Method for reductive amination of a ketone using a mutated enzyme
Methods for chemically transforming compounds using a mutated enzyme are provided, and more particularly a method for the production of an amine from a target ketone. The methods comprise creating a mutated enzyme that catalyzes the reductive amination of the target ketone under conditions sufficient to permit the formation of the desired amine to thereby produce the amine.
1. A method of producing a chiral amine in enantiomeric excess from a target ketone, comprising:
screening mutated amine dehydrogenases for conversion of a target ketone to a chiral amine to identify a mutated amine dehydrogenase with activity for producing an enantiomeric excess of the chiral amine; and
contacting the identified amine dehydrogenase with the target ketone under conditions sufficient for producing an enantiomeric excess of the chiral amine, wherein the target ketone is not a 2-ketoacid.
2. The method of claim 1 in which the target ketone is contacted with the identified amine dehydrogenase in the presence of a NAD(P)H cofactor recycling system.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amine dehydrogenase is an amino acid dehydrogenase.