Threonine aldolases catalyze the aldol condensation of aldehydes with glycine to furnish β-hydroxy-α-amino acid with two stereogenic centers in a single reaction. This is one of the most promising green methods for the synthesis of optically pure β-hydroxy-α-amino acid with high atomic economy and less negative environmental impact. Several threonine aldolases from different origins have been identified and characterized. The insufficient -carbon stereoselectivity and the challenges of balancing kinetic versus thermodynamic control to achieve the optimal optical purity and yield hampered the application of threonine aldolases. This review summarizes the recent advances in discovery, catalytic mechanism, high-throughput screening, molecular engineering and applications of threonine aldolases, with the aim to provide some insights for further research in this field.
Amino Acids ; Catalysis ; Glycine ; Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase/metabolism* ; Kinetics ; Substrate Specificity ; Threonine

Hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) and tryptophanase (TPase) are key enzymes in biosynthesis of L-tryptophan. We constructed three recombinant plasmids, including pET-SHMT, pET-TPase, and pET-ST for over-expression or co-expression of SHMT and TPase in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the recombinant proteins of 47 kDa and 50 kDa were expressed of pET-SHMT and pET-TPase, respectively. As compared to the host stain, the enzyme activity of SHMT and TPase was increased by 6.4 and 8.4 folds, respectively. Co-expression of both recombinant proteins, 47 kDa and 50 kDa, was also successful by using pET-ST and the enzyme activities were enhanced by 6.1 and 6.9 folds. We designed two pathways of dual-enzymatic synthesis of L-tryptophan by using these recombinant strains as source of SHMT and TPase. In the first pathway, the pET-SHMT carrying strain was used to catalyze synthesis of L-serine, which was further transformed into L-tryptophan by the pET-TPase expressing strain. These two steps sequentially took place in different bioreactors. In the second pathway, the pET-ST carrying strain, in which two enzymes were co-expressed, was used to catalyze simultaneously two steps in a single bioreactor. HPLC analysis indicated a high yield of 41.5 g/L of L-tryptophan was achieved in the first pathway, while a lower yield of 28.9 g/L was observed in the second pathway. In the first pathway, the calculated conversion rates for L-glycine and indole were 83.3% and 92.5%, respectively. In the second pathway, a comparable conversion rate, 82.7%, was achieved for L-glycine, while conversion of indole was much lower, only 82.9%.
Escherichia coli ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic ; physiology ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Plasmids ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Recombination, Genetic ; genetics ; Tryptophan ; biosynthesis ; Tryptophanase ; biosynthesis ; genetics