title: Amides in Nature and Biocatalysis.
abstract: Amides are widespread in biologically active compounds with a broad range of applications in biotechnology, agriculture and medicine. Therefore, as alternative to chemical synthesis the biocatalytic amide synthesis is a very interesting field of research. As usual, Nature can serve as guide in the quest for novel biocatalysts. Several mechanisms for carboxylate activation involving mainly acyl-adenylate, acyl-phosphate or acyl-enzyme intermediates have been discovered, but also completely different pathways to amides are found. In addition to ribosomes, selected enzymes of almost all main enzyme classes are able to synthesize amides. In this review we give an overview about amide synthesis in Nature, as well as biotechnological applications of these enzymes. Moreover, several examples of biocatalytic amide synthesis are given.
authors.affiliation: acib GmbH, Petersgasse 14, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pitzer
authors.affiliation: acib GmbH, Petersgasse 14, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: kerstin.steiner@acib.at.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Steiner
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D000577:Amides; D055162:Biocatalysis; D001709:Biotechnology; D006867:Hydrolases; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases
chemical_list: D000577:Amides; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases; D006867:Hydrolases
keywords: ATP-grasp enzymes; Amide bond formation; Hydrolases; Peptide synthesis; Transacylation; Transpeptidases