Nature Communications (Aug 2021)

Toward scalable biocatalytic conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural by galactose oxidase using coordinated reaction and enzyme engineering

  • William R. Birmingham,
  • Asbjørn Toftgaard Pedersen,
  • Mafalda Dias Gomes,
  • Mathias Bøje Madsen,
  • Michael Breuer,
  • John M. Woodley,
  • Nicholas J. Turner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25034-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) can be transformed to a range of industrially useful derivatives, such as 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF), but the reactions needed for efficient industrial production are hindered by several issues. Here, the authors perform reaction and enzyme engineering resulting in a galactose oxidase variant with high activity towards HMF, improved oxygen binding and high productivity.