Collaborative R&D Project for Production of High Value Unnatural Amino Acids by Exploiting Novel Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase (PAL) Biocatalysts

Unnatural amino acids are of synthetic and commercial interest as they are commonly incorporated into larger drug molecules relevant to the pharmaceutical industry. This project will use the enzyme Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase (PAL) for the synthesis of unnatural phenylalanine derivatives.
PAL enzymes have a broad substrate tolerance, potentially allowing the synthesis of a wide range of high value pharmaceutical intermediates, although the conversion of unnatural substrates by the wild type enzyme can be very low. This collaborative project, between AMRI and CoEBio3 at the University of Manchester, aims to build upon the knowledge gained during a previous feasibility project, in which a laboratory scale biocatalytic route to a high value unnatural amino acid was successfully developed by engineering a new PAL enzyme. Here, follow on work is proposed to demonstrate that this biocatalytic route can be commercially viable and out-compete the current manufacturing process. The project then aims to take the optimised biocatalytic route and transform it into an innovative platform technology to synthesise a broader range of unnatural amino acids and related chemicals in a sustainable manner, whilst being commercially competitive with traditional petrochemical routes.