located directly upstream of hcl, which has previously been found only in operonic association with the 2-hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA mutase genes in other bacteria. Heterologous expression of the lyase gene from DSM 45062 in E. coli established a 2-hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA lyase activity in the latter. In line with this, analysis of the DSM 45062 proteome reveals a strong induction of the lyase-HCL gene cluster on 2-HIBA. Acetone is likely degraded via hydroxylation to acetol catalyzed by a MimABCD-related binuclear iron monooxygenase and formic acid appears to be oxidized to CO2 by selenium-dependent dehydrogenases. The presence of the lyase-HCL gene cluster in isoprene-degrading Rhodococcus strains and Pseudonocardia associated with tropical leafcutter ant species points to a role in degradation of biogenic short-chain ketones and highly branched organic compounds.Program Topic "Chemicals in the Environment" within the Research Program "Terrestrial Environment" of the Helmholtz Association European Union (EU) 62485

Recently evolved combination of unique sulfatase and amidase genes enables bacterial degradation of the wastewater micropollutant acesulfame worldwide

Xenobiotics often challenge the principle of microbial infallibility. One example is acesulfame introduced in the 1980s as zero-calorie sweetener, which was recalcitrant in wastewater treatment plants until the early 2010s. Then, efficient removal has been reported with increasing frequency. By studying acesulfame metabolism in alphaproteobacterial degraders of the genera Bosea and Chelatococcus, we experimentally confirmed the previously postulated route of two subsequent hydrolysis steps via acetoacetamide-N-sulfonate (ANSA) to acetoacetate and sulfamate. Genome comparison of wildtype Bosea sp. 100-5 and an acesulfame degradation-defective mutant revealed the involvement of two plasmid-borne gene clusters. The acesulfame-hydrolyzing sulfatase is strictly manganese-dependent and belongs to the metallo beta-lactamase family. In all degraders analyzed, it is encoded on a highly conserved gene cluster embedded in a composite transposon. The ANSA amidase, on the other hand, is an amidase signature domain enzyme encoded in another gene cluster showing variable length among degrading strains. Transposition of the sulfatase gene cluster between chromosome and plasmid explains how the two catabolic gene clusters recently combined for the degradation of acesulfame. Searching available genomes and metagenomes for the two hydrolases and associated genes indicates that the acesulfame plasmid evolved and spread worldwide in short time. While the sulfatase is unprecedented and unique for acesulfame degraders, the amidase occurs in different genetic environments and likely evolved for the degradation of other substrates. Evolution of the acesulfame degradation pathway might have been supported by the presence of structurally related natural and anthropogenic compounds, such as aminoacyl sulfamate ribonucleotide or sulfonamide antibiotics

Enzyme activity of Aquincola tertiaricarbonis L108 acylating aldehyde dehydrogenase ATN38601 against various aldehyde and acyl-CoA substrates

<b>Method</b><br>Kinetic assays were performed using a photometer (Hitachi U-2000 Spectrophotometer, in SUPRASIL quartz cuvettes (path length 10 mm) at 35°C (or temperature as indicated). As assay buffer a solution of 50 mM HK2PO4/H2KPO4, 50 mM Tris/HCl, 1 mM DTT, 20% glycerol, pH 7.8 (or at pH as indicated) was used. For quantifying the oxidation (Ox) of aldehydes, each 400 µL reaction contained buffer, 2 mM NAD+ (or as indicated), 5 mM CoA (or as indicated), purified enzyme (heterologously expressed in <i>E. coli</i>, N-terminal 6xHis tag; wild type = WT, enzyme variants with A254I, A254P or A254G replacements) at concentrations as indicated and various concentrations of aldehydes. For quantifying the reduction (Red) of acyl-CoAs, each 400 µL reaction contained buffer, 0.625 mM NADH (or as indicated), purified enzyme (WT) at concentrations as indicated and various concentrations of acyl-CoAs. The enzyme activity was monitored by measuring the formation/consumption of NADH at 340 nm using an absorption coefficient of 6.22 mM-1 cm-1. Enzyme activity (U) is expressed as µmol NADH produced/consumed per minute. Steady state kinetic data, obtained with technical repeats, were analyzed by non-linear regression to the Michaelis-Menten (MM) equation using GraphPad Prism software.<br><br><b>Data</b><br>The following data sets are included in this collection:<br><br>Temperature and pH optima<br>Co-factor Km values<br>Kinetic Data for aldehydes and acyl-CoAs<br><br><b>Raw data processing method</b><br><br>The following method was used to process the data:<br><br>-Export raw data from photometer (see file Assay_Rawdata.txt and corresponding meta data file Assay_Metadata.txt)<br>-Analyze slope (Abs340nm/s) by linear regression<br>-Calculate enzyme activity in U/mg enzyme<br>-Calculate mean and SD for technical replicates<br>-Analyze by nonlinear regression (curve fit, MM). <br

Carbon Conversion Efficiency and Limits of Productive Bacterial Degradation of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether and Related Compounds

The utilization of the fuel oxygenate methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and related compounds by microorganisms was investigated in a mainly theoretical study based on the Y(ATP) concept. Experiments were conducted to derive realistic maintenance coefficients and K(s) values needed to calculate substrate fluxes available for biomass production. Aerobic substrate conversion and biomass synthesis were calculated for different putative pathways. The results suggest that MTBE is an effective heterotrophic substrate that can sustain growth yields of up to 0.87 g g(−1), which contradicts previous calculation results (N. Fortin et al., Environ. Microbiol. 3:407-416, 2001). Sufficient energy equivalents were generated in several of the potential assimilatory routes to incorporate carbon into biomass without the necessity to dissimilate additional substrate, efficient energy transduction provided. However, when a growth-related kinetic model was included, the limits of productive degradation became obvious. Depending on the maintenance coefficient m(s) and its associated biomass decay term b, growth-associated carbon conversion became strongly dependent on substrate fluxes. Due to slow degradation kinetics, the calculations predicted relatively high threshold concentrations, S(min), below which growth would not further be supported. S(min) strongly depended on the maximum growth rate μ(ma)(x), and b and was directly correlated with the half maximum rate-associated substrate concentration K(s), meaning that any effect impacting this parameter would also change S(min). The primary metabolic step, catalyzing the cleavage of the ether bond in MTBE, is likely to control the substrate flux in various strains. In addition, deficits in oxygen as an external factor and in reduction equivalents as a cellular variable in this reaction should further increase K(s) and S(min) for MTBE

Sated by a Zero-Calorie Sweetener: Wastewater Bacteria Can Feed on Acesulfame

The widely used artificial sweetener acesulfame K has long been considered recalcitrant in biological wastewater treatment. Due to its persistence and mobility in the aquatic environment, acesulfame has been used as marker substance for wastewater input in surface water and groundwater. However, recent studies indicated that the potential to remove this xenobiotic compound is emerging in wastewater treatment plants worldwide, leading to decreasing mass loads in receiving waters despite unchanged human consumption patterns. Here we show evidence that acesulfame can be mineralized in a catabolic process and used as sole carbon source by bacterial pure strains isolated from activated sludge and identified as Bosea sp. and Chelatococcus sp. The strains mineralize 1 g/L acesulfame K within 8–9 days. We discuss the potential degradation pathway and how this novel catabolic trait confirms the “principle of microbial infallibility.” Once the enzymes involved in acesulfame degradation and their genes are identified, it will be possible to survey diverse environments and trace back the evolutionary origin as well as the mechanisms of global distribution and establishment of such a new catabolic trait