Development of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and ene-reductase (ERED) enzymes for the production of enantiopure sulphur-containing flavours and fragranc

该项目是国王学院(KCL)和强生马泰(JM)合作的结果，旨在开发新的酶，用于可持续地合成与香料和香料(F&F)行业相关的对映体纯挥发性硫化物(VSC)，并开发使用这些酶的工业工艺。该项目完全符合BBSRC的战略优先事项“工业生物技术的新战略方法”。VSC构成了一大类至少含有C-S键的化学品，对食品和饮料的可口和难吃的F&F都有贡献。大多数VSC以手性异构体的形式存在。VSC的嗅觉取决于C-S立体中枢的构型。例如，3-硫代己醇的(R)-对映体有热带水果的气味，而(S)-对映体有一种青草的气味。从F&F工业生产的角度来看，VSC的合成是一个挑战，因为其天然的挥发性、低的化学稳定性以及与标准的不对称化学方法不相容的硫化合物的不同反应活性。即使具有挑战性，经济回报也很高，这使得化工和餐饮行业热衷于寻找新的战略研究，以开发温和、经济可行、更高效、有选择和可持续的制造路线。与在F&F等化学品制造方面拥有世界领先经验的JM合作，将开发一种新的工业可持续合成VSC的方法。新的ADH和ERD酶将利用JM公司现有的设施和工业平台进行设计和开发，并用于从非手性底物中选择性合成VSC。这个项目是高度跨学科的，将化学合成和分析化学与酶进化、分子生物学和F&F制造工艺相结合。

This project comes as the result of a new collaboration between King's College (KCL) and Johnson Matthey (JM) and it aims at the development of novel enzymes for the sustainable synthesis of enantiomerically pure volatile sulphur compounds (VSC) relevant to flavours and fragrances (F&F) industry and to develop industrial processes using these enzymes. The project fully aligns with the BBSRC strategic priority "New strategic approaches to industrial biotechnology". VSC constitute a wide class of chemicals containing at least a C-S bond and contributing to both agreeable and disagreeable F&F of foods and beverages. Most VSC exist as chiral isomers. Olfactory perception of VSC depends on the configuration of the C-S stereocentre. For example, the (R)- enantiomer of 3-thio-hexanol has a tropical fruit aroma, while the (S)-enantiomer has a grassy smell. From the perspective of F&F industrial manufacturing, the synthesis of VSC represents a challenge due to their natural volatility, low chemical stability and different reactivity of sulphur compounds incompatible with the standard asymmetric chemistry methods. Even if challenging, the economic reward is high, making chemical and F&F industries keen to identify new strategic research to develop mild, economically-viable, more efficient, selective and sustainable manufacturing routes. In collaboration with JM, that has world leading experience in the manufacturing of chemicals, including F&F, a new industrially sustainable approach for the synthesis of VSC will be developed. New ADH and ERED enzymes will be designed and developed taking advantage of the facilities and industrial platforms available at JM and used for the enantioselective synthesis of VSC from achiral substrates. This project is highly interdisciplinary, combining chemical synthesis and analytical chemistry with enzyme evolution, molecular biology and F&F manufacturing processes.