Targeted Enzyme Engineering Unveiled Unexpected Patterns of Halogenase Stabilization

Halogenases are valuable biocatalysts for selective C−H activation, but despite recent efforts to broaden their application scope by means of protein engineering, improvement of thermostability and catalytic efficiency is still desired. A directed evolution campaign aimed at generating a thermostable flavin‐dependent tryptophan 6‐halogenase with reasonable activity suitable for chemoenzymatic purposes. These characteristics were tackled by combining successive rounds of epPCR along with semi‐rational mutagenesis leading to a triple mutant (Thal‐GLV) with substantially increased thermostability (▵TM=23.5 K) and higher activity at 25 °C than the wild type enzyme. Moreover, an active‐site mutation has a striking impact on thermostability but also on enantioselectivity. Our data contribute to a detailed understanding of biohalogenation and provide a profound basis for future engineering strategies to facilitate chemoenzymatic application of these attractive biocatalysts.