Squalene hopene cyclases : highly promiscuous and evolvable catalysts for stereoselective CC and CX bond formation

• A review. We review here how the inherent promiscuous nature, as well as the evolvability of terpene cyclase enzymes enables new applications in chem. We mainly focus on squalene hopene cyclases, class II triterpene synthases that use a proton-initiated cationic polycyclization cascade to form carbopolycyclic products. We highlight recent findings to demonstrate that these enzymes are capable of activating different functionalities other than the traditional terminal isoprene CC-group as well as being compatible with a wide range of nucleophiles beyond the 'ene-functionality'. Thus, squalene hopene cyclases demonstrate a great potential to be used as a toolbox for general Bronsted acid catalysis.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

review squalene hopene cyclase promiscuous evolvable catalyst stereoselectivity

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)