US10385376B2 - 21-hydroxylation of steroids - Google Patents

21-hydroxylation of steroids Download PDF

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US10385376B2
US10385376B2 US15/523,107 US201515523107A US10385376B2 US 10385376 B2 US10385376 B2 US 10385376B2 US 201515523107 A US201515523107 A US 201515523107A US 10385376 B2 US10385376 B2 US 10385376B2
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cell
cyp21a2
steroid
heterologous
electron transfer
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US20170321241A1 (en
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Claus Lattemann
Thomas Stillger
Bernd Janocha
Hans-Falk Rasser
Sebastian RISSOM
Simone Anderko
Rita Bernhardt
Frank Hannemann
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Euroapi France SAS
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    • C12P—FERMENTATION OR ENZYME-USING PROCESSES TO SYNTHESISE A DESIRED CHEMICAL COMPOUND OR COMPOSITION OR TO SEPARATE OPTICAL ISOMERS FROM A RACEMIC MIXTURE
    • C12P33/00—Preparation of steroids
    • C12P33/06—Hydroxylating
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/195—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from bacteria
    • C07K14/24—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from bacteria from Enterobacteriaceae (F), e.g. Citrobacter, Serratia, Proteus, Providencia, Morganella, Yersinia
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    • C12N15/00—Mutation or genetic engineering; DNA or RNA concerning genetic engineering, vectors, e.g. plasmids, or their isolation, preparation or purification; Use of hosts therefor
    • C12N15/09—Recombinant DNA-technology
    • C12N15/11—DNA or RNA fragments; Modified forms thereof; Non-coding nucleic acids having a biological activity
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    • C12N9/00—Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes
    • C12N9/0004—Oxidoreductases (1.)
    • C12N9/0012—Oxidoreductases (1.) acting on nitrogen containing compounds as donors (1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7)
    • C12N9/0036—Oxidoreductases (1.) acting on nitrogen containing compounds as donors (1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7) acting on NADH or NADPH (1.6)
    • C12N9/0038—Oxidoreductases (1.) acting on nitrogen containing compounds as donors (1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7) acting on NADH or NADPH (1.6) with a heme protein as acceptor (1.6.2)
    • C12N9/0042—NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (1.6.2.4)
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12N—MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING, OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; CULTURE MEDIA
    • C12N9/00—Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes
    • C12N9/0004—Oxidoreductases (1.)
    • C12N9/0071—Oxidoreductases (1.) acting on paired donors with incorporation of molecular oxygen (1.14)
    • C12N9/0083—Miscellaneous (1.14.99)
    • C12N9/0087—Steroid 21-monooxygenase (1.14.99.10)
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    • C12N9/00—Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes
    • C12N9/0004—Oxidoreductases (1.)
    • C12N9/0095—Oxidoreductases (1.) acting on iron-sulfur proteins as donor (1.18)
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
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    • C12P—FERMENTATION OR ENZYME-USING PROCESSES TO SYNTHESISE A DESIRED CHEMICAL COMPOUND OR COMPOSITION OR TO SEPARATE OPTICAL ISOMERS FROM A RACEMIC MIXTURE
    • C12P33/00—Preparation of steroids
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12Y—ENZYMES
    • C12Y114/00—Oxidoreductases acting on paired donors, with incorporation or reduction of molecular oxygen (1.14)
    • C12Y114/14—Oxidoreductases acting on paired donors, with incorporation or reduction of molecular oxygen (1.14) with reduced flavin or flavoprotein as one donor, and incorporation of one atom of oxygen (1.14.14)
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12Y—ENZYMES
    • C12Y114/00—Oxidoreductases acting on paired donors, with incorporation or reduction of molecular oxygen (1.14)
    • C12Y114/99—Miscellaneous (1.14.99)
    • C12Y114/9901—Steroid 21-monooxygenase (1.14.99.10), i.e. steroid cytochrome P450 21-hydroxylase
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
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    • C12Y—ENZYMES
    • C12Y118/00—Oxidoreductases acting on iron-sulfur proteins as donors (1.18)
    • C12Y118/01—Oxidoreductases acting on iron-sulfur proteins as donors (1.18) with NAD+ or NADP+ as acceptor (1.18.1)
    • C12Y118/01002—Ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase (1.18.1.2)
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12Y—ENZYMES
    • C12Y118/00—Oxidoreductases acting on iron-sulfur proteins as donors (1.18)
    • C12Y118/01—Oxidoreductases acting on iron-sulfur proteins as donors (1.18) with NAD+ or NADP+ as acceptor (1.18.1)
    • C12Y118/01006—Adrenodoxin-NADP+ reductase (1.18.1.6)

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the field of steroid hydroxylation. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for the 21-hydroxylation of steroids in cells. It also relates to cells expressing a steroid 21-hydroxylating enzyme or steroid 21-hydroxylase, expression vectors comprising a nucleic acid encoding for a steroid 21-hydroxylase and a kit for carrying out the method for the 21-hydroxylation of steroids in cells.
  • Synthetic glucocorticoids are descendent from the natural occurring stress hormone cortisol and play a crucial role in pharmaceutical industry because of their anti-inflammatory and immune suppressive effects. Moreover, synthetic molecules often act more effective than cortisol.
  • CYP21A2 is a member of the protein family of the cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and which is able to perform a highly selective hydroxylation of steroids at the 21-position of the steroid scaffold (see FIG. 2 for a scheme of the process).
  • CYP21A2 is a mammalian membrane anchored enzyme which is located in the endoplasmic reticulum and which plays a crucial role in the steroid hormone biosynthesis.
  • the inventors have shown that the biocatalytic system of the invention is a promising candidate to replace the established chemical synthesis.
  • steroids could be modified within one single hydroxylation step, leading to the one desired product, which is saving time, is environmentally friendly (no by-products were observed) and facilitates downstream processing.
  • enzymes do not have to be purified, remain stable in the host and the addition of costly redox equivalents like NADPH is not necessary, because the cell itself serves as a donor.
  • the terms used herein are defined as described in “A multilingual glossary of biotechnological terms: (IUPAC Recommendations)”, Leuenberger, H. G. W, Nagel, B. and Kölbl, H. eds. (1995), Helvetica Chimica Acta, CH-4010 Basel, Switzerland).
  • the present invention relates to a process for the hydroxylation of the carbon atom 21 of a steroid, comprising the steps of:
  • a steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other (shown below).
  • the core of steroids is composed of seventeen carbon atoms bonded together that take the form of four fused rings: three cyclohexane rings (designated as rings A, B and C) and one cyclopentane ring (the D ring).
  • the steroids vary by the functional groups attached to this four-ring core and by the oxidation state of the rings.
  • the hydroxylation of the carbon atom 21 of a steroid is the addition of an —OH group at position 21 as shown in the above-shown ABCD steroid ring system.
  • the numbering of the carbon atoms is according to the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry)-approved ring lettering and atom numbering.
  • the 21-hydroxylation of a steroid is shown in FIG. 1 .
  • the steroid is a 3-keto steroid. More particularly, the steroid is a non-natural steroid, i.e. a steroid that is not produced and/or 21-hydroxylated in cells, especially human or bovine cells, which are not genetically altered.
  • the steroid is selected from the group consisting of medrane, deltamedrane, progesterone, 17OH-progesterone, medroxyprogesterone, and 5- ⁇ -dihydro-progesterone.
  • the 21-hydroxylation converts these particular steroids to premedrol, medrol, 11-deoxycorticosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, 21OH-medroxyprogesterone and 21OH-(5 ⁇ -dihydroprogesterone), respectively.
  • the steroid is selected from the group consisting of medrane, deltamedrane, medroxyprogesterone, and 5- ⁇ -dihydro-progesterone.
  • the cell is in particular a cultured cell, cultured in any cell medium, e.g. in a growth medium, and is, in a particular embodiment, in a resting state.
  • the cell is comprised in a buffer or medium capable of maintaining the cell rather than in a growth medium.
  • the composition of the buffer depends on the particular cell and suitable buffers are well-known in the art.
  • the cell is a suspension cell or an adherent cell.
  • a suspension cell is a cell that may naturally live in suspension (i.e. without being attached to a surface), or a cell that has been modified to be able to survive in suspension cultures, for example to be grown to higher densities than adherent conditions would allow.
  • An adherent cell is a cell that requires a surface, such as tissue culture plastic or microcarrier, which may be coated with extracellular matrix (such as collagen and laminin) components to increase adhesion properties and provide other signals needed for growth and differentiation.
  • the adherent cell is a monolayer cell.
  • the cell may be a prokaryotic cell or a eukaryotic cell.
  • a prokarytic cell to be used in the process of the first aspect is an E. coli cell, e.g. of the E. coli strain C43(DE3) of the examples.
  • a particular example of a eukaryotic cell is a yeast cell, e.g. a S. cerevisae cell or a Schizosaccharomyces pombe cell.
  • the process of the first aspect is not limited to any particular cell type and any cell type may be used, in particular any cell type that can be grown and maintained in culture and that can be used as a recombinant expression system, like insect cells or mammalian cells in addition to the above-mentioned cells.
  • heterologous means that a protein is expressed in cell that does not normally (i.e. without human intervention) express that protein.
  • CYP21A2 for example is an enzyme also called 21-hydroxylase, which is part of the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes. Cytochrome P450 enzymes are involved in many processes in the body, such as assisting with reactions that break down drugs and helping to produce cholesterol, certain hormones, and fats (lipids).
  • the 21-hydroxylase enzyme is found in the adrenal glands, which are located on top of the kidneys and produce a variety of hormones that regulate many essential functions in the body. Therefore, with respect to heterologous expression, the CYP21A2 protein can be considered heterologous regarding any cell which is not an adrenal gland cell.
  • heterologous can also refer to the species a protein or gene is derived from in comparison to the cell in which it is expressed, in particular recombinantly expressed.
  • a heterologous protein is then a protein that is derived from a different species than the cell it is expressed in, i.e. the cell of the process of the first aspect of the invention.
  • the present inventors expressed mammalian, in particular human or bovine proteins in an E. coli cell, making these proteins heterologous with respect to the cell.
  • the CYP21A2 protein is of human or bovine origin.
  • Human CYP21A2 (UniProt accession number P08686) has the sequence according to SEQ ID NO: 1 of the sequence listing.
  • Bovine CYP21A2 (UniProt accession number P00191) has the sequence according to SEQ ID NO: 2 of the sequence listing. See also FIG. 8 .
  • CYP21A2 protein can be used, in particular any mammalian CYP21A2 protein.
  • the term “functional variant” is a protein variant that has at least 20% (e.g., at least: 20%; 30%; 40%; 50%; 60%; 70%; 80%; 90%; 95%; 98%; 99%; 99.5%; or 100% or even more) of the ability of the unaltered or CYP21A2 protein to 21-hydroxylate a steroid. This ability can be determined by the skilled person without undue burden using, for example, the methods shown in Examples 1 and 2 herein.
  • a “protein variant” is a protein that has an amino acid sequence that it at least 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identical to the amino acid sequence of the CYP21A2 it is derived from, for example SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3 in case of human CYP21A2 or SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4 in case of bovine CYP21A2.
  • the determination of percent identity between two sequences is accomplished using the mathematical algorithm of Karlin and Altschul, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 5873-5877, 1993. Such an algorithm is incorporated into the BLASTN and BLASTP programs of Altschul et al. (1990) J. Mol. Biol. 215, 403-410.
  • Gapped BLAST is utilized as described in Altschul et al. (1997) Nucleic Acids Res. 25, 3389-3402.
  • the default parameters of the respective programs are used.
  • a protein variant can also be defined as having up to 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 amino acid substitutions, in particular conservative amino acid substitutions.
  • Conservative substitution tables are well known in the art (see for example Creighton (1984) Proteins. W. H. Freeman and Company). An overview of physical and chemical properties of amino acids is given in Table 1 below. In a particular embodiment, conservative substitutions are substitution made with amino acids have the same properties according to Table 1.
  • variant also includes protein fragments.
  • a fragment of CYP21A2 has an N-terminal and/or C-terminal deletion of up to 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 amino acids in total.
  • the functional variant is a fragment of CYP21A2 lacking the hydrophobic anchor region, i.e. a truncation of 29 N-terminal amino acid residues ( FIG. 8 ).
  • the CYP21A2 protein may be modified, for example by N-terminal or C-terminal amino acid additions, such as tags or N-terminal modifications for improved bacterial expression.
  • the tag may be a C-terminal His-tag, e.g. 6 ⁇ His-tag and the N-terminal modification an addition of ten amino acids from the N-terminus of CYP2C3 (see FIG. 8 and SEQ ID Nos 3 and 4).
  • An electron transfer system is a series of compounds that transfer electrons from electron donors to electron acceptors via redox reactions.
  • the term “capable of transferring electrons to CYP21A2” thereby means that CYP21A2 is the electron acceptor of this series.
  • the term “series” herein may include CYP21A2 and, thus, the electron transfer system may consist of only one protein in addition to CYP21A2.
  • the at least one electron transfer system comprises (i) a CYP21A2 reductase, or (ii) a ferredoxin reductase, preferably an NADPH-dependent ferredoxin reductase (adrenodoxin reductase) and a ferredoxin.
  • the at least one electron transfer protein can be selected from the group consisting of an NADPH-dependent cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR, e.g. human or bovine), the combination of an adrenodoxin reductase (AdR, e.g.
  • Adx4-108 e.g. human or bovine
  • Adx4-108 e.g. human or bovine
  • Adx4-108 e.g. human or bovine
  • Adx4-108 e.g. human or bovine
  • Adx4-108 e.g. human or bovine
  • an adrenodoxin reductase homolog e.g. S. pombe adrenodoxin reductase homolog (Arh1)
  • the ferredoxin domain of an electron transfer domain e.g. the ferredoxin domain of the S. pombe electron transfer domain (etp1 fd )
  • a flavodoxin reductase Fpr, e.g. from E. coli
  • the ferredoxin domain of an electron transfer domain e.g. the ferredoxin domain of the S. pombe electron transfer domain (etp1 fd ).
  • exogenous NADPH is not added to the cell.
  • NADPH is produced by the cell.
  • the NADPH-production in the cell may be increased by recombinant means, e.g. the heterologous expression of enzymes involved in NADPH production (e.g. one or more of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGD), malate dehydrogenase (MDH), and/or isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH)), and/or it may be increased by providing hormonal signals, i.e. adding hormones such as estradiol that enhance the level of endogenous NADPH production.
  • G6PD glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
  • PGD phosphogluconate dehydrogenase
  • MDH malate dehydrogenase
  • ICDH isocitrate dehydrogenase
  • the chaperone can be any chaperone as long as it is capable of facilitating folding of CYP21A2.
  • the present inventors found that the process of the first aspect of the invention can rely only on endogenous chaperones, i.e. additional expression of suitable chaperones is not essential. However, an additional expression improves the production of functional CYP21A2 in the cell and can therefore be beneficial.
  • the one or more chaperones are recombinantly expressed chaperones.
  • the one or more chaperones may be heterologous chaperones.
  • Exemplary chaperones are the E.
  • coli chaperones GroEL and GroES or other chaperones like DnaK, DnaJ, GrpE, and ClpB as well as small heat shock proteins (sHSP) such as IbpA and IbpB (IbpAB).
  • sHSP small heat shock proteins
  • the same chaperone or one or more additional chaperone(s) to be expressed in the cell is/are capable of folding one or more of above electron transfer proteins.
  • Recombinant expression refers to the expression of a recombinant gene.
  • a gene can be any gene introduced into the cell by methods of genetic engineering and is usually a heterologous gene and/or a gene regulated differently than a possible endogenous counterpart gene in terms of expression.
  • the recombinant expression is inducible.
  • the process further comprises adding one or more cell permeabilizing agents to the suspension of cells, for example after step b).
  • Cell permeabilizing agents are reagents which increase the permeability of membranes. Examples are organic solvents, such as methanol, acetone or DMSO, detergents such as saponin, Triton X-100 or Tween-20, and EDTA.
  • polymyxin B can be used as a cell permeabilizing agent. This agent proved to work particularly well in the process of the invention.
  • the process further comprises a step c) of extracting the 21-hydroxylated steroid from the cell and/or the supernatant of the cell (i.e. the buffer or medium the cell is comprised in), for example from a whole cell suspension.
  • the extraction can be done with any solvents or extraction methods known in the art for extracting undissolved compounds.
  • a solvent such as 1-butanol, 2-butanone or chloroform may be used.
  • the expression of at least one tryptophanase gene is reduced or abolished in the cell.
  • tryptophanase genes are generally (but not exclusively) found in prokaryotes, e.g. E.
  • the species of a cell expressing a tryptophansae gene is selected from the group consisting of Aeromonas hydrophila, Bacillus sp., Bacteroides sp., Corynebacterium sp., Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter aerogenes SM-18, Enterobacter sp., Erwinia sp., Escherichia aurescens, Escherichia coli, Fusobacterium necrophorum subsp.
  • the cell further expresses a heterologous or recombinant gene encoding for an enzyme catalyzing a step in the heme biosynthesis pathway, in particular a heterologous hemA (glutamyl tRNA reductase) gene.
  • a heterologous hemA glutamyl tRNA reductase
  • An example for such cells is E. coli . This will advantageously reduce the need for feeding precursors for the synthesis of the CYP heme, such as the heme precursor ⁇ -aminolevulinic acid, and reduce the costs for the biotransformation of steroids in such cells.
  • the nucleic acids encoding for (i) a heterologous CYP21A2 protein or a functional variant thereof, (ii) at least one heterologous electron transfer system capable of transferring electrons to CYP21A2, and optionally (iii) one or more chaperones facilitating folding of CYP21A2 are comprised in one or more expression cassette(s) which is/are integrated into the cell, in particular into its genome.
  • expression cassette refers to a DNA fragment which comprises a gene operably linked to a regulatory sequence such as a promoter, necessary for gene expression.
  • “Operably linked” refers to the linking of nucleotide regions encoding specific genetic information such that the nucleotide regions are contiguous, the functionality of the region is preserved and will perform relative to the other regions as part of a functional unit.
  • the nucleic acids (i), (ii) and optionally (iii) may each be comprised in individual expression cassettes or in one or more multicistronic expression cassettes.
  • multicistronic means that multiple cistrons, namely, multiple nucleic acids or genes, are operably linked to the same regulatory sequence, e.g. a promoter.
  • the nucleic acids encoding for (i) a heterologous CYP21A2 protein or a functional variant thereof, (ii) at least one heterologous electron transfer system capable of transferring electrons to CYP21A2, and optionally (iii) one or more chaperones facilitating folding of CYP21A2 are comprised in an expression vector comprised in the cell.
  • An “expression vector” is a vehicle by means of which DNA fragments that contain nucleic acids encoding for a protein can be introduced into host cells where the nucleic acids can be expressed by the host cell.
  • the nucleic acids (i), (ii) and optionally (iii) may each be comprised in individual expression vectors or in one or more multicistronic expression vectors.
  • nucleic acids (i), (ii) and optionally (iii) may be comprised in an expression cassette which is integrated into the cell genome, whereas the remaining nucleic acids (i), (ii) or optionally (iii) are comprised in an expression expression vector, both as set out above.
  • the present invention relates to cell expressing
  • This cell as well as the cell of the process of the first aspect of the invention can also be described as a cell comprising one or more nucleic acids encoding for
  • these nucleic acids are comprised in one or more expression cassettes.
  • the cell of the second aspect is in essence the cell used in the process of the first aspect of the invention and, therefore, further embodiments of the cell of the second aspect of the invention are as described above with respect to the process of the first aspect.
  • the present invention relates to a multicistronic expression vector comprising (i) a nucleic acid encoding for a CYP21A2 protein or a functional variant thereof, (ii) one or more nucleic acids encoding for at least one heterologous electron transfer system capable of transferring electrons to CYP21A2, and optionally (iii) one or more nucleic acids encoding for chaperones facilitating folding of CYP21A2.
  • the present invention relates to a kit comprising
  • kit is used herein to mean a collection of all or some of the reagents, materials, and instructions necessary to carry out the process of the first aspect.
  • This includes cell culture medium or buffer (both in dry or liquid form), one or more cell permeabilizing agents, solvents for extracting the steroid and, in particular, the steroid to be hydroxylated, in particular a 3-keto steroid, for example one or more of medrane, deltamedrane, progesterone, 17OH-progesterone, medroxyprogesterone, or 5 ⁇ -dihydroprogesterone.
  • all reagents or materials described herein with relation to the process of the first aspect can be part of the kit of the fourth aspect.
  • the process of the first aspect, the cell of the second aspect, the expression vector of the third aspect and the kit of the fourth aspect do not comprise a further step or component as applicable, especially a heterologous gene or protein, for steroid conversion or production which is not related to the 21-hydroxylation of steroids, particularly as described herein.
  • a further step or component as applicable, especially a heterologous gene or protein, for steroid conversion or production which is not related to the 21-hydroxylation of steroids, particularly as described herein.
  • an exception of this may be downstream steps or components related to the further processing of the 21-hydroxylated steroid (such as the conversion from premedrol to medrol) or upstream steps or components related to the production of the steroid to be 21-hydroxylated (such as the production of medrane).
  • FIG. 1 Hydroxylation of a steroid (here progesterone) at carbon atom 21.
  • FIG. 2 Scheme of a whole cell biotransformation of a steroid by CYP21A2 and the needed electron transfer proteins in E. coli.
  • FIG. 3 left: CO difference spectrum of purified bovine CYP21; right: SDS-PAGE of bCYP21 samples taken after indicated purification steps (IMAC/DEAE/SP).
  • FIG. 4 HPLC chromatogram of the in vitro 21-hydroxylation of medrane to premedrol by human CYP21 and described electron transfer proteins, here AdR and Adx (system 2).
  • FIGS. 5A-5B Constructed vectors for whole cell biotransformation using human or bovine CYP21 with different electron transfer proteins.
  • FIGS. 6A-D HPLC chromatogram of the whole cell 21-hydroxylation of medrane to premedrol (A), delta-medrane to medrol (B), medroxyprogesterone to 21OH-medroxyprogesterone (C), and 17OH-progesterone to 11-deoxycortisol (D) by bovine CYP21 and described electron transfer proteins, here Fpr and Adx.
  • FIG. 7 Time-dependent whole cell conversion of medrane to premedrol by bovine CYP21 and described electron transfer proteins, here Fpr and Adx.
  • FIGS. 8A-8B Amino acid sequences of wildtype and modified human (A) and bovine (B) CYP21A2.
  • Premedrol methylhydrocortisone
  • steroid medrol methylprednisolone
  • Medrol is an important drug in therapy of autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis and in general for local and systematic treatment of inflammations.
  • Both enzymes were expressed in the E. coli strain C43(DE3) by coexpression of the E. coli chaperones GroEL/GroES encoded in the vector pGro12. These chaperones ensure a correct protein folding which is important for an incorporation of the heme prosthetic group.
  • FIG. 3 an SDS-PAGE and a CO difference spectrum of purified bovine CYP21 are shown. As the CO difference spectrum shows, the enzyme was purified in an active form. To determine the binding of medrane to both isozymes the binding constants (K D -values) were determined.
  • both isoforms require an electron transfer system which consists of two parts, the cytochrome P450 enzyme itself and one or two electron transfer proteins which are essential for a hydroxylation reaction. Without these transfer proteins, no reaction will take place. Electrons can be transferred to CYP21 for example by the six electron transfer systems listed in Table 2:
  • hCYP21 or bCYP21 were combined in reconstituted systems or whole-cell systems with the indicated redox partners bCPR (bovine NADPH-dependent cytochrome P450 reductase), bAdR (bovine adrenodoxin reductase), bAdx 4-108 (bovine adrenodoxin), Fpr ( E. coli flavodoxin reductase), Arh1 ( S. pombe adrenodoxin reductase homolog), etp1 fd ( S.
  • bCPR bovine NADPH-dependent cytochrome P450 reductase
  • bAdR bovine adrenodoxin reductase
  • bAdx 4-108 bovine adrenodoxin
  • Fpr E. coli flavodoxin reductase
  • Arh1 S. pombe adrenodoxin reductase
  • pombe electron transfer protein, ferredoxin domain Protein combinations in reconstituted in vitro systems Corresponding plasmids Reductase Ferredoxin in whole-cell systems 1 CPR p21h_bRED/p21b_bRED 2 AdR Adx 4-108 p21h_AdAx/p21b_AdAx 3 Fpr Adx 4-108 p21h_FrAx/p21b_FrAx 4 Arh Adx 4-108 p21h_ArAx/p21b_ArAx 5 Arh etp1 fd p21h_ArET/p21b_ArET 6 Fpr etp1 fd p21h_FrET/p21b_FrET
  • FIG. 4 shows the in vitro conversion of medrane by human CYP21 together with electron transfer system 2. This result indicates that steroids as exemplified by premedrol can be produced enzymatically by CYP21 together with a suitable redox system, e.g. as shown in Table 2.
  • the CYP21 as well as the necessary electron transfer proteins were expressed heterologously in Escherichia coli strain C43(DE3).
  • bi- or tricistronic vectors based on the plasmid pET17b were constructed, which carry the genes for the particular CYP21 and the particular redox system.
  • FIG. 5 shows all constructed vectors.
  • the E. coli chaperones GroEL and GroES were co-expressed on a second vector.
  • the transformed E. coli cells were able to produce the CYP21 enzyme as well as the needed redox partners.
  • a substrate conversion took place which was started by the addition of the steroid to be hydroxylated (exemplified by medrane) as a substrate.
  • E. coli strain C43(DE3) was transformed with vector for whole cell biocatalysis (e.g. p21b_ArET) and the pGro12 which encodes the chaperones GroEL/ES.
  • the culture comprised 200 mL TB medium (+antibiotics ampicillin and kanamycin) in a 2 L Erlenmeyer flask, inoculated with 2 mL seed culture, and was grown at 37° C. Expression was induced at OD 0.5 by addition of 1 mM IPTG, 1 mM ⁇ -aminolevulinic acid, 4 mg/mL arabinose and maintained for 28 h at 27° C.
  • FIG. 6 shows that the steroid was converted to its 21-hydroxylated derivative and that the appearance of by-products was not observed, in contrast to a chemical synthesis.
  • Time-dependent product formation was studied in whole cells with the six redox systems for each CYP21 isoform to determine not only an endpoint yield but also the velocity of the reaction which is of high interest regarding a biotechnological process ( FIG. 7 ).

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