Abstract
The functions and applications of l-α-dipeptides (dipeptides) have been poorly studied compared with proteins or amino acids. Only a few dipeptides, such as aspartame (l-aspartyl-l-phenylalanine methyl ester) and l-alanyl-l-glutamine (Ala-Gln), are commercially used. This can be attributed to the lack of an efficient process for dipeptide production though various chemical or chemoenzymatic method have been reported. Recently, however, novel methods have arisen for dipeptide synthesis including a nonribosomal peptide-synthetase-based method and an l-amino acid α-ligase-based method, both of which enable dipeptides to be produced through fermentative processes. Since it has been revealed that some dipeptides have unique physiological functions, the progress in production methods will undoubtedly accelerate the applications of dipeptides in many fields. In this review, the functions and applications of dipeptides, mainly in commercial use, and methods for dipeptide production including already proven processes as well as newly developed ones are summarized. As aspartame and Ala-Gln are produced using different industrial processes, the manufacturing processes of these two dipeptides are compared to clarify the characteristics of each procedure.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abumard NN, Morse EL, Lochs H, Williams PE, Adibi SA (1989) Possible sources of glutamine for parenteral nutrition: impact on glutamine metabolism. Am J Physiol 257:E228–E234
Aboulmagd E, Oppermann-Sanio FB, Steinbuchel A (2001) Purification of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6308 cyanophycin synthetase and its characterization with respect to substrate and primer specificity. Appl Environ Microbiol 67:2176–2182
Adibi SA (1997) The oligopeptide transporter (Pept-1) in human intestine: biology and function. Gastroenterology 113:332–340
Ager DJ, Pantaleone DP, Henderson SA, Katritzky AR, Prakash I, Walters DE (1998) Commercial, synthetic nonnutritive sweeteners. Angew Chem Int Ed 37:1802–1817
Albers S, Wernerman J, Stehle P, Vinnars E, Furst P (1988) Availability of amino acids supplied intravenously in healthy man as synthetic dipeptides: kinetic evaluation of L-alanyl-L-glutamine and glycyl-L-tyrosine. Clinical Sci 75:463–468
Albini N, Auricchio S, Minisci F (1985) Base catalysis and solvent effect in the synthesis of aspartame. Chem Ind 15:484–485
Ariyoshi Y, Nagao M, Naotake (1974a) Method of producing α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine lower alkyl ester. US Patent no. 3,786,039
Ariyoshi Y, Yamatani T, Uchiyama N, Yasuda N, Toi K (1974b) Method of producing α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine alkyl ester. US Patent no. US 3,833,553
Ashiuchi A, Misono H (2002) Biochemistry and molecular genetics of poly-γ-glutamate synthesis. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 59:9–14
Babizhayev MA, Deyev AI, Yermakova VN, Semiletov YA, Davydova NG, Kurysheva NI, Zhukotskii AV, Goldman IM (2001) N-Acetylcarnosine, a natural histidine-containing dipeptide, as a potent ophthalmic drug in treatment of human cataracts. Peptides 22:979–994
Bachman GL, Oftedahl ML, Vineyard BD (1976) Process for the preparation of α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine alkyl esters. US Patent no. US 3,933,781
Begum G, Cunliffe A, Leveritt M (2005) Physiological role of carnosine in contracting muscle. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 15:493–514
Belshaw PJ, Walsh CT, Stachelhaus T (1999) Aminoacyl-CoAs as probes of condensation domain selectivity in nonribosomal peptide synthesis. Science 284:486–489
Bergmann M, Fraenkel-Conrat H (1937) The role of specificity in the enzymatic synthesis of proteins. J Biol Chem 119:707–720
Bergmann M, Fraenkel-Conrat H (1938) The enzymatic synthesis of peptide bonds. J Biol Chem 124:1–6
Bongers J, Heimer EP (1994) Recent applications of enzymatic peptide synthesis. Peptides 15:183–193
Bordusa F (2002) Proteases in organic synthesis. Chem Rev 102:4817–4867
Candela T, Fouet A (2006) Poly-gamma-glutamate in bacteria. Mol Microbiol 60:1091–1098
Cho CH, Luk CT, Ogle CW (1991) The membrane-stabilizing action of zinc carnosine (Z-103) in stress-induced gastric ulceration in rats. Life Sci 49:PL189–PL194
Cloninger MR, Baldwin RE (1970) Aspartyl phenylalanine methyl ester: a low-calorie sweetener. Science 170:81–82
de Armas RR, Diaz HG, Molina R, Gonzalez MP, Uriarte E (2004) Stochastic-based descriptors studying peptides biological properties: modeling the bitter tasting threshold of dipeptides. Bioorg Med Chem 12:4815–4822
de Ferra F, Rodriguez F, Tortora O, Tosi C, Grandi G (1997) Engineering of peptide synthetases. J Biol Chem 272:25304–25309
Dieckmann R, Neuhof T, Pavela-Vrancic M, von Dohren H (2001) Dipeptide synthesis by an isolated adenylate-forming domain of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS). FEBS Lett 498:42–45
Doekel S, Marahiel MA (2000) Dipeptide formation on engineered hybrid peptide synthetases. Chem Biol 7:373–384
Doel MT, Eaton M, Cook EA, Lewis H, Patel T, Carey NH (1980) The expression in E. coli of synthetic repeating polymeric genes coding for poly(L-asapartyl-L-phenylalanine). Nucleic Acids Res 8:4575–4592
Duerfahrt T, Doekel S, Sonke T, Quaedflieg PJLM, Marahiel MA (2003) Construction of hybrid peptide synthetases for the production of α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine, a precursor for the high-intensity sweetener aspartame. Eur J Biochem 270:4555–4563
Finking R, Marahiel MA (2004) Biosynthesis of nonribosomal peptides. Annu Rev Microbiol 58:453–487
Francois P, Francis D, Pierre M (1990) Enzyme, its method of production and its application to the preparation of methyl N-(L-aspartyl-1) L-phenylananinate. US Patent no. US 4,916,062
Furst P (2001) New developments in glutamine delivery. J. Nutr 131(9 suppl):2562S–2568S
Furst P, Pfaender P, Werner F (1985) Glutaminhaltige Aminosaure-Zubereltungen. EP Patent no. EP 0087750
Furst P, Pogan K, Stehle P (1997) Glutamine dipeptides in clinical nutrition. Nutrition 13:731–737
Galperin MY, Koonin EV (1997) A diverse superfamily of enzymes with ATP-dependent carboxylate-amine/thiol ligase activity. Protein Sci 6:2639–2643
Goeters C, Wenn A, Mertes N, Wempe C, Van Aken H, Stehle P, Bone H-G (2002) Parenteral L-alanyl-L-glutamine improves 6-month outcome in critically ill patients. Crit Care Med 30:2032–2037
Gulewitsch W, Amiradzibi S (1900) Ueber das Carnosin, eine neue organishe Base des Fleishextractes. Ber Deutsch Chem Ges 33:1902–1903
Guiotto A, Calderan A, Ruzza P, Borin G (2005) Carnosine and carnosine-related antioxidants: a review. Curr Med Chem 12:2293–2315
Hashimoto S (2006) Occurrence, biosynthesis, and biotechnological production of dipeptides. Microbiol Monogr 5:327–348
Henriques V, Gjaldbak IK (1911) Untersuchungen uber die Plasteinbildung. Z Physiol Chem 71:485–517
Hill JB, Gelman Y, Dryden, Jr HL, Erickson R, Hsu K, Johnson MR (1991) One-pot process for the preparation of α-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride. US Patent no. US 5,053,532
Hines HM, Sutfin DC (1956) Physiologic properties of anserine and carnosine. Am J Physiol 186:286–288
Ikeda H, Yagasaki M, Hashimoto S (2006) Methods for manufacturing dipeptides or their derivatives. WO Patent application no. 2006/001382
Inouye K, Kusano M, Hashida Y, Minoda M, Yasukawa K (2007) Engineering, expression, purification, and production of recombinant thermolysin. Biotechnol Annu Rev 13:43–64
Isowa Y, Ohmori M, Ichikawa T, Mori K, Nonaka Y, Kihara K, Oyama K, Satoh H, Nishimura S (1979) The thermolysi-catalyzed condensation reactions of n-substituted aspartic and glutamic acids with phenylalanine alkyl esters. Tetrahedron Lett 20:2611–2612
Katsoyannis PG, Ginos JZ (1969) Chemical synthesis of peptides. Annu Rev Biochem 38:881–912
Kayser H, Meisel H (1996) Stimulation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes by bioactive peptides derived from bovine milk proteins. FEBS Lett 383:18–20
Keller U, Schauwecker F (2003) Combinatorial biosynthesis of non-ribosomal peptides. Comb Chem High Throug Scre 6:527–540
Khavinson VK, Anisimov VN (2000) Synthetic dipeptide vilon (L-Lys-L-Glu) increases life span and inhibits a development of spontaneous tumors in mice. Doklady Akad Nauk 372:421–423
Kino K, Nakazawa Y, Yagasaki M (2006) Method for producing dipeptide. WO Patent application no. 2006/101023
Kino K, Nakazawa Y, Yagasaki M (2007) Method for production of dipeptide. WO Patent application no. 2007/074858
Kino K, Kotanaka Y, Yagasaki M (2008) Method for production of dipeptide. WO Patent application no. 2008/038613
Kitts DD, Weiler K (2003) Bioactive proteins and peptides from food sources. Applications of bioprocesses used in isolation and recovery. Curr Pharm Design 9:1309–1323
Kumar D, Bhalla TC (2005) Microbial proteases in peptide synthesis: approaches and applications. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 68:726–736
Linne U, Marahiel MA (2004) Reactions catalyzed by mature and recombinant nonribosomal peptide synthetases. Methods in Enzymol 388:293–315
Lombard C, Saulnier J, Wallach JM (2005) Recent trends in protease-catalyzed peptide synthesis. Protein Peptide Lett 12:621–629
Matsufuji H, Matsui T, Seki E, Osajima K, Nakashima M, Osajima Y (1994) Angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory peptides in an alkaline protease hydrolyzate derived from sardine muscle. Biosci Biotech Biochem 58:2244–2245
Meister A (1974) Glutathione synthesis. The Enzyme 10:671–697
Mootz HD, Kessler N, Linne U, Eppelmann K, Schwarzer D, Marahiel MA (2002) Decreasing the ring size of a cyclic nonribosomal peptide antibiotic by in-frame module deletion in the biosynthetic genes. J Am Chem Soc 124:10980–10981
Morihara K (1987) Using proteases in peptide synthesis. TIBTECH 5:164–170
Nakanishi K, Kamikubo T, Matsuno R (1985) Continuous synthesis of N-(benzyloxycarbonyl)-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester with immobilized thermolysin in an organic solvent. Bio/Technol 3:459–464
Nakanishi K, Takeuchi A, Matsuno R (1990) Long-term continuous synthesis of aspartame precursor in a column reactor with an immobilized thermolysin. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 32:633–636
Nilsson BL, Soellner MB, Raines RT (2005) Chemical synthesis of proteins. Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct 34:91–118
Nitta A, Nishioka H, Fukumitsu H, Furukawa Y, Sugiura H, Shen L, Furukawa S (2004) Hydrophobic dipeptide Leu-Ile protects against neuronal death by inducing brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor synthesis. J Neurosci Res 78:250–258
Oyama K, Irino S, Hagi N (1987) Production of aspartame by immobilized thermoase. Methods in Enzymol 136:503–516
Rausch C, Weber T, Kohlbacher O, Wohleben W, Huson DH (2005) Specificity prediction of adenylation domains in nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) using transductive support vector machines (TSVMs). Nucleic Acids Res 33:5799–5808
Roth E, Ollenschlager G, Hamilton G, Simmel A, Langer K, Fekl W, Jakesz R (1988) Influence of two glutamine-containing dipeptides on growth of mammalian cells. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 24:696–698
Sano T, Sugaya T, Inoue K, Mizutani S, Ono Y, Kasai M (2000) Process research and development of L-alanyl-L-glutamine, a component of parenteral nutrition. Org Process Res Dev 4:147–152
Sato M, Hosokawa T, Yamaguchi T, Nakano T, Muramoto K, Kahara T, Funayama K, Kobayashi A, Nakano T (2002) Angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory peptides derived from wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) and their antihypertensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats. J Agric Food Chem 50:6245–6252
Schellenberger V, Jakubke HD (1991) Protease-catalyzed kinetically controlled peptide synthesis. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 30:1437–1449
Schiffman SS (1976) Taste of dipeptides. Physiol Behavior 17:523–535
Sieber SA, Marahiel MA (2005) Molecular mechanisms underlying nonribosomal peptide synthesis: approaches to new antibiotics. Chem Rev 105:715–738
Sinisterra JV, Alcantara AR (1993) Synthesis of peptides catalyzed by enzymes: a practical overview. J Mol Catalysis 84:327–364
Stachelhaus T, Schneider A, Marahiel MA (1995) Rational design of peptide antibiotics by targeted replacement of bacterial and fungal domains. Science 269:69–72
Stachelhaus T, Mootz HD, Marahiel MA (1999) The specificity-conferring code of adenylation domains in nonribosomal peptide synthetases. Chem Biol 6:493–505
Stehle P, Pfaender P, Furst P (1984) Isotachophoretic analysis of a synthetic dipeptide L-alanyl-L-glutamine. Evidence for stability during heat sterilization. J Chromatogr 294:507–512
Suzuki T, Hirano T, Suyama M (1987) Free imidazole compounds in white and dark muscles of migratory marine fish. Comp Biochem Physiol B 87:615–619
Symmank H, Franke P, Saenger W, Bernhard F (2002) Modification of biologically active peptides: production of a novel lipohexapeptide after engineering of Bacillus subtilis surfactin synthetase. Protein Engine 15:913–921
Tabata K, Hashimoto S (2005) Microorganisms producing dipeptides and process for producing dipeptides using the microorganisms. WO Patent application no. 2005/045006
Tabata K, Hashimoto S (2007) Fermentative production of L-alanyl-L-glutamine by a metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strain expressing L-amino acid α-ligase. Appl Environ Microbiol 73:6378–6385
Tabata K, Ikeda H, Hashimoto S (2005) ywfE in Bacillus subtilis codes for a novel enzyme, L-amino acid ligase. J Bacteriol 187:5195–5202
Takagi H, Shimoi H, Ueda H, Amano H (1979) Morphine-like analgesia by a new dipeptide, L-tyrosyl-L-arginine (kyotorphin) and its analogue. Eur J Pharmacol 55:109–111
Walsh CT (1989) Enzymes in the D-alanine branch of bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan assembly. J Biol Chem 264:2393–2396
Ye L, Ramstrom O, Ansell RJ, Masson M-O, Masbach K (1999) Use of molecularly imprinted polymers in a biotransformation process. Biotechnol Bioengi 64:650–655
Yokoyama K, Chiba H, Yoshikawa M (1992) Peptide inhibitors for angiotensin I-converting enzyme from thermolysin digest of dried bonito. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 56:1541–1545
Yokozeki K, Hara S (2005) A novel and efficient enzymatic method for the production of peptides from unprotected starting materials. J Biotechnol 115:211–220
Yukawa T, Kawasaki T, Nakamura M, Yamashita T, Tuji T (1994) JP Patent application JP Patent no. JP 06/80075
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yagasaki, M., Hashimoto, Si. Synthesis and application of dipeptides; current status and perspectives. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 81, 13–22 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1590-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1590-3