A synthetic biology approach for the transformation of l-α-amino acids to the corresponding enantiopure (R)- or (S)-α-hydroxy acids

Abstract

Combinatorial assembly and variation of promoters on a single expression plasmid allowed the balance of the catalytic steps of a three enzyme (L-AAD, HIC, FDH) cascade in E. coli. The designer cell catalyst quantitatively transformed L-amino acids to the corresponding optically pure (R)- and (S)-α-hydroxy acids at up to 200 mM substrate concentration.