A Hydroxyquinoline-Based Unnatural Amino Acid for the Design of Novel Artificial Metalloenzymes

We have examined the potential of the noncanonical amino acid (8-hydroxyquinolin-3-yl)alanine (HQAla) for the design of artificial metalloenzymes. HQAla, a versatile chelator of late transition metals, was introduced into the lactococcal multidrug-resistance regulator (LmrR) by stop codon suppression methodology. LmrR_HQAla was shown to complex efficiently with three different metal ions, Cu-II, Zn(II)and Rh(III)to form unique artificial metalloenzymes. The catalytic potential of the Cu-II-bound LmrR_HQAla enzyme was shown through its ability to catalyse asymmetric Friedel-Craft alkylation and water addition, whereas the Zn-II-coupled enzyme was shown to mimic natural Zn hydrolase activity.