Extremophilic and modified aminotransferases as a versatile tool for the synthesis of optically pure building blocks for pharmaceutical industry

Considerable progress has been made in the past few years with industrial use of essential key intermediates for chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The increasing demand for obtaining chiral drugs in enantiomerically pure form makes it necessary to search for novel biocatalysts useful in the synthesis of amino acids, chiral amines, amino sugars and alcohols. According to the reaction mechanism, aminotransferases (ATs) have useful applications because of their capability of transfer of an amino group from a donor substrate to an acceptor, thus resulting in the synthesis of a wide variety of building blocks. This article reviews current biocatalytic approaches using microbial ATs in the synthesis of optically active products. Focus is also put on the engineering of ATs and their limitations in the industrial applications. Moreover this review covers biocatalytic approaches using ATs isolated from extreme environments.