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Escherichia coli kduD encodes an oxidoreductase that converts both sugar and steroid substrates

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Abstract

A previously unidentified oxidoreductase from Escherichia coli catalyzes the regioselective reduction of eukaryotic steroid hormone 11-deoxycorticosterone (11-DOC) to the valuable bioactive product 4-pregnen-20,21-diol-3-one. In nature, a reduction of C-20 carbonyl of C21 steroids is catalyzed by diverse NAD(P)H-dependent oxidoreductases. Enzymes that possess 20-ketosteroid reductase activity, however, have never before been described in E. coli. Our present study aimed to identify and characterize the E. coli enzyme which possesses 20-ketosteroid reductase activity against eukaryotic steroid hormone 11-DOC. We partially purified the enzyme from E. coli DH5α using protein chromatography techniques. Mass spectrometry revealed the presence of three NADH-specific oxidoreductases in the sample. The genes encoding these oxidoreductases were cloned and overexpressed in E. coli UT5600 (DE3). Only the overexpression of 2-dehydro-3-deoxy-d-gluconate 5-dehydrogenase (KduD) encoded by kduD gene enabled the whole-cell biotransformation of 11-DOC. A 6xHis-tagged version of KduD was purified to homogeneity and found to reduce several eukaryotic steroid hormones and catalyze the conversion of novel sugar substrates. KduD from E. coli is therefore a promiscuous enzyme that has a predicted role in sugar conversion in vivo but can be used for the production of valuable bioactive 20-hydroxysteroids.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of North Rhine-Westphalia and Heinrich-Heine-University-Düsseldorf for the scholarship of Agne Tubeleviciute within the Graduate Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB). For the identification of the steroid reductase with mass spectrometry, we are grateful for the expertise of Simone König (Core Unit Integrated Functional Genomics of the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster). We thank Jörg Fabian (University of Münster) for the steroid mass spectrometry measurements.

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  1. Institut für Pharmazeutische und Medizinische Chemie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Agne Tubeleviciute

  2. PharmaCampus Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Corrensstr. 48, 48149, Muenster, Germany

    Agne Tubeleviciute, Mark George Teese & Joachim Jose

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  1. Agne Tubeleviciute
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Correspondence to Joachim Jose.

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Tubeleviciute, A., Teese, M.G. & Jose, J. Escherichia coli kduD encodes an oxidoreductase that converts both sugar and steroid substrates. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 5471–5485 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5551-8

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