Enantioconvergent hydrolysis by epoxide hydrolase is a promising method for the synthesis of important vicinal diols. However, the poor regioselectivity of the naturally occurring enzymes results in low enantioconvergence in the enzymatic hydrolysis of styrene oxides. Herein, modulated residue No. 263 was redesigned based on structural information and a smart variant library was constructed by site-directed modification using an "optimized amino acid alphabet' to improve the regioselectivity of epoxide hydrolase from Vigna radiata (VrEH2). The regioselectivity coefficient (r) of variant M263Q for the R-isomer of meta-substituted styrene oxides was improved 40-63-fold, and variant M263V also exhibited higher regioselectivity towards the R-isomer of para-substituted styrene oxides compared with the wild type, which resulted in improved enantioconvergence in hydrolysis of styrene oxide scaffolds. Structural insight showed the crucial role of residue No. 263 in modulating the substrate binding conformation by altering the binding surroundings. Furthermore, increased differences in the attacking distance between nucleophilic residue Asp101 and the two carbon atoms of the epoxide ring provided evidence for improved regioselectivity. Several high-value vicinal diols were readily synthesized (>88% yield, 90%-98% ee) by enantioconvergent hydrolysis using the reprogrammed variants. These findings provide a successful strategy for enhancing the enantioconvergence of native epoxide hydrolases through key single-site mutation and more powerful enzyme tools for the enantioconvergent hydrolysis of styrene oxide scaffolds into single (R)-enantiomers of chiral vicinal diols.
An epoxide hydrolase from Vigna radiata (VrEH2) affords partial enantioconvergence (84% ee) in the enzymatic hydrolysis of racemic p-nitrostyrene oxide (pNSO), mainly due to insufficient regioselectivity for the (S)-enantiomer (rS = alphaS/betaS = 7.3). To improve the (S)-pNSO regioselectivity, a small but smart library of VrEH2 mutants was constructed by substituting each of four key residues lining the substrate binding site with a simplified amino acid alphabet of Val, Asn, Phe, and Trp. Among the mutants, M263N attacked almost exclusively at Calpha in the (S)-epoxide ring with satisfactory regioselectivity (rS = 99.0), without compromising the original high regioselectivity for the (R)-epoxide (rR = 99.0), resulting in near-perfect enantioconvergence (>99% analytical yield, 98% ee). Structural and conformational analysis showed that the introduced Asn263 formed additional hydrogen bonds with the nitro group in substrate, causing a shift in the substrate binding pose. This shift increased the difference in attacking distances between Calpha and Cbeta, leading to an improved regiopreference toward (S)-pNSO and affording near-perfect enantioconvergence.
