22 by: Diego Morelos Zaragoza Enriquez
Student – Diego Morelos Zaragoza Enriquez
Name of Enzyme & EC # – Carboxylate Reductase (CAR) / E.C. 1.2.1.30
CARs sequences are found in both bacteria (Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria) and fungi (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota). Up until 2018, 24 from bacteria and 15 from fungi characterized CARs.
CARs are large multi-domain proteins that catalyze the reduction of a carboxylic acid substrate to its corresponding aldehyde. CARs activate the carboxylate substrate at the expense of ATP and catalyze the reduction step using NADPH as the hydride donor. Apart from the aldehyde formed, adenosine monophosphate (AMP), pyrophosphate (PPi), and NADP+ are formed as byproducts.
Interesting facts:
- – The reaction of CARs is of considerable biotechnological interest. They are emerging as valuable catalysts for the selective one-step reduction of carboxylic acids to their corresponding aldehydes. The substrate scope of CARs is exceptionally broad and offers potential for their application in diverse synthetic processes.
- – Two major fields of application are the preparation of aldehydes as end products for the flavor and fragrance sector and the integration of CARs in cascade reactions with aldehydes as the key intermediates.
- – The hydrolysis of ATP makes the reduction of acids to aldehydes by CARs strongly thermodynamically favorable, which makes their use an attractive “green chemical” route to aldehyde production
References:
Elk Crew. (2020, August 24). Who is Who of enzymes: carboxylic acid reductases [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IOTQ1451jk
Finnigan, W., Thomas, A., Cromar, H., Gough, B., Snajdrova, R., Adams, J. P., Littlechild, J. A., & Harmer, N. J. (2016). Characterization of carboxylic acid reductases as enzymes in the toolbox for synthetic chemistry. ChemCatChem, 9(6), 1005–1017. https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201601249
Gahloth, D., Aleku, G. A., & Leys, D. (2019). Carboxylic acid reductase: Structure and mechanism. Journal of Biotechnology, 307, 107–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2019.10.010
Winkler, M. (2017). Carboxylic acid reductase enzymes (CARs). Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 43, 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2017.10.006
