A Fungal P450 Enzyme from Fusarium graminearum with Unique 12β-Steroid Hydroxylation Activity
Ling Wang, Xiaowei Wu, Chenghua Gao, Lingrui Wei, Qian Li, Aitao Li
Abstract
Regioselective and stereoselective hydroxylation is of vital importance in the functionalization of steroids, which remains challenging in organic synthesis. In particular, the C12-hydroxy steroids play a significant role in the synthesis of many important steroidal drugs. In this study, a novel fungal P450 enzyme with 12β-hydroxylation activity was identified, and it shows different substrate specificity and regioselectivity, compared to the bacterial and fungal steroidal hydroxylases that are known to date. This lays the foundation for the creation of effective biocatalysts for the process of 12β-hydroxylation, although further understanding of the molecular structural basis of this fungal P450 is needed to facilitate the engineering of this enzyme for industrial applications.