State-of-the-art strategies and research advances for the biosynthesis of D-amino acids

Abstract

D-amino acids (D-AAs) are the enantiomeric counterparts of L-amino acids (L-AAs) and important functional factors with a wide variety of physiological activities and applications in the food manufacture industry. Some D-AAs, such as D-Ala, D-Leu, and D-Phe, have been favored by consumers as sweeteners and fragrances because of their unique flavor. The biosynthesis of D-AAs has attracted much attention in recent years due to their unique advantages. In this review, we comprehensively analyze the structure-function relationships, biosynthesis pathways, multi-enzyme cascade and whole-cell catalysis for the production of D-AAs. The state-of-the-art strategies, including immobilization, protein engineering, and high-throughput screening, are summarized. Future challenges and perspectives of strategies-driven by bioinformatics technologies and smart computing technologies, as well as enzyme immobilization, are also discussed. These new approaches will promote the commercial production and application of D-AAs in the food industry by optimizing the key enzymes for industrial biocatalysts.

Keywords:

• Structure-functions relationships
• artificial sweeteners
• multi-enzyme cascade
• whole cell catalysis
• high-throughput screening

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China [2022YFD2101403], National Natural Science Foundation of China [31771911, 32101902], Tianjin Synthetic Biotechnology Innovation Capacity Improvement Project [TSBICIP-KJGG-009-04], and Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin [22JCQNJC00560].