Laboratory Evolution of Biocatalysts for Methane Hydroxylation and Alkene Epoxidation

碳氢化合物上的羟基化和环氧化反应为化工和制药工业生产有价值的中间体，但传统的氧化过程是能源或资源密集型的，并产生不需要的副产品，往往对环境有害。本研究的目的是使用一种高效的烷烃羟基酶作为催化剂的起点，用于(1)甲烷转化为甲醇和(2)烯烃环氧化。这两个目标都是可以实现的，这是因为进化的烷烃羟基酶的特殊性质，作为前一次进化的副产品，它在小分子烷烃和烯烃上获得了足够的活性，用于筛选突变体库，以进一步改进催化剂。所发现的生物催化剂可用于开发实用和清洁的羟基化和环氧化工艺。

Hydroxylation and epoxidation reactions on hydrocarbons produce valuable intermediates for the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries, but traditional oxidation processes are energy-or resource-intensive and produce unwanted and often environmentally hazardous side products. The objective of this research is to use a highly efficient alkane hydroxylase as the starting point for evolving catalysts for (1) the conversion of methane to methanol and (2) alkene epoxidation. Both of these goals are within reach, due to the special properties of the evolved alkane hydroxylase, which, as a side product of the previous evolution, acquired sufficient activity on small alkanes and on alkenes for screening mutant libraries for further improved catalysts. The biocatalysts discovered can be used in developing practical and clean hydroxylation and epoxidation processes.