skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Expanding the Nucleotide and Sugar 1-Phosphate Promiscuity of Nucleotidyltransferase RmlA via Directed Evolution

Journal Article · · J. Biol. Chem.

Directed evolution is a valuable technique to improve enzyme activity in the absence of a priori structural knowledge, which can be typically enhanced via structure-guided strategies. In this study, a combination of both whole-gene error-prone polymerase chain reaction and site-saturation mutagenesis enabled the rapid identification of mutations that improved RmlA activity toward non-native substrates. These mutations have been shown to improve activities over 10-fold for several targeted substrates, including non-native pyrimidine- and purine-based NTPs as well as non-native d- and l-sugars (both a- and b-isomers). This study highlights the first broadly applicable high throughput sugar-1-phosphate nucleotidyltransferase screen and the first proof of concept for the directed evolution of this enzyme class toward the identification of uniquely permissive RmlA variants.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
OSTI ID:
1031368
Journal Information:
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 286, Issue (15) ; 04, 2011; ISSN 0021-9258
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH