A new member of the CYP116B subfamily-P450LaMO-was discovered in Labrenzia aggregata by genomic data mining. It was successfully overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and subsequently characterized spectroscopically, and its catalytic properties were assessed. Substrate profiling of the P450LaMO revealed that it was a versatile catalyst, exhibiting hydroxylation and epoxidation activities as well as O-dealkylation and asymmetric sulfoxidation activities. Diverse compounds, including alkylbenzenes, aromatic bicyclic molecules, and terpenoids, were shown to be hydroxylated by P450LaMO. Such diverse catalytic activities are uncommon for the bacterial P450s, and the P450LaMO-mediated stereoselective hydroxylation of inactivated C-H bonds-ubiquitous and relatively unreactive in organic molecules-is particularly unusual. The self-sufficient nature of P450LaMO, coupled with its broad substrate range, highlights it as an ideal template for directed evolution towards various applications.
Keywords: cytochromes; data mining; hydroxylation; oxidoreductases; protein engineering; substrate promiscuity.
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