title: Challenges and pitfalls of P450-dependent (+)-valencene bioconversion by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
abstract: Natural nootkatone is a high value ingredient for the flavor and fragrance industry because of its grapefruit flavor/odor, low sensorial threshold and low availability. Valencene conversion into nootkatol and nootkatone is known to be catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes from both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, but so far development of a viable bioconversion process using either native microorganisms or recombinant enzymes was not successful. Using an in silico gene-mining approach, we selected 4 potential candidate P450 enzymes from higher plants and identified two of them that selectively converted (+)-valencene into β-nootkatol with high efficiency when tested using recombinant yeast microsomes in vitro. Recombinant yeast expressing CYP71D51v2 from tobacco and a P450 reductase from arabidopsis was used for optimization of a bioconversion process. Bioconversion assays led to production of β-nootkatol and nootkatone, but with low yields that decreased upon increase of the substrate concentration. The reasons for this low bioconversion efficiency were further investigated and several factors potentially hampering industry-compatible valencene bioconversion were identified. One is the toxicity of the products for yeast at concentrations exceeding 100 mg L⁻¹. The second is the accumulation of β-nootkatol in yeast endomembranes. The third is the inhibition of the CYP71D51v2 hydroxylation reaction by the products. Furthermore, we observed that the formation of nootkatone from β-nootkatol is not P450-dependent but catalyzed by a yeast component. Based on these data, we propose new strategies for implementation of a viable P450-based bioconversion process.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Molecular Biology of CNRS UPR2357, University of Strasbourg, 28 Rue Goethe, F-67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gavira
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Höfer
authors.forename: Agnès
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lesot
authors.forename: Fanny
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zucca
authors.forename: Danièle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Werck-Reichhart
mesh_terms: D001711:Biotransformation / Q000235:genetics; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000081223:Polycyclic Sesquiterpenes; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D000081223:Polycyclic Sesquiterpenes; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; C050302:nootkatone