A one-pot system for production of L-2-aminobutyric acid from L-threonine by L-threonine deaminase and a NADH-regeneration system based on L-leucine dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase.

L-2-Aminobutyric acid (L-ABA) is an unnatural amino acid that is a key intermediate for the synthesis of several important drugs. It can be produced by transaminase or dehydrogenase from α-ketobutyric acid, which can be synthesized enzymatically from the bulk amino acid, L-threonine. Deamination of L-threonine followed by a hydrogenation reaction gave almost the theoretical yield and was estimated to be more cost-effective than the established chemical process. L-Threonine deaminase from Escherichia coli, L-leucine dehydrogenase from Bacillus cereus, and formate dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas sp. were over-expressed in E. coli and used for one-pot production of L-ABA with formate as a co-substrate for NADH regeneration. 30 mol L-threonine were converted to 29.2 mol L-ABA at 97.3 % of theoretical yield and with productivity of 6.37 g l(-1) h(-1) at 50 l. This process offers a promising approach to fulfil industrial requirements for L-ABA.