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Enzymes for green and sustainable industrial processes: Examples of the development of enzymatic cascades involving Trans ketolase for the synthesis of rare valuables (3S)-ketoses

Marion Lorillière

Nowadays, it is more essential than ever to develop sustainable and environmentally friendly industrial processes, that meet the 12 principles of Green Chemistry, stated in 1998 [1]. “White biotechnology” enables to fulfil these criteria, through the use of biological catalysts, i.e. whole microorganisms or isolated enzymes, to synthesize high added value compounds, at industrial scale. For more than 30 years, major advances have been made in the fields of genetic, bio-informatic, protein engineering, robotic, process engineering and materials science, allowing humans to adopt this revolutionary and diverse discipline, for the production of useful chemicals, including medicinal drugs, polymers, biofuels, cosmetics, detergents, but also in the textile and paper industries [2].Pr. L. Hecquet and her team recently discovered and characterized the first thermostable Transketolase expressed from the thermophilic microorganism Geobacillus stearothermophilus (TKgst, EC 2.2.1.1). Its robustness and its high synthetic potential allowed the efficient synthesis at high temperature of a large variety of (3S, 4R)-ketoses of interest, through the transfer of a two carbon ketol unit from lithium hydroxypyruvate (Li-HPA) as donor substrate to a wide range of aldehydes, as acceptor substrates, in irreversible reactions.