Aminoacyl-coenzyme A synthesis catalyzed by a CoA ligase from Penicillium chrysogenum

Coenzyme A ligases play an important role in metabolism by catalyzing the activation of carboxylic acids. In this study we describe the synthesis of aminoacyl-coenzyme As (CoAs) catalyzed by a CoA ligase from Penicillium chrysogenum. The enzyme accepted medium-chain length fatty acids as the best substrates, but the proteinogenic amino acids l-phenylalanine and l-tyrosine, as well as the non-proteinogenic amino acids d-phenylalanine, d-tyrosine and (R)- and (S)-β-phenylalanine were also accepted. Of these amino acids, the highest activity was found for (R)-β-phenylalanine, forming (R)-β-phenylalanyl-CoA. Homology modeling suggested that alanine 312 is part of the active site cavity, and mutagenesis (A312G) yielded a variant that has an enhanced catalytic efficiency with β-phenylalanines and d-α-phenylalanine.