Production of Salvianic Acid A from <span style="font-variant: small-caps">l</span>-DOPA via Biocatalytic Cascade Reactions

Abstract

Salvianic acid A (SAA), as the main bioactive component of the traditional Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza, has important application value in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, a two-step bioprocess for the preparation of SAA from l-DOPA was developed. In the first step, l-DOPA was transformed to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DHPPA) using engineered Escherichia coli cells expressing membrane-bound L-amino acid deaminase from Proteus vulgaris. After that, the unpurified DHPPA was directly converted into SAA by permeabilized recombinant E. coli cells co-expressing d-lactate dehydrogenase from Pediococcus acidilactici and formate dehydrogenase from Mycobacterium vaccae N10. Under optimized conditions, 48.3 mM of SAA could be prepared from 50 mM of l-DOPA, with a yield of 96.6%. Therefore, the bioprocess developed here was not only environmentally friendly, but also exhibited excellent production efficiency and, thus, is promising for industrial SAA production.

Keywords

• salvianic acid A
• l-DOPA%22%2C%22default_operator%22%3A%22AND%22%7D%7D%7D"> <span style="font-variant: small-caps">l</span>-DOPA
• l-amino acid deaminases%22%2C%22default_operator%22%3A%22AND%22%7D%7D%7D"> membrane-bound <span style="font-variant: small-caps">l</span>-amino acid deaminases
• biocatalysis
• molecular biology
• biological engineering