Indigo formation and rapid NADPH consumption provide robust prediction of raspberry ketone synthesis by engineered cytochrome P450 BM3.

Natural raspberry ketone has a high value in the flavor, fragrance and pharmaceutical industries. Its extraction is costly, justifying the search for biosynthetic routes. We hypothesized that cytochrome P450 BM3 (P450 BM3) could be engineered to catalyze the hydroxylation of 4-phenyl-2-butanone, a naturally sourceable precursor, to raspberry ketone. The synthesis of indigo by variants of P450 BM3 has previously served as a predictor of promiscuous oxidation reactions. To this end, we screened 53 active-site variants of P450 BM3 using orthogonal high-throughput workflows to identify the most streamlined route to all indigo-forming variants. Among the three known and 13 new indigo-forming variants, eight hydroxylated 4-phenyl-2-butanone to raspberry ketone. Previously unreported variant A82Q displayed the highest initial rates and coupling efficiencies in synthesis of indigo and of raspberry ketone. It produced the highest total concentration of raspberry ketone despite producing less total indigo than previously reported variants. Its productivity, although modest, clearly demonstrates the potential for development of a biocatalytic route to raspberry ketone. In addition to validating indigo as a robust predictor of this promiscuous activity, we demonstrate that monitoring rapid NADPH consumption serves as an alternative predictor of a promiscuous reactivity in P450 BM3.