School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-741, Republic of Korea.
J Biotechnol. 2010 Mar;146(1-2):40-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.01.002. Epub 2010 Jan 18.
Parkinson's disease is caused by a deficiency of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Since l-DOPA (l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) is a precursor of dopamine and can pass across the blood-brain barrier, it has been used as a treatment for Parkinson's disease. Hundreds tons of l-DOPA are produced per year, and most of the current supply is produced by a chemical method of asymmetric synthesis. However, the chemical process for l-DOPA synthesis requires an expensive metal catalyst and shows low conversion rates and low enantioselectivity. In this study, we developed a novel technology for the production of l-DOPA, an electroenzymatic synthesis with a tyrosinase-immobilized cathode under the reduction potential of DOPAquinone, which is -530 mV. Compared to other approaches for l-DOPA synthesis reported previously, this electroenzymatic system showed the highest conversion rate and a highly enhanced productivity of up to 95.9% and 47.27 mg l(-1)h(-1), respectively.
帕金森病是由神经递质多巴胺的缺乏引起的。由于 l-多巴（l-3,4-二羟基苯丙氨酸）是多巴胺的前体，并且可以穿过血脑屏障，因此它已被用作治疗帕金森病的药物。每年要生产数百吨 l-多巴，目前大部分供应都是通过不对称化学合成方法生产的。然而，l-多巴合成的化学过程需要昂贵的金属催化剂，并且显示出低转化率和低对映选择性。在这项研究中，我们开发了一种生产 l-多巴的新技术，即在 DOPA 醌的还原电位（-530 mV）下，使用酪氨酸酶固定化阴极的电酶合成。与之前报道的其他 l-多巴合成方法相比，该电酶系统表现出最高的转化率和高达 95.9%和 47.27 mg l(-1)h(-1)的高生产能力。
