Abstract
One often-cited weakness of biocatalysis is the lack of mirror-image enzymes for the formation of either enantiomer of a product in asymmetric synthesis. Enantiocomplementary enzymes exist as the solution to this problem in nature. These enzyme pairs, which catalyze the same reaction but favor opposite enantiomers, are not mirror-image molecules; however, they contain active sites that are functionally mirror images of one another. To create mirror-image active sites, nature can change the location of the binding site and/or the location of key catalytic groups. In this Minireview, X-ray crystal structures of enantiocomplementary enzymes are surveyed and classified into four groups according to how the mirror-image active sites are formed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 8782-8793 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Angewandte Chemie - International Edition |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 46 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 3 2008 |
Keywords
- Asymmetric synthesis
- Biotransformations
- Enantioselectivity
- Protein engineering
- Protein structures